Flow State by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

[Uncertainty]

Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the positive psychology concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields.

According to Csíkszentmihályi, flow is completely focused motivation. It is a single-minded immersion and represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessing the emotions in the service of performing and learning. In flow, the emotions are not just contained and channeled, but positive, energized, and aligned with the task at hand. To be caught in the ennui of depression or the agitation of anxiety is to be barred from flow. The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task although flow is also described (below) as a deep focus on nothing but the activity – not even oneself or one's emotions.

Csíkszentmihályi identifies the following ten factors as accompanying an experience of flow:
1. Clear goals (expectations and rules are discernible and goals are attainable and align appropriately with one's skill set and abilities). Moreover, the challenge level and skill level should both be high.
2. Concentrating, 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).
3.A loss of the feeling of self-consciousness, the merging of action and awareness.
4. Distorted sense of time, one's subjective experience of time is altered.
5. Direct and immediate feedback (successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed).
6. Balance between ability level and challenge (the activity is neither too easy nor too difficult).
7. A sense of personal control over the situation or activity.
8. The activity is intrinsically rewarding, so there is an effortlessness of action.
9. A lack of awareness of bodily needs (to the extent that one can reach a point of great hunger or fatigue without realizing it)
10. Absorption into the activity, narrowing of the focus of awareness down to the activity itself, action awareness merging.
Not all are needed for flow to be experienced.

Csíkszentmihályi hypothesized that people with several very specific personality traits may be better able to achieve flow more often than the average person. These personality traits include curiosity, persistence, low self-centeredness, and a high rate of performing activities for intrinsic reasons only. People with most of these personality traits are said to have an autotelic personality.
It has not yet been documented whether people with an autotelic personality are truly more likely to achieve a flow state. One researcher did find that people with an autotelic personality have a greater preference for "high-action-opportunity, high-skills situations that stimulate them and encourage growth" than those without an autotelic personality. It is in such high-challenge, high-skills situations that people are most likely to enter the flow state.

Taken from Wikipedia.

Out of curiosity, have you experienced flow? How?
As for me, I'm not sure; maybe when I'm running. My memory isn't good enough to say for certain. I'll have to pay more attention. I will say that it sounds like a great experience, though. Like a feeling of inner completeness.

[EyeSeeCold]

Once, and yeah it was during running. Sounds like an Si thing though.

Other related threads:
http://www.the16types.info/vbulletin...-SLIs-and-flow
http://www.the16types.info/vbulletin...ng-In-The-Zone

[Uncertainty]

Once, and yeah it was during running. Sounds like an Si thing though.

Other related threads:
http://www.the16types.info/vbulletin...-SLIs-and-flow
http://www.the16types.info/vbulletin...ng-In-The-Zone

Oh, I didn't know there were already threads about it. Search function would've been good.

From the description, yeah, sounds Si. I'm kind of hesitant to label it under a specific category, though.

If I have experienced it during running, it's only been a few times, when I'm only focused on breathing and time seems to pass by like nothing. Most of the time I'm just wondering how long it's been, when I'll be finished, or I'll be looking around because of boredom That was back then, though. Nowadays running's less boring for me; must've been all those 6-8 mile days running for a cross-country team. Positive consequences can come out of shitty experiences, I guess. Haha.

Oh, sure. I didn't know there was a name for it. I've been that focused several times.

I didn't know either until a couple days ago. Read a book that mentioned it and figured I'd look it up.

This article is getting to be viral.. The great Scott Sonnon posted it on his twitter account.

Seems like someone I should know, but don't.

[Saberstorm]

The GREAT Scott Sonnon!!! YES, YES *** (insert creepy smile here)*** You should know him.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/ScottSonnon

That is is Facebook page. He is a police trainer/ martial arts guru. Ignore the video about the KKK, and the rest of his posts are about flow states and willpower and so on.

