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In Pursuit of Being
On several occasions in my writing, both on this site and elsewhere on the web, I’ve mentioned my need for ‘Flow’. More often than not, readers have interpreted it to mean workflow or the speed at which I can get things accomplished or the ease with which I can switch from one task to another. In fact, I’m not entirely certain anyone has ever actually fully understood what I’ve meant because I’ve never laid out an adequate definition or pointed anyone in the right direction.
In this post I hope to clarify what Flow is, why it’s beneficial and, more importantly, why it is absolutely necessary to your growth and success. To lay this out, we need to start from the beginning…
What is Flow
I’m a designer. I love design.
On an average day, I’ll grab a Café Mocha, crack open a window (especially on cool, sunny days), walk to my desk and plop down in front of the computer. The procrastinator in me knows (and usually dreads) the fact that my eyes will be glued to Photoshop for the next several hours.
I take a deep breath, glance at the clock (9:06 am) and stare at a clean white canvas.
Then it happens.
I can visualize the layout in my head, but this layout won’t be anything without the right colors. And the colors come to me as divine inspirations and gradually start dotting the page almost as if by magic. And I know the perfect typeface for the content, clean and readable and trendy, but this is nothing without the appropriate white space and a nice hierarchy of headings. Maybe I can polish everything with some subtle gradients. And there was that illustration I saw that would go perfect with this design, maybe I should buy it.
And then I look at the clock. 12:43 pm arrives in what felt like a few minutes.
Flow is our inborn ability to disconnect ourselves from time and operate solely in space. It’s a state of being that results from having the perfect amount of challenge, an adequate skill set, instant feedback and a heightened sense of awareness. It’s commonly referred to as “being in the zone.”
How to Achieve Flow
Achieving Flow is an important step in the process of creation. For me, at least, it’s the most important step. Without Flow, I find no joy in what I’m doing and everything moves along at a snail’s pace. I’m also more of a procrastinator than I’d like to be and Flow is the archenemy of putting things off.
According to psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi who first formally defined the concept, there are nine factors to achieving Flow:
- Clear Goals – You have to know exactly what you are working toward and the level of challenge and required skill level should both be high.
- Focus – You have to be free from distractions and able to delve deeply into a single task.
- Being What You’re Doing – You have to lose self-consciousness. You gradually “become” whatever actions you are taking.
- Distorted Sense of Time – Hours feel like minutes, minutes like seconds.
- Direct Feedback – You need to be able to know whether or not what your doing is working out nearly as soon as you do it.
- Balance Between Challenge and Ability – It has to be hard, but not too hard. Flow falls between stress (too difficult) and boredom (too easy).
- Sense of Control – You feel in charge of everything that’s going on.
- Autotelic Creation – All you are doing is intrinsically rewarding. You do for doing and be for being.
- Narrowed Focus of Awareness – You are only aware of what you are doing.
Living in a Constant State of Flow
Number eight on the list above is very important. If something is autotelic that means it is worth doing in and of itself. Being for the sake of being and doing for the sake of doing. This feeling that what you are working on is intrinsically valuable is the most remarkable part of experiencing Flow. You can probably see the connection between Autotelism and lifestyle design.
Lately I’ve taken to calling myself an Autotelist. If it weren’t for my love of doing for the sake of doing and being for the sake of being, I’d have had no problem working a 9-to-5.
But I did.
If the work wasn’t enough to bore me to death or completely enrage me, the rigid schedules would have kept me watching the clock, thus preventing the Flow from ever kicking in.
If your goal is to live on your terms and to be able to enjoy all the experiences life has to offer, doing for the sake of doing needs to be a vital part of your philosophy.
I design for the sake of designing. I love it. I don’t need recognition for it, I don’t need anyone to see it, I don’t even need a paycheck to back it up (though that’s greatly appreciated.) These things have been the keys to my success. If you organize your life around doing for the sake of doing and being for the sake of being, you’ll learn what your priorities are, you’ll learn where you need to be and what you need to do.
