Flow
Posted on March 22, 2006 Comments (3)
“Flow” and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi by David Farmer:
1. Completely involved, focused, concentrating – with this either due to innate curiosity or as the result of training
2. Sense of ecstasy – of being outside everyday reality
3. Great inner clarity – knowing what needs to be done and how well it is going
4. Knowing the activity is doable – that the skills are adequate, and neither anxious or bored
5. Sense of serenity – no worries about self, feeling of growing beyond the boundaries of ego – afterwards feeling of transcending ego in ways not thought possible
6. Timeliness – thoroughly focused on present, don’t notice time passing
7. Intrinsic motivation – whatever produces “flow” becomes its own reward
Books by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi:
- Good Business Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning, 2004.
- Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience,1991. People enter a flow state when they are fully absorbed in activity during which they lose their sense of time and have feelings of great satisfaction. The author, a pioneer in this astonishing field of study, clearly explains the principles of “flow” and shows how it can be introduced into every level of life. (audio tape)
- Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention, 1997. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with exceptional people, from biologists and physicists to politicians and business leaders to poets and artists, the author uses his famous “flow” theory to explain the creative process. Csikszentmihalyi’s objective is to offer readers an understanding of what leads to creative moments so that they can use that knowledge to enrich their own lives.
3 Responses to “Flow”
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July 30th, 2007 @ 8:39 am
“In many companies the impact of multi-tasking is obscured by the fact that in spite of its prevalence most projects still finish on time. While this reliability is nice, it masks the even more significant opportunity to cut project durations substantially. If projects are being delivered on or close to schedule, and multi-tasking is occurring, it can only mean that the task estimates used in the plan are significantly inflated…”
January 18th, 2010 @ 8:32 am
[...] to politicians and business leaders to poets and artists, the author uses his famous “flow” theory to explain the creative [...]
May 12th, 2010 @ 9:44 am
For me the main cost of interruptions is the time it takes to get back to where I was before the interruption. And the cost is related to how much focus is needed to address what your are working on. Most programming takes a huge amount of focus…