[Creepy-male]

Yes I've been "in the zone" or whatever before, I've even found out a few things about stuff that prevents me from being more in the zone. Such as self-criticism and other small anxieties and tensions which prevent being in the zone.

My guess is this doesn't have to do with function but perhaps interactions between functions in one's psyche which enable the presence of mind.

[Leader]

Yes I've been "in the zone" or whatever before, I've even found out a few things about stuff that prevents me from being more in the zone. Such as self-criticism and other small anxieties and tensions which prevent being in the zone.

My guess is this doesn't have to do with function but perhaps interactions between functions in one's psyche which enable the presence of mind.

Perhaps.

[Leader]

...Im going to make a bold statement and say "Flow" is intrinsically Se.

Anyways, yeah I tried researching this before and gave up since I can't really find any real shit on how to access it more often. One thing though, is that it definitely has to do with Alpha brain waves.

[EyeSeeCold]

Oh, I didn't know there were already threads about it. Search function would've been good.

From the description, yeah, sounds Si. I'm kind of hesitant to label it under a specific category, though.

If I have experienced it during running, it's only been a few times, when I'm only focused on breathing and time seems to pass by like nothing. Most of the time I'm just wondering how long it's been, when I'll be finished, or I'll be looking around because of boredom That was back then, though. Nowadays running's less boring for me; must've been all those 6-8 mile days running for a cross-country team. Positive consequences can come out of shitty experiences, I guess. Haha.

It wasn't just straight running. I was chasing someone down.

[munenori2]

I probably posted in that other thread, but flow is pretty much what I strive for when I'm doing physical stuff. In the context of actual activities, I guess I've experienced it most when I'm biking or loading boxes. It's one of those commonalities between disparate things that you realize is intrinsically valuable, so you try to sort of inculcate it into whatever various disciplines you find yourself in. I'm not sure how I would describe it. It's some kind of directional focused and all-self-encompassing euphoria, I guess.

[Uncertainty]

The GREAT Scott Sonnon!!! YES, YES *** (insert creepy smile here)*** You should know him.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/ScottSonnon

That is is Facebook page. He is a police trainer/ martial arts guru. Ignore the video about the KKK, and the rest of his posts are about flow states and willpower and so on.

That KKK video He does have a point though! Haha.
It's like reverse psychology, I couldn't help but watch it.

So this was the article you were talking about? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-...b_1108113.html

From the looks of it he's definitely a proactive kind of guy. Hopefully he has material for people looking to improve kick flexibility; I'm trying to get back to form.

...Im going to make a bold statement and say "Flow" is intrinsically Se.

Anyways, yeah I tried researching this before and gave up since I can't really find any real shit on how to access it more often. One thing though, is that it definitely has to do with Alpha brain waves.

Hmm, any explanation as to why it'd be Se?

Alpha brain waves? I'm not familiar with that.

Yes I've been "in the zone" or whatever before, I've even found out a few things about stuff that prevents me from being more in the zone. Such as self-criticism and other small anxieties and tensions which prevent being in the zone.

My guess is this doesn't have to do with function but perhaps interactions between functions in one's psyche which enable the presence of mind.

Yeah, it's harder to focus when you're thinking about how you come across to others and constantly assessing the difficulty of the undertaking. Pretty much end up overthinking. I think the people who can access "flow" the best are the ones with more stable or inwardly-driven psyches, who can tune out those kinds of distractions or don't have them to begin with.

What did you do to "get in the zone?"

It wasn't just straight running. I was chasing someone down.

I'm really curious to know how this ends up becoming your defining "flow" moment.

I probably posted in that other thread, but flow is pretty much what I strive for when I'm doing physical stuff. In the context of actual activities, I guess I've experienced it most when I'm biking or loading boxes. It's one of those commonalities between disparate things that you realize is intrinsically valuable, so you try to sort of inculcate it into whatever various disciplines you find yourself in. I'm not sure how I would describe it. It's some kind of directional focused and all-self-encompassing euphoria, I guess.

Maybe that's what I should strive for, too.

