FLOW: The Wednesday Word #WednesdayWisdom
WORD:
Flow (verb)
DEFINITION:
the action or fact of moving along in a steady, continuous stream.
a steady, continuous stream of something.
move along or out steadily and continuously in a current or stream.
go from one place to another in a steady stream, typically in large numbers.
ETYMOLOGY:
mid-15c., “action of flowing,” from flow (v.). Meaning “amount that flows” is from 1807. Sense of “any strong, progressive movement comparable to the flow of a river” is from 1640s. Flow chart attested from 1920 (flow-sheet in same sense from 1912). To go with the flow is by 1977, apparently originally in skiing jargon.
“Go with the flow, enjoy the forces, let ankles, knees, hips and waist move subtly to soak up potential disturbances of acceleration and deceleration. [“Ski” magazine, November 1980]”
FLOW The Wednesday Word ACTION IDEA:
What needs to happen in order to be “in the flow”
Per Wikipedia, Jeanne Nakamura and Mihály Csíkszentmihályi (pronounced me-haly cheek-sent-me-haly) you need 9 things…
- Intense and focused concentration on the present moment
- Merging of action and awareness
- A loss of reflective self-consciousness
- A sense of personal control or agency over the situation or activity
- A distortion of temporal experience, one’s subjective experience of time is altered
- Experience of the activity as intrinsically rewarding, also referred to as autotelic experience
- Immediate feedback
- Feeling the potential to succeed
- Feeling so engrossed in the experience, that other needs become negligible
In order to achieve flow, Csikszentmihályi lays out the following three conditions:
- Goals are clear
- Feedback is immediate
- A balance exists between opportunity and capacity
Think of the last time you were in the flow – what did it look like? Most likely it involved the following
- There were no External Distractions
- You had NO Internal Distractions
- Your mind was focused on just One Thing
- Challenged but not overwhelmed
- Moving towards a desired outcome or target
Sound about right?
How can you incorporate these 5 things into your daily tasks and what would the experience of your day be if you spent more time in the flow?