Related posts
- Slacking Ambitiously
- Dealing with the Worst of Winter
- So You Want To Be A Blogger, Part One – Choosing A Topic
- Eight Things That Have More Than Tripled My Productivity
- How to Stop Procrastinating and Start Living the Life You Want
I've been interested in learning more about flow and been meaning to read Mihály Csíkszentmihályi's work.
I used to 'flow' a lot more when I was younger, but with the constrictive nature of the 9-5 bearing down on me, I rarely feel like I achieve flow.
Thanks for the pointers on how to achieve it!
In most cases, I think limits force creativity and force flow… except when the limit is time. That's something that truly sucks about the 9-5. Every 20 minutes I'd be checking the clock and it would totally get me out of what I was doing (not that what I was doing was particularly engaging to begin with.)
When I started learning Chinese, it was intrinsically motivating, but sadly after about four years I lost that feeling and now I can hardly be bothered trying to learn it. As a result my Chinese level is retrogressing. Is there anyway to get it back?
I have no idea really, but Tim Ferriss traveled to China recently and talked about "reactivating" his Chinese. Head over to his blog (http://www.4hourblog.com) and find the show he does with Kevin Rose (Random). He talked quite a bit about how he was preparing for the trip.
Great advice. It's a great feeling when you get into a flow like that. The part that really sticks out to me is that time flies by at a crazy rate. Whenever I get into the flow while working on something, I always think, "Why couldn't class have gone by this fast when I was in school?" You are lucky to have something that you can to every day that gets you into this autoletic creation mode. A lot of people don't have anything that can do that for them.
People who aren't doing something like that clearly aren't doing what they are supposed to. I can't imagine having to do work that wasn't challenging and didn't encourage some kind of personal, professional or spiritual growth. I know what it's like having a job like that, but I couldn't put up with it more than 6 months.
So fascinating to read another person's account of flow! I used to get swept up in my acting much the same way (though the idea of becoming what you're doing is a bit more obvious), but it wasn't until this past year when I found design work was doing the same thing for me, if I set myself up to be swept up.
It seems that we have developed a way of life that is so rooted in distraction that letting go of being the "first to know" something can be a terrifying, but essential step in obtaining flow. Thanks for that reminder!
I really latched on to your addition "if I set myself up to be swept up." I'm sure there are lots of people who can flow, but who haven't bothered to create an intentional atmosphere for it. For me, I need total quiet. I've tried playing music while I worked and it just brings down my productivity. I end up turning the volume lower and lower until it might as well not even play. People need to cultivate an atmosphere for flow.
Hey J.D. I so need to read this today. I am stuck stuck stuck on a writing project currently and am experiencing a supreme lack of Flow. This is helping me regain my original focus. Thanks for getting me back on track! Take Care, Jill
Jill's latest post: 10 Life Changing Lessons I Learned From Painting.
Glad you liked this post. Good luck with your writing project.
I'm sorry you had to add your latest post in the comment. I'm really wanting to get that plugin (commentlove? maybe) that will automatically pull everyone's last post, but at the moment it's incompatible with IntenseDebate. As soon as it's available I'll have it up and running.
"Flow" by your definition is exactly the state of being that I find myself chasing. At current, I have found great joy and flow in my life, or at least my life outside of work. Your article and others, have helped me come to terms with the lack of "flow" I enjoy professionally and the realization that I need to construct a lifestyle that affords me the opportunity to fully enjoy every moment of my life by losing myself in what I do. Imagine if you could live every day lost in the experience of life, instead of watching the clock extinguish your life one second at a time. Maybe someday….
I wrote a couple weeks ago about some things I've been doing that has increased my productivity. One of these was waking up with an alarm clock. After I got in the groove of things and learned how to more efficiently manage my block working (working in 2 hour chunks rather than 8 hours straight) I've ditched the alarm clock and any formal schedule. Watching the clock is detrimental to both productivity and fulfillment. You'll get where you want to go some day soon. Most people never even take the time to examine themselves, so you're miles and miles ahead of most people.
