Top tips for finding flow

The psychology of flow comes from the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi who wrote the book "Psychology of Optimal Experience".  Flow is the state in which you are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter.  It feels challenging but enjoyable and you have no awareness of time.  Think back to a time that you working on something and before you knew it, a couple of hours had gone by and you had not got up from your desk.

The first top tip is how can you find and feed flow. Identify a goal that is challenging, and is meaningful to you.  You know why you want to do it you are motivated to work and move towards it. 

Make the goal unmissable, do not lose sight of what you want to achieve, make it really hard to ignore.  Create a poster, or write it at the top of every page of your notebook.  Put the goal in a frame on your desk.  Anywhere and everywhere you can see it!!

The goal you have identified has to put you at stretch, it is doable but you are being challenged.

You may find it hard to identify where to start and in order to get into flow you have to accept this is part of the process.  Whenever our brain feels like it is locked take a few minutes to clear your head by going for a walk or just taking time to breathe.  We must enter flow in the right mindset, so accept that in order to get clarity of where to start, take a break.

Once we enter flow we need to have regular feedback to check we are on the right track.  Ask colleagues "What has been going well?" and... "What would be even better if...?"  If you work for yourself, ask your coach for feedback or ask yourself key questions.  "What does a job well done look like against my goal?"

The environment plays an important part in finding flow, and will be very individualistic.  Some like music some find it distracting, some like clutter, some like clean space it is important to identify where you find flow working best.

Finally make sure that you take time to acknowledge achievement by sending yourself a pride postcard.  Just write a few short sentences to reflect and celebrate your achievements.

Please do get in touch if you would like support in finding flow bev@nuggetsoflearning.co.uk