Optimal Experiences Through Flow

By: James Pinola, MS, CSCS

I’ve spent most of my twenties reading “self-improvement” books on topics ranging from personal finance, to business, interpersonal relations, and the like. I read most of the classics by authors like John Bogle, Suze Orman, Jim Rohn, Peter Drucker, Napoleon Hill, Dale Carnegie, Stephen Covey, etc.  Although I learned a lot, I must admit, I never really felt better about myself despite the self-improvement claims.

From there I pivoted my studies to a different genre, the realm of Happiness research, in hopes of finding what I was looking for. After another dozen or so books and podcasts, that were temporarily inspiring at best, I still couldn’t quite find what I was looking for.  I finally stumbled upon what would become one of my top three favorite books and the topic of discussion for this article, Flow: The psychology of optimal experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (my other two favorites being Let My People Go Surfing by Yvon Chouinard and Discipline is Destiny by Ryan Holiday).

My favorite quote from Csikszentmihalyi is when he said, “The best moments [in life] usually occur when [our] body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile. Optimal experience is thus something that we can make happen.” For me personally, this is inspiring because it is attainable each and every day. But how exactly do we get there? By reaching a state of flow. Let’s start by defining what that is.

Flow is defined by Csikszentmihalyi as being “the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.” Think marathon runners, fire walkers (those who walk across extremely hot coals) and Habitat for Humanity volunteers who gain nothing tangible for their efforts. While these are extreme examples, you can find opportunities for flow in daily life, many people even experience flow at work.

While flow doesn’t always (or exclusively) happen at work, it often can. Work can often provide a framework that helps develop an “autotelic self,” which is critical for experiencing flow. Autotelic derives from two Greek words, auto meaning self and telos meaning goal. It refers to a self-contained activity, one that is done not with the expectation of some future benefit, but simply because the doing itself is the reward. The antonym being exotelic. Anyway, the criteria for this framework includes: goal setting, activity immersion, paying attention and learning to enjoy the immediate experience. If the words “work” and “enjoy” don’t go hand in hand for you, fear not. Flow states can be enjoyed during exercise, gardening, cleaning, cooking, or engaging in a hobby, just to name a few. The opportunities for flow are nearly endless.

Achieving a flow state isn’t all or nothing, it occurs on a continuum. Csikszentmihalyi suggests that we can remain in flow if our skills meet the challenge(s) at hand. Excessively skilled workers will get bored and unskilled workers may feel too anxious or inadequate to achieve flow. Challenges need to increase gradually, as our skills improve, in order to remain in a flow state. This is a simple warning that just because you gain proficiency, doesn’t mean you’re guaranteed to have an optimal experience. Job crafting or deliberately seeking out new challenges or a change in responsibilities might be necessary to keep you properly stimulated. In simpler terms, what helped you reach a flow state in the past, might not put you in a flow state today.

If visualizing a flow experience doesn’t come naturally to you, here’s an example from the book. Joe Kramer worked as a welder in a railroad car assembly plant in Chicago. He frequently turned down promotions in order to keep his job and despite never moving up the ladder, he was seen as the plant’s most important asset. He simply enjoyed fixing broken machinery because he viewed each incident as a unique opportunity to polish his skills and get immersed in his work. Though Joe might not have had the word flow in his lexicon, he is a great example of someone finding flow in the workplace. More importantly, Joe never became a “workaholic.” He had interests independent of his day job that also contributed to his sense of happiness and self-worth. According to Csikszentmihalyi, this is so important because many people waste their leisure time. Instead of engaging in flow inducing activities ourselves such as playing sports, creating art or traveling, we settle to watch others do these things on tv and we call it entertainment. According to Csikszentmihalyi, “tv watching is the most common leisure activity in America.”

Focusing on finding flow in your everyday life can be a bit counter cultural because it challenges cultural symbols of happiness: wealth, status, power, but it might lead to a happier life. Focusing on flow, and not happiness itself, is supported in the literature for leading a better life. After listening to the episode “The Path to Contentment” from the science podcast, Hidden Brain, I learned that paradoxically people who focus on happiness often end up unhappy. We feel less content when we start to question our happiness. Csikszentmihalyi echoes this when he explains a Norman Bradburn study which reveals that money doesn’t necessarily make people happier. With great insight, Csikszentmihalyi says,”instead of worrying about how to make a million dollars or how to win friends and influence people, it seems more beneficial to find out how everyday life can be made more harmonious and more satisfying, and thus achieve by a direct route what cannot be reached through the pursuit of symbolic goals.”

If you’re interested in learning more, please check out the book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

-JP

Sources

1.)   Csikszentmihalyi, M. (Author) 1990. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience - 1st edition. Harper & Row, New York, NY.

2.)   Vedantam, S. (Host) February 6th, 2023. Happiness 2.0: The Path to Contentment [Audio Podcast] Hidden Brain, Hidden Brain Media https://hiddenbrain.org/podcast/happiness-2-0-the-path-to-contentment/