Meaning of flow
I’m sure, when you read the title, you are probably wondering, “What does he mean about flow?” and in one way or another, we have all encountered this state during our daily activities. This state was pretty much made famous by athletes, especially in the field of basketball. This state was popularized by stars like Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Steph Curry, and LeBron James, to name a few. This is a state of being at the peak of your performance, with little to no distraction from the mind; you are physically and mentally immersed in what you are doing. This is the most productive state to be in, and many who can attain this state and move in and out of it frequently find it hard to explain to others how to truly enter it and move in and out of it freely.
I got to know about this state, mainly through anime, when watching Kuroko no Basket, in which they refer to it as the zone (I know, I am a big fan of anime). Frequently, from there I started hearing about this state more and more from podcasts, YouTube videos, professional coaches talking about this state of peak performance, documentaries discussing about Kobe on how he utilizes this state in his games, and it became more fascinating. Researching into this state of flow, I saw that the athlete who really enters this state the most is no other than Stephen Curry, the three-point king. Coaches and other players have stated how they are mesmerized by his play when he enters this state of complete focus and awareness in his craft.
Stephen Curry had this to say about the flow state, “When it’s clicking, all you need is to get a good look at the basket, you don’t really need to worry about anything else, you don’t really have too many thoughts. It just builds off of the reps, the confidence, the muscle memory, being able to read the game, all of that happens perfectly at the same time. That’s a beautiful feeling”. The coach even stated this, “Steph enters that space more than anybody I’ve ever seen.”
One of the most epic performances of the flow state by Steph Curry was with Team USA. The team being down by 17 points against Serbia, Curry exploded with 36 points, making 12 of his 19 shots, including nine 3-pointers, to lead his country to a 95-91 win. After the game, Kevin Durant called Curry’s performance “God-like.
Story time
I first experienced this state in my 300-level year in university, in which I went into my faculty to read around 9 am and came out at 5 pm, nonstop reading, everything was just flowing, impressive, right? However, not advisable because after that day, I was experiencing frequent burnout, tiredness, and exhaustion. I had to learn what state I tapped into. And how will I be able to utilize it effectively? Which is what I want to share with you all.
Flow Differentiated from The Sports Field and The Academic Field.
Firstly, I had to learn that the flow state from the sports field is different from the flow state in the learner’s field. Yes, this state can be attained by a person in both fields, but the way it is utilized is different. In the field of sport, athlete refer to this state as being less conscious about their surrounding and being fully immersed in the game, attributing their plays to be instinctive in nature.
However, in the academic field (which we are all in because we are lifelong learners), we still need to retain a certain level of consciousness in what we are doing, hence our mental capacity is needed more in what we are doing, than it being instinctive. That is the key difference between the flow state in the professional field of learning and the Sport field, being less reliant on instinct, because our mental framework will still be at play in this state, to read and comprehend what you are doing. Unless you want to be replying to work email instinctively.
Perfect flow
It wasn’t until I stumbled upon the book Hyper Focus by Chris Bailey that I perfected the inner loops of the flow states, tying it with immense focus and being able to enter and leave it at will. Although I had to unsubscribe from a particular limiting belief, which I’m sure many are familiar with. Many books on focus and productivity address this concept of distraction, that once the mind gets distracted, it takes about 5min to 10min to regain focus, some even extend it to 20min. However, I had a controversial take on that; once something distracts me from what I’m focusing on, I find it very easy to get back in that loop of flow and productivity. Probably because my mind has been trained in all those types of situations, usually when I’m reading, I have people come to me to explain one or two things for them, and that doesn’t mess up my flow in any way. The fact that I also have a reading partner contributes to this explanation, causal talks, and funny moments for me. I find them pleasant, and I have also noticed it doesn’t even take me up to a minute to get back into the flow state. That is the first limiting belief I feel like we should all address. Know what time frame works for you to get back into the loop, because distraction is bound to occur one way or the other. Your ability to deal with it and move on makes the session more productive. Like, for instance, even when writing this blog post, an urgent errand came up that I had to address.
So first thing I do is, “Decide what I want to do beforehand, don’t leave it to emotions and feelings, decide beforehand what you want to do within the day, and a little tip at the location where you would like to perform that task. One thing I will advise on is to make the environment attractive to your taste, and get a trinket. I recently got an hourglass to just beautify my environment back in university. I used a phone stand, not something expensive, just to set the tone and the environment.
Second step, I picture the image in my mind, two images in particular, the image of the “PROCESS” and the image of the “WHY”. Picture yourself doing that particular task and picture your deep reason why, “That Deep Reason Why”, is always personal to every individual. My own personal reason why has always been for my mom, and my loved ones, like Vin Diesel will say in every Fast and Furious movie, “FAMILY”.
Third step, “TIME BLOCK”, never start any session of any activity without time blocks. In the productivity space, it is referred to as pomodoro, in which you give an allotted time to a reading, blogging, or writing session. I used to do 15 minutes; that 15 minutes was a sweet spot for me. I gradually increased it to 45 minutes over the years, but I have found my new sweet spot to be 30 minutes and a 5-minute break in between. One key thing is allowing your mind to know that it has a beginning and an end time, and as such, you will be more engrossed in what you are doing. When you don’t have an end time, your mind will always wander, because the flow state, especially in the professional field of learning, is like a bargain with your mind: “Allow me to focus from this allotted time and I will give you free time to wander”.
Fourth step, “As Soon as that Timer Stops, I Stop”. This is one of the key steps that stood out to me. In all these productivity books and podcasts on flow, they say don’t stop, just keep on going when you are in that state, but it’s better to stop. Reason being, that first of all, your mind will build trust in you, so your body will be less weary or tired when wanting to begin another time block. Hence, that allotted time should not be exceeded; if not, your mind will wander.
Second reason, is built on the concept called “Attention Residue” which I took from the book hyper focus, however this attention residue is talking about Multitasking, which state that, when jumping from one task to another the previous task still linger in your mind, as you want to engage in the new task, and I develop on this concept in a positive light to keep myself in the work flow state.
Practical tip: when I’m in the work flow state while reading and the timer goes off, I stop and let’s say I stop at a particular word in a sentence or in the middle of a paragraph, or when entering a new subtopic. I simply stop, rest, and resume when the resting time has elapsed. Hence, my attention is still there because the task isn’t yet over, and I have built trust in my mind to respond to the allotted time, making the loop of the flow state seamless.
Personal Advice
Firstly, have a mantra, something you say or do before you start a particular task. I personally pray a short and impactful prayer to remind me of all of my possibilities in Christ. Secondly, just start it; you don’t have to start it right, but you need to start. The pressure of starting perfectly might get to you, affecting your workflow state, as you will be more conscious about internal and external factors coming into play in your distraction. Lastly, The Mind is critical when entering the flow state. You need to visualize yourself in two states: the state of complete immersion in what you are doing and the WHY in what you are doing. Till next time, be Positive, be Patient, and be Productive.