Wow – great post. I always yearn for those moments when time dissipates, when it passes by unknowingly. That tends to happen when I'm hiking/climbing – half a day can pass by and I hardly notice. Never thought of it in terms of "flow" and how you describe it – but I dig it.
That's awesome. It's kind of funny, though, that you can flow when hiking but if I'm hiking flow is impossible! All I can think about is getting to the top or getting to the bottom. There's no journey for me, I'm either up or down. Maybe one day when I'm a little more in shape I can learn to enjoy everything in between.
(Also, when I was a kid we were hiking and had to crawl under a fence. I ended up with one of those fuzzy prickly caterpillars on me… the kind that stabs you with their venomous barbed hairs 12 times. Not a fan of hiking since.)
Man, I love that feeling; when a project just locks into place and you don't want to go eat, go sleep, go use the bathroom. You're IN IT and it feels great.
I find that trying to force it doesn't really work for me, but working early in the morning or late at night helps, and getting something else done (i.e. attaining a sense of accomplishment for SOMETHING) can catalyze it, as well (even if it's just doing the dishes or finishing a book).
I'm fascinated by the concept of a constant state of flow, and there are times when I identify as a lifestyle designer (rather than a graphic designer) where I'll be walking down the street and just be IN IT, but I wonder what the downsides of feeling that way all the time would be. Would the greats not feel so good? Is it a party if it happens every night?
Is it a party if it happens every night? No. But we are talking about life here! It would be more like a party that happens every night in a different place with different people. Having fun never gets old, having fun in the exact same way does. I think trying to attain a constant state of flow is something I want to look into. I'm not sure it's possible to do it all the time, but I think it can be maximized.
Heya JD:) I admire you for being a designer. Design has never been my strong point, but I love doing it anyways. I suppose the only way to get better at it is to spend a lot of time with it.
I totally agree with Flow, it's inspiration and creativity, and you can't force it, you just need to find a way to release it and let it into your mind.
Great post! Have an awesome day! Diggy
Awesome post, JD
Yes, I know what flow is. I used to get into flow when I was into photography. (I know I will get back into it, soon)
I remember one particular moment, well actually it was more like an hour and a half, in which I took a total of four shots. two of the best photos I EVER did came from those four shots. I used to become oblivious to my surroundings when I was out with my camera, and my new wife could not handle being ignored for what seemed to me like a few seconds, which to her was an eternity, and the actual time was somewhere in between there. So, slowly but surely, photography lost its grip on me.
Now that she has lost a grip on me, I find myself more and more getting into the flow. Whether it's writing or doing dishes, or going for a walk, or being with a good friend.
Thanks for the break down of the process. I love being for the sake of being and doing for the sake of doing.
Rasheed
You are getting very philosophical J.D. and I like it! I hope you keep up with these types of posts.
"Being" and "Doing" are important concepts to me, but maybe I use them in a different way.
We all want to "be" someone or something. We want to "be" rich, famous, attractive, creative, talented, an artist, a rock star, an actor, etc. To me that type of "being" is a fantasy or a wish. You often witness this type of "being" when people talk about the book they are going to write, or hand out business cards for a business that doesn't exist yet. They are enamored by "being" but suffer from a shortage of "doing."
The people who are "doing" every day are the ones that accomplish great things. Success is a product of action, not fantasies. "Doing" things because you enjoy them regardless of the rewards you may or may not receive is what designing your own life means to me.
Right on, J.D.! I've heard "flow" explained a number of times before, but none as succinctly or inspirational as your post above.
As a fellow designer, I can't adequately describe the high I get when I'm "in that zone". It's something that doesn't happen often enough. But breaking down the steps into an objective model as you've done above will really go a long way towards helping me get into that state more often.