How Often are you Getting Into a Flow State at Work?

Don’t you love it when you get into a state of flow?

Flow is when things are rushing along easily and you are so engaged and productive that you don’t even notice time passing. Your performance feels almost effortless.

How much of your time are you spending in a flow state?

In an interview with Wired magazine Mihaly Csíkszentmihályi, the psychologist who coined the term “flow” for this kind of mental state, described flow as "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost."

We’re most effective and productive in that flow state. We’re also most likely to be making our best contributions to others at the same time.

I realized a while back that I had been slipping away from work activities that put me in a flow state. I was doing more things where I was not playing to my strengths. It felt like I was increasingly paddling against the current. This reminded me to re-prioritize my time and activities. Maybe that could be helpful to you.

Here is a simple way to check this:

1. List the major activities on which you are spending your time. (Maybe 5-7 and certainly no more than 10. If you have too many, then this itself is a big part of the problem. Sort and cluster them together into categories, then continue.)
2. Estimate what percentage of your time you are spending on each.
3. Place them on a 2x2 grid of Energy x Impact.
   1. Is the activity charging your batteries or draining them?
   2. Is the activity high impact for you or low?
   3. Draw and label each activity as a circle with an area proportionate to the percentage of time you spend on it. See the example.
4. Step back and take a look at your grid.

This is one application of the classic Eisenhower Matrix for prioritization. In this case, we’re putting Energy and Impact together.

If you like, you can do this grid twice–once for your current, “as-is” situation and once for your ideal scenario.

As you look at your grid, you can decide how to re-balance so you are spending more time (biggest circles) in the upper-right box, the “Productive Flow State” region. I suggest three strategies to change the size of your circles:

• Apply a Sage perspective: Keep the activity but shift your perspective to get more energy and impact from it
• Delegate, automate, or eliminate the draining or low-impact activity
• Rebalance time allocation between the activities to get a more optimal mix

With the Sage perspective, if you can’t get away from or do less of the task, then at least you are finding the good in spending the energy on it. That itself can lighten the load.

Keep looking for the positive and approach your work with fresh eyes now and again. One secret to success in business that my FocalPoint colleagues are fond of sharing is to spend the right amount of time working on the business, instead of working in the business. The former builds it up, while the latter just keeps it going.

Remember, you’re more productive and effective (and likely happier) in that flow state. Seek it out and go for the flow!

All the best,
–Steve

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