Sitting in front of your work, reading a book or doing a puzzle, you suddenly forget everything around you, time, environment, sounds and movements. This ultimate state of concentration and creativity is also called flow and is highly desired and yet so difficult to achieve. How exactly do you manage to put yourself in a flow state to maximize your productivity?
In a flow state, it seems as if everything you are doing at the moment comes easily. A tunnel vision, maximum concentration, a state that is hard to grasp, which comes about all by itself. This state takes its name from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a scientist who devotes himself to positive psychology. Although he is not the eponym of the flow, he has investigated the coveted state in a large study and found out which important key factors are significantly responsible for the achievement of the state. These are eight key requirements:
1. Clearly stated goals:
Those who set clear goals can focus precisely on them while working, without spending minutes still looking for the actual task.
2. Focus and concentration on one task:
One thing at a time! This motto promotes the flow state.
3. Clearly recognize and balance abilities and requirements:
Those who know what they can do and what the task requires in terms of demands approach the task with a clearer awareness from the outset.
4. Sense of control over one's own abilities and task:
Those who know their value as well as their abilities can approach the task in a controlled manner.
5. Switch off reflective ego-consciousness:
This sounds difficult at first and in fact it is not that easy. You constantly reflect on yourself, which prevents you from focusing completely on what you are doing. If you switch this off for the duration of the work phase, it is easier to get into the flow.
6. Changed perception of time:
Watching the clock and keeping track of time hinders creativity and the flow state. Instead, let yourself drift.
7. Deepen action and awareness:
Living fully in the here and now is not only healthy for the mind, but also promotes maximum concentration. Simply feeling into yourself and being aware of what you are doing helps to achieve the flow state.
8. Autotelic Experience:
This means that it is not the result that counts in the end, but already doing and experiencing the current stage is very satisfying and rewarding. The flow state in itself has a positive effect.
Citation
- Martins (6. Mai 2021). Was ist der Flow State bei der Arbeit? 6 Tipps für den richtigen Flow. (Abgerufen am 02.04.22). https://asana.com/de/resources/flow-state-work.
- Arleth (20.01.2022). Es läuft! Wie kommt man in den Flow? (Abgerufen am 02.04.22). https://www.zeitjung.de/flow-konzentration-uni-arbeit-produktivitaet-tipps/.