Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi is the widely recognized guru of “flow” and the author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Below are some of his definitions & attributes of flow.

CEOFlow helps CEOs get into the flow by empowering them and their organizations to make money through enjoyment. The “make money through enjoyment” part is specific and meaningful.  Several of the conditions below occur frequently in business – we hope 🙂  – such as clear goals, concentration and feedback.  Some are less frequent…personal control, intrinsic rewards, and a balance between ability level and challenge.

I use the idea of “enjoyment” as a way to combine that group of less-frequent attributes into a greater whole.  For example, if you’re enjoying an activity, in general you’ll be receiving intrinsic rewards, have control over it, and have a sane balance between ability level and challenge…that is, it can feel a lot like flow!

Flow for Individuals

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s presentation at TED (from February, 2008) expands on what it feels like to be in flow:

• Completely involved, focused, concentrating – with this either due to innate curiosity or as the result of training.
• Sense of ecstasy – of being outside everyday reality.
• Great inner clarity – knowing what needs to be done and how well it is going.
• Knowing the activity is doable – that the skills are adequate, and neither anxious or bored.
• Sense of serenity – no worries about self, feeling of growing beyond the boundaries of ego – afterwards feeling of transcending ego in ways not thought possible.
• Timeliness – thoroughly focused on present, don’t notice time passing.
• Intrinsic motivation – whatever produces “flow” becomes its own reward.

So how do you get there? Wikipedia’s entry on the subject says the following conditions help:

• Clear goals (expectations and rules are discernable).
• A high degree of concentration on a limited field of attention (a person engaged in the activity will have the opportunity to focus and to delve deeply into it).
• Direct and immediate feedback (successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed).
• Balance between ability level and challenge (the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult).
• A sense of personal control over the situation or activity.
• The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action.

Group environment matters too. A couple of flow friendly space attributes:

• Creative spatial arrangements: Chairs, pin walls, charts, however no tables, therefore primarily work in standing and moving.
• Playground design: Charts for information inputs, flow graphs, project summary, craziness, safe place (people can say what is usually only thought), result wall, and open topics.

What gets you out of the flow:

A major constraint on people enjoying what they are doing is always being conscious of a fear of how they appear to others and what these others might think. Ecstasy includes rising above these constraining concerns of the ego.

…and routines that never change:

Stepping outside of normal daily routines is an essential element…This might be obtained through diverse routes or activities, such as reading a novel or becoming involved in a film.

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