Sounds paradoxical, though. My goal would be to achieve a mindset from carrying out an activity in which I would appreciate the inherent value of that activity.

[Leader]

Yes, i'll explain later since im feeling lazy :/

[Creepy-male]

Yeah, it's harder to focus when you're thinking about how you come across to others and constantly assessing the difficulty of the undertaking. Pretty much end up overthinking. I think the people who can access "flow" the best are the ones with more stable or inwardly-driven psyches, who can tune out those kinds of distractions or don't have them to begin with.

What did you do to "get in the zone?"

Check this out http://wik.ed.uiuc.edu/index.php/Effortless_Mastery -- It's all about this topic and how the internal critic can interfere with with being in this zone, it was written by an improvisational musician, so its based in personal experience and not in pseduo-scientific new age bullshit.

Most of my exposure to this thing started in high school when I began trying to learn how to play the trumpet improvisationally. I had a really good teacher for trumpet and he mentioned this book, only after a few years did I look into it and begin digesting it. Now I can even see the similarities between this and other concepts in certain eastern religions (I'm mainly thinking of buddhism) and I've even begun paying attention to this aspect of myself.

As for when I notice this state, sometimes in physical activity, and sometimes in creative activities, and I can even begin to see it's application to things in general -- say even social situations, are you present and in the moment interacting with people, or are you self-consciously observing and attempting to control the social situation from afar using scripted social responses. I mean I can see applications everywhere to this. I know sometimes when I'm working on something creatively and I have built up a lot of focus, that I can get lost more easily into the activity and have my entire concentration on the present moment and what I'm creating. Sometimes I'll go into this state for 2-3 hours and when I get out of it and step away from what I'm working on it feels similar to waking up from a dream in a way.

The matrix also reminds me of the concept of the zone. The matrix is a metaphor for one's perceptual world, not the "real world" but how one sees things. In the real world there are two aspects, humanity - which is organic, and the machines - which are the system or the deterministic/mechanized portion of people. Agents represent one's neurosis, one's security system in one's perceptual world, they prevent or hold back people to try to preserve order in one's perception. Neo becoming the one, and destroying the agent was similar to one overcoming one's neurosis. Seeing the code to one's perceptual world, is akin to being fully in the zone, or in an enlightened state. At the end of the matrix neo goes into the agent, and the agent dematerializes around him, him emerging in the core -- this furthers the metaphor of him breaking free from his inner doubt/worry/fear/anxiety/neurosis. The matrix has many elements of eastern spirituality in it.

How do I attempt to achieve this state -- I have no idea lol. Maybe build focus, a lot of times I find that if I rush into an activity with a lot of worries and anxieties in the back of my mind that I end up breaking the flow in whatever I'm doing. I need to kind of tell myself mentally that everything's alright and I'm exactly where I should be, even though I may feel anxiety about the future or past. I may be worried about some future appointment I have that I don't feel like doing, or I may have a general sense of being behind in my life that creates a kind of urgency, or I may have something negative that bothered me looping over and over in my head that I'm just trying to ignore. I find that building focus and dispelling some of the tension behind all of that helps before entering into an activity. The first step I've discovered to doing this though is awareness of the anxiety I have, trying to cut through the bullshit and go straight to the heart of what is bothering me, instead of becoming overly focused on insignificant tangents.

For example, I may loose the ability to create music because I'm too self-conscious about something someone said about a group they hate that I may have secretly liked, this causes me to over analyze everything I do and criticize it all in an attempt to not sound like this group this other person hates and therefore be rejected. Many people would get caught up in the rationalizations of this -- say spend time arguing over their musical taste, to bolster their ego to a point where they found the will to create music again or they may attempt to conform to the tastes of these people so they wouldn't have to be rejected. In both cases it's an obsessive over rationalization of the issue which is how you feel about your personal taste in music being rejected by someone else. I think being in the zone would require less self-consciousness of this, realizing your taste isn't going to always be the same as everyone else, and that overtime your and other people's tastes in music evolves, so its more important to focus on develop your own unique style and move forward with that with a sense of self-confidence. I find that deconstructing things like this helps me get to the heart of the issue and not spend large blocks of time getting caught up in tangents. So I guess my best strategy is to try to build focus through deconstructing my latent background anxieties that I may not even realize are there unless I concentrate on how I feel.

