FLOW STATE: THE PEAK PERFORMANCE FORMULA

Flow refers to a state of mind wherein the individual is completely absorbed in an activity of optimal challenge; optimal meaning that the difficulty of the task is matched with the skills of the individual. It was coined by psychologist Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in 1975 when he wished to understand the psychology of positive experiences and happiness.

When you are in a FLOW state, you feel in control of your actions and are completely absorbed by the task. You lose fear of judgment by others and just proceed towards your goals which seem very clear. Its effortless! Actions just flow like a river! Famous American basketball player Kobe Bryant spoke about flow or being in the zone as “it’s just supreme confidence, that you know it’s going in. It’s not a matter of “if”, its going in. Things just slow down.”

Flow has been found to be associated with high levels of performances within creative fields like music, dance and sport but can be experienced in other activities as well. It has also been shown to improve quality of life, mostly because of its association with positive emotions and performance satisfaction. Think about a time when you had experienced flow. How did you feel after? I bet most of us love working in that headspace because it leads to such peak performances.