Body and daily life
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Flow
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1990 · University of Chicago) — Flow.
What actually happened?
Before any of the pager studies he spent his time watching young painters at work in Chicago. They would stay at a canvas for hours, forgetting meals and sleep, in a state close to trance. Then the painting would be finished, and they lost interest in it almost at once and started another. Whatever they were working for, it was not the object at the end, because they barely looked at it once it existed. The reward had to be inside the doing, and finding out what it was became the rest of his career.
Difficulty has to match skill
Too hard gives anxiety, too easy gives boredom, and only the narrow band just above your current ability produces flow. That is why the same activity is a different experience for different people, and why a skill that has grown makes an old challenge dull. Raise the load rather than switch subjects.
Three years into a job and it feels pointless. Check whether the difficulty has stayed flat before changing industry.
A clear goal and immediate feedback
Flow requires that you know at any moment how you are doing. Climbing, chess and playing an instrument supply that by nature, while writing a proposal or running a team gives feedback in weeks. The workable move is to cut out smaller pieces that carry their own feedback.
Turn finish the report into get the argument in this section to hold. You know on the spot whether it holds.
The best moments are at work, not in leisure
The most counter-intuitive line in his data. Leisure has a low threshold and flow has an entry cost, so people repeatedly choose a low-return activity in places where a high-return one was available. Knowing this has a direct effect on how you lay out a day.
Two hours on the phone after work usually leaves you emptier. Two hours on something difficult tends to restore.
Flow is not the same as pleasure
Inside flow there is no attention left over for judging whether you are enjoying yourself, and the satisfaction arrives afterwards. Which means choosing what to do by whether it feels nice right now will almost certainly choose wrong, and you will never begin.
Writing a passage through to the end is not enjoyable. The solid feeling once it is done is the return.
How do I use it today?
Next time you cannot get into something, check the three conditions in order before you decide you have lost interest. Is the difficulty slightly above my current ability or far below it? Is my goal for this hour specific enough to be finished? Can I tell at any moment how I am doing? Repair whichever one is missing.
Deep read
Read alongside
Further
Lines to keep
Enjoyment appears at the boundary between boredom and anxiety.
The best moments come when body and mind are stretched to the limit.
People assume leisure is happiest; the records put flow at work.