I think the real goal is to have this sort of thing going on automatically so that the latent background anxieties aren't even created in your psyche and you don't get out of the zone, a person who was able to achieve such a state would be "enlightened"... but I'm very skeptical of anyone who claims to be like this, because what's more typical is the anxiety is there but people that think they are enlightened are just in denial or have a dissociative identity -- they are in the dream state and not self-possessed, which is how they get away with seeming like they are "enlightened" or constantly in the zone.

I'm nowhere near being a master at this, I can just occasionally focus my efforts well in spurts, but I always eventually burn out lol.

[DirectorAbbie]

Oh, sure. I didn't know there was a name for it. I've been that focused several times.

[Saberstorm]

This article is getting to be viral.. The great Scott Sonnon posted it on his twitter account.

[marooned]

I think I've experienced it for very short moments on a few occasions and I think those moments revealed the poverty my consciousness is usually otherwise in. Although it's important to me to craft and hone my experience of consciousness, I seem to always be too lazy to put in the necessary disciplined work. Although this is not the same thing as flow, it's related... my consciousness now would only transform into a state such as flow by some random arrangement of circumstances, or by accident. Also I suppose there is rebellion with things I don't like in my life... when I feel I have to do something (like my job) when I really don't like it, I seem to fragment my mind further so that it can live in its own land while not having to suffer the tedium of the tasks I engage very little of it in. But in doing this I'm training my mind to not be present at all and so over time it all gets worse. I'm not sure what it would take to let go of my rebellion, but I think it might be to accept some sort of power in my life or something, rather than seeing myself as some small particle caught by all the winds and moved about where I didn't wish to go. Perhaps I console myself by seeing myself as a victim of my life or of reality. I probably need to learn that I have some control, and that a choice that I bury under all of these circumstantial things that I perceive as having happened to me, is still a choice. In a very E9-ish way I think that I fracture off the part of me that actually makes certain willful decisions... the way those decisions are carried out are always in these convoluted, subtle ways that don't really always show up, and this muffles the source of the decision... So it ends up where I'm on different tracks of life at the same time, where my conscious experience of life may be divorced from an instinctual being beneath who makes certain decisions, and from the wiser self beneath who emerges now and then reminding me that I knew it all had to go a certain way because I was trying to learn or change something (but that "wiser self" is not an island unto itself and so when ignored long enough may fall into being someone who is a poor guide--seeking ideals that only get me more off track). Anyway the point is that I am in all of these layers and rarely do they all convene together to make one voice or discussion, or converge as one single sharp point where all of my active, awake and alert consciousness is concentrated. That is not flow either, but in such a state, I think that flow would be easy to shift into. I think flow is largely about actually engaging with something else, which is why I think it's mostly reported by people who are fully involved in something they are doing. Perhaps it's a more active state, where as what I was talking about is the corresponding passive state... so it's the same thing, but like shifting into a higher gear from the lower one or something.

[Pa3s]

Yeah, I know that state of mind. I have experienced it in both physical and mental tasks.

[Gilly]

I kind of wonder if flow is how Si/Ne types experience Se. I can enter this kind of state almost at will when I am engaged in an appropriate activity. Its happens when I work out, especially mountain biking. Also it used to happen a lot when I worked as a barista at a coffee shop wit shittons of customers, when it got really busy and i was on the bar i would just go into this crazy zen berzerker modeand work insanely fast. It was like being high in a way.

[Trevor]

Out of curiosity, have you experienced flow?

Yes.

[mu4]

I can get like this quite often, but it's generally in something totally unproductive.