Chapter Four
Living in Flow
Have you ever spent what you thought was half an hour searching the
internet, only to find out afterwards that your session lasted three hours?
Or opened a book shortly after breakfast and a little while later noticed
that it was getting darker?
Think of a moment in your life when you were so involved in what
you were doing that the rest of the world seemed to have disappeared.
Your mind wasn’t wandering; you were totally focused and concentrated
on that activity, to such an extent that you were not even aware of your-
self. Time disappeared too. Only when you came out of the experience
did you realize how much time had actually passed (usually much more
than you anticipated, although sometimes less).
Most people can remember experiencing such a state. In fact, about
90 per cent can associate such a state with one or more activities.
Athletes call it ‘being in the zone’, others a ‘heightened state of
consciousness’. Psychologists call these fully absorbing experiences flow
states, which were discovered and named by a world-famous psychologist
with the most unpronounceable surname I have ever encountered –
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.1 His celebrated book, Flow: The Psychology
of Happiness, is one of the best examples of a marriage between non-
reductionist scientific and deep thinking, within the accessible self-help
genre. It became an instant bestseller, making its way to the top of the
self-help classics.2
It is possible that if it wasn’t for the enormous popularity of Flow and
for Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi meeting accidentally in Hawaii and
29
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30 Positive Psychology in a Nutshell
becoming friends (Seligman, 2002), the positive psychology movement
might never have been born.
Making flow happen
The state of flow happens under very specific conditions – when we
encounter a challenge that tests our skills, and yet our skills and capacities
are such that it is just about possible to meet that challenge. So both the
challenge and the skills are at high levels, stretching us almost to the limit.
If challenges exceed skills, one can become anxious. If skills exceed
challenges, we usually become bored (like bright kids at school). Neither
of these two cases results in flow.
Csikszentmihalyi (1992) investigated the phenomenon of flow by
interviewing thousands of people from many different walks of life –
chess players, mountain climbers, tennis players, ballet dancers, surgeons,
and so on. He came to the conclusion that flow is a universal experience,
which has several important characteristics:
• Clarity of goals and immediate feedback on progress. For example, in a
competition you know what you’ve got to achieve and you know
exactly how well you are doing, i.e. whether you are winning or
losing.
• Complete concentration on what one is doing at the present moment,
with no room in one’s mind for any other information.
• Actions and awareness are merged. A guitar player merges with his
instrument and becomes the music that he plays. The activity
seemingly becomes automatic, and the involvement effortless –
though this is far from the truth.
• Losing awareness of oneself or self-consciousness is also a common
experience but, interestingly, after each flow experience the sense
of self is strengthened and a person becomes more than he or she
was before.
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Living in Flow 31
• Sense of control over what one is doing, with no worries about failure.
• Transformation of time. Usually, time passes much faster than
expected. However, the reverse can also be true.
• Activities are intrinsically rewarding. This means they have an end in
themselves (you do something because you want to), with any
other goal often being just an excuse.
What is also interesting in flow is the almost total absence of emotions
during the actual process. One seems to be almost beyond experiencing
emotions, most likely because the awareness of self is not present. It is
important to note, however, that we experience an increase in positive
emotions after the occurrence of flow (Seligman, 2002).
Popovic (? Nash, personal communication) describes his own experi-
ence of flow as follows:
A good discussion often brings a sense of flow. I am not aware of
myself, the world around, or the passage of time. I get totally involved
in the conversation. Everything goes smoothly. It is a challenging
but not a rough ride. Yet, like with all truly fulfilling experiences,
you know that you were in flow, not while you were there, but
because of missing it after.
Thinking about it, it seems to me that the merger between a person and
his or her own action, coupled with complete concentration, enables
that person to spend less energy on an activity than it would usually
require and therefore achieve more with less effort. An increased effort
is necessary to get us into this state, but once there, an activity feels
almost effortless. As such, flow can be conceptualized as a low-energy
solution to high-energy problems.
Activities that lead to a flow experience are called autotelic (from the
Greek: auto = self, telos = goal), because they are intrinsically motivated
and enjoyable and have an end in themselves, rather than in some other
end product.
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32 Positive Psychology in a Nutshell
Many activities are conducive to flow: sports, dancing, involvement
in creative arts and other hobbies, sex, socializing, studying, reading
and, very often, working. In fact, most daily activities can lead to
optimal experience (another name for flow), as long as the situation
is sufficiently complex to activate the high-challenge, high-skill
condition (Della Fave & Massimini, 2004a). Activities in which flow
is rarely experienced include housework, idling and resting. In addition,
in most cultures, people don’t associate watching TV with optimal
experience.
Although optimal experience is described in the same way across
countries, some of the flow-conducive activities vary, because of cultural
and circumstantial differences. Thus Roma (Gypsy) people very
often find flow in raising children or grandchildren, which is not a
common pattern elsewhere. Leisure activities, which are frequently
associated with optimal experience, are not associated with them in
Iran. People in traditional societies find flow in housework, though this
is rare in Europe (Della Fave & Massimini, 2004b). Perhaps, it is the
societal perception of housework as a somewhat inferior activity that
may have something to do with it. While TV is generally counter-
productive for flow, blind people quote media (including television
‘watching’) as their most flow-related activity. This is not surprising: TV
is not designed for blind people, so ‘watching’ TV is for them associated
with a challenge – having to build mental images of the characters in
the absence of being able to see them. Nepalese people, too, associate
the media with optimal experience. Not having a TV at home makes
watching it a rare (and possibly challenging) opportunity (Della Fave &
Massimini, 2004a). These research findings mean it is not possible to say
for certain which activities are definitely flow-related and which are not.
What for one person is ‘a piece of cake’ can be a challenge for another.
