They all described similar “flowy” experiences where every action flowed seamlessly, effortlessly, from one thing to the next. In 1990, Csikszentmihalyi put his decades of research on flow states into his seminal work Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.
If you want to know if an experience qualifies as being in flow state, this list of flow characteristics is a great place to start. Action and Awareness Merge—You and what you’re doing become one. Your actions feel automatic and require little or no additional resources. Selflessness—Your sense of self disappears.
These aren’t the only flow triggers, but we have found these things help drive you into a flow state. Intense Concentration—not dividing your mind between tasks, but being totally absorbed by one action in the present moment. Challenge/Skills Balance—the challenge of the task slightly exceeds your skill set. You are pushed out of our comfort zone.
Release—take your mind off the problem. To get into flow state, you’re trading conscious processing for subconscious processing. Slow thinking with limited RAM, for efficient endless RAM. To do that, you have to stop thinking. Go for a long walk, garden, take a very hot or cold shower, stare at the clouds.
One major problem with extrinsic rewards is that they lose their value over time, resulting in decreased motivation. (T/F)
Failure-oriented athletes often protect themselves by giving little or no effort; this gives them a built-in excuse to mask lack of ability. (T/F)
Many athletes equate losing with failure and incompetency because society teaches that self-worth depends on achievement. (T/F)
Success-oriented athletes view losing as a result of insufficient effort, which can be overcome by exerting more effort. (T/F)
To get into flow state, you’re trading conscious processing for subconscious processing. Slow thinking with limited RAM, for efficient endless RAM. To do that, you have to stop thinking. Go for a long walk, garden, take a very hot or cold shower, stare at the clouds. Flow state—stress hormones leave your system.
Csikszentmihalyi’s research, along with other scientists, uncovered ten characteristics of flow state.
Action and Awareness Merge—You and what you’re doing become one. Your actions feel automatic and require little or no additional resources .
Intense Concentration—not dividing your mind between tasks, but being totally absorbed by one action in the present moment.
Your action and awareness merge. Your sense of self vanishes.
The state was first named “flow” by psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi in 1975 . Research on flow states began to increase in the 1980s and 90s. You’ve probably heard the term “flow state” used in extreme sports, military and business examples.
The “godfather” of flow is the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.