Insight
| Flow will be the most important 21st Century skill for knowledge workers.
Fifty years ago, godfather of “Flow” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi began the ground breaking research into the state that commands our total attention, stretches our limits and helps us energize to defeat anxiety, boredom, conformity and chaos. An essential ingredient for things like focus, creativity, and momentum. It’s the state when we become so absorbed in a task or experience that time seems to stand still and all else seems to fall away. All aspects of performance increase and we are able to find an edge, where we can stretch ourselves to expand power and improve our skills, without breaking. To make things practical, he broke down the findings in his research to conceptualize what is known as “The Flow Channel.” This is a specific set of circumstances in time and space where the situation at hand slightly challenges us beyond our known, or practiced, skillset. It edges on anxiety/stress but is also clear from boredom/apathy. We are essentially “triggered” into a psychosomatic state that brings us into “the zone.”
There are many scientific opinions on how to best trigger flow states, but one aspect remains core: you must be in a state of low-grade stress or fear because the challenge at hand is greater than your current skillset. The general “metric” for triggering flow is a ~4% increase of the challenge over skill (actual data that came out of the sports world mostly). Note: this is also contingent on varying levels of stress thresholds…some people have more. Though 4% is harder to measure for other skills, the general concept is useful in coming up with enough of an increase that’s manageable and sustainable. The percentage is not the important factor here, but that the challenge does not greatly surpass skill (C>S = Anxiety), nor does skill override the challenge (C<S = Boredom). What you want is for the challenge to be slightly greater or equal to skill to tap into a new psychophysical state.
Inspiration
I had the pleasure of working with the team at the Flow Research Collective — a tribe of peak performers breaking down the science behind accessing flow on demand. One of the highlights of my experience there was in hearing client stories via the coaching team on how flow is truly situation and status agnostic: a pure meta skill available to humans of all kinds (and wired intentionally for our very evolution) that can be practiced and honed by the busy house dad chasing after 3 toddlers to the CEO-Olympian going for gold in the next olympics. Like other precious meta skills like Compassion and Empathy, there are many components that create the formula for more Flow to be a sustained state one can access at will. Leaving this skill off the table is selling yourself short on your full potential. To go all-in to learn how to access more flow on demand, check out www.flowresearchcollective.com
Innovation
What would happen if you married the age old practice of “clocking in” to work with the modern remote preference of co-working? You guessed it: Flow-working. With the increase in distributed remote teams and solopreneurs crushing it on their own, there’s a need for an accountability system where you can clock-in for a flow block, knowing other souls are joining you at the same time and place for some friendly focused competition. Designed with a series of flow triggers to get you in the groove (ie. A 3-minute setup where you 1) greet your group and agree to ground rules (shared risk/equal participation), 2) follow clear instructions on how to get started (close listening / shared goals), 3) type in your 90-minute flow block task (risk/clear goals), 4) do a 1 minute breathing exercise (deep embodiment), and 5) get going on your task until the buzzer stops you at the end (complete concentration / autonomy). It’s a way of opt-in disciplined co-working that can become even more familiar over time and be that time/space where you know you can be extremely productive. It’s like signing up to a race you’ll know you’ll have to run faster for than you could on your own!
We can support you too in finding more focus, flow and momentum on your next business idea. Join a coaching sprint!
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