How to Unlock the Secrets of Flow
29 Aug 2023
Last week I talked about creating objectives, strategies and tactics for your life.
Today I want to share a tactic that's been accelerating my business goals: learning how to leverage the flow state.
Flow was introduced by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in 1990, and he defines it as a state of complete immersion in an activity.
'When in flow, the individual is so involved in the task at hand that everything else seems to recede into the background.'
Steven Kotler, author and founder of the Flow Research Collective, delves deeper into the concept of flow from a neuroscience angle. He describes it as a state of conciousness where work feel effortless and you're performing at your peak.
According to Steven, flow happens repeatedly in four phases:
Struggle
Release
Flow
Recovery
The good news is, anyone can enter it.
As Dr. Andrew Huberman explains in this video, mother nature gave us brain circuits that are incredibly generic. This means we can adapt and apply flow to anything we want to do.
There's no secret door marked flow that we can open to enter it.
Let's explore the flow cycle and see how you can apply it to your own life.
Can you withstand the struggle?
The early stages of hard work and focus feel like agitation and stress. This is your adrenaline system kicking in during the struggle phase.
Unfortunately, many of us never persist long enough to enter flow.
If you interrupt this phase, you reset the cycle.
We distract ourselves, procrastinate, or jump between tasks to make ourselves feel better.
Nobody expects to walk into the gym and do a personal record with the first lift.
The brain also needs to warm up, it's unreasonable to think we can head straight into flow.
So, the next time you feel agitated, recognize it as the gateway to the flow state and push through.
The more you can link struggle to the focus that comes after, the easier the struggle becomes.
Bonus fact: using caffeine in the struggle phase can get you into the flow state faster.
2. What do you want to use flow for?
Once you make it through the struggle, the brain releases a burst of dopamine. This lowers the adrenaline levels and allows for focused work.
You're now in the flow state. You feel amazing and work feels effortless.
You can leverage this flow state for anything - learning new things, cleaning the house, doing something at work...
So, what will you use this superpower for?
3. Do you recover adequately?
The often-overlooked aspect of the flow cycle is the recovery phase.
Just as muscles need rest after a workout, your nervous system needs time to recover after being in flow.
Note that recovery doesn't necessarily mean relaxation. (Eg binging Netflix while eating icecream)
If you want to learn more about flow and how to recover well - check out Rian Doris on Youtube and let me know if you'd like to hear my thoughts in a future newsletter.
Fun Fact of the Week
Let's stay within the theme of neuroscience and explore dopamine, often called the "molecule of more."
Dopamine is a chemical in your brain that acts like a messenger and helps different parts of your brain talk to each other.
Often linked to pleasure, satisfaction and motivation, dopamine is mother nature's hardwired system, found in all animals, to put us on the right path.
Many people think of dopamine as the reward you get when you achieve something big, like publishing a book. While that's true, its main role is actually to release whenever you hit a milestone or even just think you're on the right path.
The release of dopamine also encourages us to repeat behaviors in the future. (good and bad)
An example:
A thirsty deer doesn't conciouscly know it needs water but feels agitated.
While foraging, it smells water and gets a hit of dopamine, signaling it's on the right path.
Upon finding a lake and drinking, it experiences a larger release of dopamine as a reward.
The deer will behave the same way in the future to get the dopamine hit again.
Moral of the story: Dopamine is released when we hit milestones or follow the right path, and tends to tighten our focus for that particular activity.
Quote of the Week
Never forget why you’re really doing what you’re doing. Are you helping people? Are they happy? Are you happy? Are you profitable? Isn’t that enough?
From Anything You Want by Derek Rivers
Have a great week!
Sandrero