The opportunities for optimal experience rely, therefore, on our subjec-
tive perception.
Having said that, the frequent choice of activities that are non-
conducive to flow is a problem for the majority in the West. Remember,
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Living in Flow 33
it is not just the balance between challenge and skills that is necessary
for flow – both have to be stretched. When watching TV, for example,
the low skill matches the low challenge, which usually results in
apathy, unless, of course, we are watching a documentary on quantum
mechanics. At work, on the other hand, we experience high-skill,
high-challenge situations more often than during leisure. Yet we often
would rather do something else than work. Given a choice between TV
and work, why would we choose the former over the latter?
Csikszentmihalyi explains this by distinguishing between enjoyment
and pleasures. Flow may be a state of ultimate enjoyment, but it requires
effort and work, at least to begin with. It’s far too easy to switch the TV
on, and it is this effortlessness that ‘sells’ this mildly pleasurable activity
to us.
Tips & Tools
From apathy to flow
Have you ever wondered how much your TV time affects your ability to
immerse yourself in other rewarding activities? Try turning your TV on no
more than three times per week. Once your show has finished, switch
the TV off, don’t channel-surf. Be mindful of the choices you are making
– select the programmes you want to watch at the start of the week and
stick to them.
In addition to autotelic activities, Csikszentmihalyi (1997) talks of autotelic
personality – a person who ‘generally does things for their own sake
rather than in order to achieve some later external goal’ (p. 117). These
people develop skills that help them get into the flow state frequently,
skills that include curiosity, interest in life, persistence and low self-
centredness.3
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34 Positive Psychology in a Nutshell
Tips & Tools
Finding flow
Identify activities that help you to get into flow (activities that you might
call ‘serious play’). Gradually increase the difficulty or complexity of
these activities, ensuring they match your growing skills. If an activity is
too easy, make it more challenging. On the other hand, if it’s too hard,
find a way to boost your skill level.
Dangers of flow
With flow having become such a popular notion and a desirable state,
few pause to ask whether it is always good. In fact, the activities in which
flow is found can be morally good or bad. Gambling, for example –
especially games like bridge or poker – has all the conditions necessary
for flow: the games are challenging and require a high level of skill to
stand any chance of winning.
Even activities that are morally good or neutral, like mountain climbing,
chess or PlayStation, can become addictive, so much so that life without
them can feel static, boring and meaningless. A simple non-gambling
game on your computer, like solitaire, which many people use to ‘switch
off’ for a few minutes, can take over your life. This happens when, instead
of being a choice, a flow-inducing activity becomes a necessity.
Csikszentmihalyi himself is very much aware of the dangers of flow.
He writes (1992: 62):
enjoyable activities that produce flow have a potentially negative
effect: while they are capable of improving the quality of existence
by creating order in the mind, they can become addictive, at which
point the self becomes captive of a certain kind of order, and is then
unwilling to cope with the ambiguities of life.
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Living in Flow 35
Addiction to flow can also lead to losing a larger perspective. A worka-
holic manager may lose himself in flow at work until 10 or 11 at night,
forgetting dinner, his family or saying goodnight to the children.
Csikszentmihalyi (1992: 70) also adds:
The flow experience, like everything else, is not ‘good’ in an abso-
lute sense. It is good only in that it has the potential to make life
more rich, intense, and meaningful; it is good because it increases
the strengths and complexity of the self. But whether the conse-
quence of any particular instance of flow is good in a larger sense
needs to be discussed and evaluated in terms of more inclusive social
criteria.
The issue regarding flow is not only how we can make it happen, but also
how we can manage it: using it to enhance life, yet being able to let go
when necessary.
Other optimal experiences
Flow is not the only optimal experience. A humanistic psychologist,
Abraham Maslow (1908–1970), coined the term peak experience to
describe intensely joyous and exciting moments in the lives of every
individual. In these moments, we feel more whole, integrated, aware of
ourselves and deeply happy. We have a sense of transcendence, awe,
unity and meaningfulness in life. Often these experiences have a spir-
itual quality about them. The peak moments are often inspired by
intense occurrences – moments of love, exposure to great art or music,
the overwhelming beauty of nature, or even tragic events. Maslow, like
Csikszentmihalyi with regard to flow, believed that all individuals are
capable of peak experiences, but those who achieve self-actualization
are more likely to have them. Although many characteristics are shared
(e.g. absorption, spontaneity, loss of time), peak experience differs from
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36 Positive Psychology in a Nutshell
flow in the presence (rather than loss) of the sense of self, the rarity of its
occurrence and having almost a mystical quality about it (Privette,
1983). While flow experiences are encouraged, Maslow cautioned
against seeking peak experiences for their own sake.
We have a long way to go in learning about the optimal states of
human existence. Little is known about microflow activities (such as
doodling), shared, rather than individualized, flow, in which the whole is
greater than the sum of its parts (like in a musical jam session) or a
plateau experience (which is a continuous peak experience). Positive
psychology might potentially be a vehicle for exploring the complexity
of these and other positive human experiences.
Notes
1 If you want to play a spelling challenge with yourself, write down the surname
Csikszentmihalyi, look at it for 10 seconds, place a piece of paper over it and
try writing it down. See how many mistakes you have made, and then repeat
the exercise.
2 See, for example, Butler-Bowdon, T. (2003). 50 Self-help Classics. London
and Yarmouth: Nicholas Brealey Publishing.
3 See pp. 65–66 for more on doing things for their own sake, or intrinsic
motivation.
Further reading
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2007). Finding flow. New York: Basic Books.
Privette, G. (1983). Peak experience, peak performance, and peak flow: A
comparative analysis of positive human experiences. Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology, 45, 1369–1379.
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