We all have this problem of getting bored. I am the one who gets bored when doing the same things again and again. When I sense boredom I try to find something which is interesting. What I have noticed (at least for me ) I can distract myself for only a certain period after that the boredom just consumes me fully.
I started talking with people who are in the same boat and realized almost all of them are in the same category. If they get bored they will try to distract and eventually, they will be consumed by that fully. Since they realize this most of them quit early before it hits them and some look for distractions and eventually get consumed by boredom.
During one of those boring days, I was retrospectively looking at the period where I was bored Vs the period I was super productive. That is when I started realizing that we are more productive when we are in the “State of Flow”.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is one of the founders of positive psychology and was one of the first to identify and research about “ The Flow State”. He once said
“The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times . . . The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile”
If you think of a time when your performance excelled and we call in the zone where we were ready to take up any challenge. That is the state of flow. Flow occurs when your skill levels and challenges match.
According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi below are the 8 characteristics of flow
- Complete concentration on the task
- Clarity of goals and rewards in mind and immediate feedback
- Transformation of time (speeding up/slowing down)
- The experience is intrinsically rewarding
- Effortlessness and ease
- There is a balance between challenge and skills
- Actions and awareness are merged, losing self-conscious rumination
- There is a feeling of control over the task
So the question is who can achieve this state of Flow? Studies suggest that autotelic personalities(having an end or purpose in itself) tend to achieve this faster. They tend to do things for their own sake rather than chase something.
The personality traits of this group (autotelic) are: they have high interest in life, persistence, and low self-centeredness.
We also need to understand what happens in our Brain during Flow
During the state of flow, the prefrontal part of the brain will get temporarily inactivated. This part of the brain is responsible for self-consciousness, memory, temporal integration, and working memory. This temporary inactivation results in feelings of distortion of time, loss of self-consciousness, and loss of inner criticism. This also allows our brain areas to communicate freely and engage in a creative process. You might have felt this while playing sports, games, reading, solving puzzles, etc.
How to achieve the state of Flow:
The balance of perceived challenges and skills are important factors in flow. On one hand, when a challenge is bigger than one’s level of skills, one becomes anxious and stressed. On the other hand, when the level of skill exceeds the size of the challenge, one becomes bored and distracted.
Studies suggest that the state of flow is enjoyable when you flow together as a team. For a team to be in the flow state we need motivation. There are two types of motivation Intrinsic and Extrinsic.
Intrinsic motivation is when you do something because you love it. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi said “The highest intrinsic motivation is a flow state where self-consciousness is lost, one surrenders completely to the moment, and time means nothing”
Extrinsic motivation is when your motivation to succeed is controlled externally. That includes doing something to avoid getting into trouble or working hard to earn more money. That type of motivation is short-lived. A good kind of extrinsic motivation is when you are practicing to get better but you still need a tutor or teacher to validate your efforts.
Difference between Team & Group
A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are working towards achieving common goals. A team is dependent on one another while holding each other accountable so they can accomplish their goals. Whereas a group is mostly independent members focusing or working on there piece of tasks.
How to lead your team toward Flow state?
For the team to be in a flow state every individual must be in the flow state. This occurs when team members can immerse together in an interdependent task that all the members are satisfied with. When your team achieves Flow state they can create greater results than the individual contributions. Some key points to achieve a flow state are:
- Set clear and immediate goals at every stage
- Receive clear and immediate feedback
- No agony over failure
- Have a balance of skill & challenges
- Have control over the situation and have no fear of failure
- Create intense and focused concentration
- Ensure the work itself is intrinsically rewarding
- Clear communication both verbal and non-verbal
- The process is what’s enjoyable, not the result
Effects of Flow:
Flow is often explained as a positive experience. It’s not just improving productivity but also the group’s happiness and positivity. Consistently being in the state of flow could lead to a state of stress, because once in flow, unknowingly a person easily gives everything of their capacity.
It is therefore important to know how to ‘get out’ of the flow or take a break from it. Teams, Leads, and Individuals have to understand and learn the fact that “ promises cannot be always kept and that is natural and it’s not poor planning or intentional”
It is also good to understand that breaks from flow are important and natural; otherwise, they may appear sticky or even depressing periods after the joy and successful performances created by flow.
Studies found that flow experience is better when experienced together.
I would like to know if your team ever worked in flow. What did you notice? What were the results?
Trooming 