The self-development world has turned one of humanistic psychology’s most beautiful findings into a productivity tool. Here’s what it cost us — and how to recover the older, larger meaning.
I love everything about this. I feel healthiest and most fulfilled when I get into flow often, not because I am getting more done but because when I am in flow, I am doing the things I'm the most passionate about. I am out of my own head. All feels right with the world. Just the best.
Interestingly, having optimal experiences in life that increase your overall emotional wellbeing is also going to directly contribute to having an optimal performance with everything else that you do.
I think the reason people are so attracted to the idea of optimal performance is because there is a direct outcome and ROI that you can measure. It's hard to measure what an optimal experience is. I think the trick to get this philosophy to the masses is to wrap elements of what makes an optimal experience/life into the direct outcomes someone wants to achieve / optimize for. Ty for this one Scott!
Love this. I appreciate the callout of "experience" vs "outcome". I think there's another layer to the name worth investigating. The word "optimal" is very self-development leaning where so much is about optimization. I wonder if it was named, Flow: The Psychology of Immersed/Absorbed Experience if it would have been more popularly associated with the purely intrinsic activities of gardening, sunset soaking, and dancing in the kitchen.
Thank you for this correction, Scott. The incessant preoccupation in this country with productivity is antithetical to human wellbeing, If productivity is a byproduct of flow, that is fine. But when the main goal of pursuing flow becomes productivity, this undercuts the psychological benefits of the flow experience.
So good to re-enter this unpacking of a state of being. My longitudinal study of an artist finds him using the word “empathy” to describe his fusing with nature in plein air studies. I love this understanding too.
Excellent course correction! I get my fair share of "hacking flow" for productivity emails and promises nearly daily. Some promote seminars and/or courses and charge roughly $5,000 - $7,000 for their flagship 8-week course. For their higher-tier coaching programs prices can increase to $10,000 or more.
Correlation does not equal causation. It may well be the case that productivity causes a feeling of "flow," not vice versa. This would be consistent with Csikzntmihayi's concept of "flow channel," i.e. flow like experiences taking place when task complexity matches skill set. Regardless, those of us who've read his work understand his most important guidance - to achieve more time in flow, you must be able to structure your mental processes. Maybe some of those hacks will help, or you could just go to the gym or track
Absolutely! Actually, I have an article coming out within the next month all about that (breaking down false dichotomies)! Would love to see what you think when that gets published.
I love everything about this. I feel healthiest and most fulfilled when I get into flow often, not because I am getting more done but because when I am in flow, I am doing the things I'm the most passionate about. I am out of my own head. All feels right with the world. Just the best.
Beautiful, I love this reframe!
Interestingly, having optimal experiences in life that increase your overall emotional wellbeing is also going to directly contribute to having an optimal performance with everything else that you do.
I think the reason people are so attracted to the idea of optimal performance is because there is a direct outcome and ROI that you can measure. It's hard to measure what an optimal experience is. I think the trick to get this philosophy to the masses is to wrap elements of what makes an optimal experience/life into the direct outcomes someone wants to achieve / optimize for. Ty for this one Scott!
Love this. I appreciate the callout of "experience" vs "outcome". I think there's another layer to the name worth investigating. The word "optimal" is very self-development leaning where so much is about optimization. I wonder if it was named, Flow: The Psychology of Immersed/Absorbed Experience if it would have been more popularly associated with the purely intrinsic activities of gardening, sunset soaking, and dancing in the kitchen.
Thank you for this correction, Scott. The incessant preoccupation in this country with productivity is antithetical to human wellbeing, If productivity is a byproduct of flow, that is fine. But when the main goal of pursuing flow becomes productivity, this undercuts the psychological benefits of the flow experience.
This is wonderful, thank you. I've experienced it as a musician and it's described here perfectly.
So good to re-enter this unpacking of a state of being. My longitudinal study of an artist finds him using the word “empathy” to describe his fusing with nature in plein air studies. I love this understanding too.
Excellent course correction! I get my fair share of "hacking flow" for productivity emails and promises nearly daily. Some promote seminars and/or courses and charge roughly $5,000 - $7,000 for their flagship 8-week course. For their higher-tier coaching programs prices can increase to $10,000 or more.
Correlation does not equal causation. It may well be the case that productivity causes a feeling of "flow," not vice versa. This would be consistent with Csikzntmihayi's concept of "flow channel," i.e. flow like experiences taking place when task complexity matches skill set. Regardless, those of us who've read his work understand his most important guidance - to achieve more time in flow, you must be able to structure your mental processes. Maybe some of those hacks will help, or you could just go to the gym or track
This is beautiful, Scott. It's always an "and" isn't it and our culture prefers the "or", the singular box of high performance.
Absolutely! Actually, I have an article coming out within the next month all about that (breaking down false dichotomies)! Would love to see what you think when that gets published.
Can't wait to read it!
Thank you, Scott! Such a beautiful reminder.
There's an argument that Plato was the first to describe flow. You might find it interesting. I wrote about it here: https://ataraxiaorbust.substack.com/p/why-the-ancient-greeks-had-no-need