Let's be honest. It's a distracting world.
The business landscape can feel paradoxical. I mean, on the one hand, our attention is split over hundreds of tasks, requests, and strategies per day, while on the other hand, we are encouraged to foster a calm, joyful, objective mindset. It's like trying to catch lightning in a bottle and look suave while doing it.
The Father of Flow
So it is no surprise that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's flow zone caught many business leader's attention. It came as a welcome antidote to this paradox by fusing high performance with extreme satisfaction. Who doesn't want to perform at their best and feel joy while doing it?
The flow zone does make us feel like superheroes; however, like anything in life, there is always a catch when we try to force anything to remain permanently. It has since led to increased stress, with leaders feeling pressured to maintain the flow zone unnaturally.
You see, flow follows a 4-part cycle, with the flow zone being only one part. So if you're aiming to activate the flow zone more regularly, the other 3 parts need to be honoured. I've shared a few tips below to support you. Let me know in the comments if any have helped you or if you'd like to add to them.
But first, What Is Flow?
There is a misconception out there about what flow is. As mentioned above, people assume that the flow zone is the isolated definition, which, according to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is "the mental state in which a person performing some activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity."
While this is correct for the flow zone, flow is broader than just this one part or experience. In it's wholistic state, flow is our capacity to harness our energy appropriately in order to create effortless outcomes and bring ease to ourselves and our tasks. Flow, in essence, is energy management.
"Without energy, you have nothing.” Warren Buffett
It's more than just performance. It includes taking rest, harvesting resources, mindful silence, and a keen awareness of how balance creates efficiency. If this sounds like something you need, then read on.
Top Tips To Activate The Flow Zone
1. Err towards simplicity
Flow flourishes in simple, uncluttered environments. This includes your mental, emotional, and physical state, as well as environmental factors such as processes, waste, possessions, strong sensory triggers, and complicated technology.
2. Interruptions, disruptions, and distractions
Anything that splits your focus is deemed to be an interruption, disruption, or distraction. So when you commit to a task, do it fully immersed, allowing all other energy pullers to be set aside. Give up multi-tasking.
When labelled a multi-tasker, Elon Musk disagreed with this, stating that he is a serial-tasker. Fully immersing himself in each task before moving on to the next.
3. Complete acceptance of reality
Most of our energy is spent defying life. We try to control situations, coerce people, and manipulate outcomes. All with the good intention of making life go our way. We gain strength and energy from accepting our circumstances and collaborating with life to achieve what we desire.
4. Systemic thinking
Finding the sweet spot in life is about aligning all the forces we are contending with. It's like sailing. When the tide, the wind, and the sails calibrate, we shift into immediate flow, smooth movement, and efficiency. Know the influences in your system and align them to work towards one vision.
5. The 80/20 principle
Pareto's Law defines how energy and effort operate together to get outcomes. Flow teaches us to focus on the key efforts (20%) that attract 80% results. Consider your tasks, your clients, your marketing efforts, and your profits. What 80% effort is yielding little result?
6 .Set emotionally strong goals and visions
This eliminates wasteful effort and time, confusion, and distractions. Water has an impulse to move in a certain direction. This is what creates flow. Where are you headed? This will strengthen your decision-making and generate energy.
7. Mindfulness practice
Commit to daily mindful practice. We know this. It's an invitation we keep getting in these uncertain times. So do it. No more excuses. Practicing mindfulness in small bouts per day builds our resilience to focus on the big, important things.
8. Embrace cycles and rhythms
Stop putting pressure on yourself to perform consistently at 110%! It's unnatural, and it's causing dangerous health issues. Life (and energy) is cyclical. You are cyclical. So when you need rest or silence, listen. Being in flow is about honouring your unique rhythm.
“We trust nature to know what it is doing, but we are not nearly so kind, understanding and trusting of our own rhythms and cycles." Jeffrey R. Anderson
Monk Mode For The Win
So there you have it. It's not everything, but it's a great kick-start. Being in flow is actually a natural state of being when we let go of the pressure to perform and meet the expectations of others. It's time to hit monk mode.
Monk mode doesn't mean you quit your life and find a mountain cave to meditate in. It's about creating structure, prioritising your energy, and giving all you do the deepest level of focus it deserves.
May you generate flow, go with the slow, and ignite your glow (cheesy ending for a bigger win).
Want to find out more? Get in touch.
