The Flow State: How to Enter Your Brain's Most Productive State

1. Blake S Murphy
@BlakesMurphy Swipe
The Flow State: How to Enter Your
Brain’s Most Productive State
“I developed a theory of optimal experience based on the
concept of flow—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”
– Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
What Is Flow?

2. Blake S Murphy
@BlakesMurphy Swipe
Flow touches on so many aspects of human experience that
it’s difficult to categorize it. Almost anything can be a flow
experience:
• Doing the dishes
• Calculus homework
• Ultimate frisbee
• Taking a walk
According to Dr. Mihály Csíkszentmihályi:
“Flow is a state in which people are so involved in an activity
that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so
enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost,
for the sheer sake of doing it.”

3. Blake S Murphy
@BlakesMurphy Swipe
1. Find a challenge you love
How to Achieve Flow
The first step to achieving flow is to choose an activity
you love. It can be your interest, a hobby or any
business-related activity.
2. Develop your skills to meet the challenge
If your skill level is higher than the challenge,
boredom sets in. If the challenge is higher than your
skill level, anxiety takes place.
So, there’s got to be a
balance between the difficulty
of the activity and your skills.

4. Blake S Murphy
@BlakesMurphy Swipe
3. Set SMART goals
Why set a clear goal?
The thing is, you’re not to “flow” to just anywhere.
There has to be a direction; a definite, measurable
goal that’s neither too hard to achieve nor too easy.
Flow is about achieving that set goal at the end of the
activity to your satisfaction.

5. Blake S Murphy
@BlakesMurphy Swipe
4. Work at your peak time
To easily achieve flow, it’s advisable to work at your peak
time.
5.Give total attention to the activity
flow requires enough time to be carried out, but during that
time, you have to completely focus all your attention on the
activity.
CONCENTRATION is one of the factors that
accompany the experience of flow,
according to the Dr. Mihály Csíkszentmihályi,
and without it, flow may not occur.

6. Blake S Murphy
@BlakesMurphy Swipe
6. Let go your self-consciousness
One of the main characteristics of flow is complete
absorption in the task, where you’re fully immersed in the
moment and are involved in the activity.
And complete absorption portrays the absence of self-
consciousness and a merging of your awareness into the
activity you’re engaged in, which is the heart of flow.
7. Enjoy yourself
flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, satisfaction and great
happiness, or even a feeling of heavenly bliss, while
performing a task.
For this feeling to occur, you have to relish every moment of
the activity at hand, purposively but freely.

7. Blake S Murphy
@BlakesMurphy Swipe
8. Remove every distraction
You can start by creating a distraction-free environment or
even turning off your social media alerts, if your chosen
activity is computer-based.
9. Clear your emotional state
Sometimes, it might be difficult to achieve flow because of
a negative state of mind.
For instance, if you’re emotionally troubled—anger, fear,
uneasiness etc.—then it’ll be difficult, if not impossible, to
achieve flow.
In that case, what you have to do first is to clear your
emotional state. Clean out your mind and eliminate every
negative thought.

8. Blake S Murphy
@BlakesMurphy Swipe
10. Get feedback
One other component necessary for the flow experience to
occur is immediate feedback.
Why?
Immediate feedback is significant for knowing immediately
whether your goal was reached or not, thereby evaluating
your progress.

9. Blake S Murphy
@BlakesMurphy Swipe
11. Keep practicing
The thing with flow is that, just like every other human-
generated concept, it takes practice to perfect it. You
may not achieve complete flow the first time, or even
the first few times, you try it.
But as the saying goes…
Practice produces perfect performance.
So, there you have them…
Steps to achieving flow state.