Have you ever been so absorbed in something that you couldn’t even hear the person talking next to you? How much do you know about flow theory?

Be it studying, reading your favorite novel, painting, singing, dancing, playing video games, sports, indoor games, or even working at the office, you are sometimes in the flow. Anyone, irrespective of their expertise, age, or field, can experience this mental state of “being in the zone.”

In this article, you will learn about flow theory, the concept of flow, how to achieve flow experience and how it helps your professional life.

What is the flow theory?

“Flow” is a mental state experienced by people when they are entirely immersed or involved in their activity that nothing else matters during that period. People in the “flow” continue to perform their work and stay in an enjoyable state for as long as it would last. Such is their intrinsic motivation that they don’t succumb to distractions.

People in the flow are highly productive during that stage, irrespective of the level of challenge. Even though flow experience is usually associated with creative arts like dancing, singing, painting, drawing, and writing, it is not uncommon for people in other pursuits to experience the state of the flow. For example, the phenomenon manifests with activities like sports, reading a novel, learning something new, or routine office tasks.

And yes, the theory that explains all about flow is called flow theory.

What is Csikszentmihalyi’s flow theory?

Hungarian-American psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi first described the flow model in 1975. He called it so because that’s how many people had described their mental state when they were fully absorbed in an activity. They used the metaphor of water flowing, and the current carries everything along.

Csíkszentmihályi and other researchers began studying this remarkable phenomenon experienced by artists who would forget even to have their food, water, or go to sleep. They had some participants answer a series of questions before, during, and after the flow. He called it ESM – Experience Sampling Method.

Csíkszentmihályi interviewed various artists, musicians, athletes, and others to understand what causes them to go into the flow state. He discovered that during that stage, their productivity and performances were pretty high. 

He published his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience in 1990 that detailed all his learnings of Flow Theory. In the book, he defined flow as 

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. 

Characteristics of flow

According to Csíkszentmihályi, there are eight significant characteristics of flow for the optimal experience. They are:

1. Clarity of goals in mind and immediate feedback to one’s actions.
2. A very high level of concentration on the task.
3. An altered perception of time where it may seem speeding up, slowing down, or on hold.
4. The experience is intrinsically rewarding.
5. Effortlessness and ease with performing the task.
6. A balance between the challenge and skills.
7. Actions and awareness merge while losing self-conscious rumination.
8. A feeling of heightened control over the work.

Here, you need to understand that the task you perform can be anything from creative activities to sports to education or even your work tasks. Also, you may or may not experience all the eight characteristics in your flow state.

Why is it important to understand the flow theory for businesses?

Now, you might be wondering why it is crucial to understand the flow theory for business. The flow theory tells you how to get into the state of flow experience. This state, in turn, increases your productivity and performance in the workplace.

You might have heard this many times. When you are passionate about your work, then your work doesn’t feel like work. This is because you can quickly get into a flow state when you are following your passion. And when you are in a flow state, you don’t usually feel any stress concerning your work.

Getting into the flow not only reduces your job stress but boosts your performance and other achievements. Because when you are in the flow, you are more open to challenges and more likely to solve them. Also, you are more enthusiastic about learning new things that will help you grow in your career. The “performing” teams are usually in a state of flow, as collectively, their skills and the challenges they are trying to solve are balanced over a period. That’s why it is recommended to have stable teams.

The flow state of an employee not only benefits them but the organization as well. If the environment is not conducive enough to get its employees engaged, their job satisfaction reduces. This dissatisfaction causes a decrease in their productivity and higher chances of the employees changing their jobs. The flow state enables intrinsic motivation for the team members to find the purpose in their work and to be more engaged with what they do.

How to implement flow theory in projects and business operations?

Now let’s see how to implement flow theory in your projects and business operations. If you are an employee, try to follow these tips and if you are an employer or manager, try to create an environment conducive to getting your team into the flow state.

According to Csíkszentmihályi, you can achieve an experience of flow when there is a balance between your skills and the challenge you are trying to overcome. Too complex a challenge for a given skillset will induce anxiety, while more straightforward challenges than the level of expertise will result in boredom. Both of these conditions will result in a loss of productivity.

There is a more granular representation of the model available too.

• Identify the conditions that fuel your flow state. It might be a particular place, time of the day, a genre of background music, or a cup of coffee! These conditions vary from person to person. So, recreate yours.
• Instead of mechanically doing your job daily, try to set clear goals that align with your work and project. The objectives will give a sense of purpose and motivates you to do the work you do. 
• Eliminate distractions. It might be loud music, notifications on your phone and email, or a messy desk. These might not affect you once you are in the flow, but they serve as obstacles to reach the flow state.
• Sometimes, working with your team on the same project, interacting, discussing to solve a problem together helps everyone to achieve the flow. Psychologists call this team flow.
• Focus on a single task for a long time. Don’t multi-task. Because if you are multi-tasking, you will keep losing focus due to switching between the tasks and will never achieve the flow.
• Reduce your stress as much as possible even though the results are significant but don’t fixate on them. Instead, focus more on the process and enjoy the journey.
• If you are a manager, don’t conduct meetings at odd timings that may affect the flow. Also, allow some work flexibility to your employees with the timings and place (work-from-home once in a while).

Benefits of implementing flow

Let’s see more of the benefits of implementing flow in your work and other tasks.

• When you are in a flow state, you are so involved in your current activity that there is no room left for any negative thoughts. This positivity improves your mental health, making you a more optimistic person.
• Flow puts you in a state where you are less aware and less self-conscious; your creativity increases when you don’t think about other unnecessary things that cause distraction.
• Flow enhances your productivity, creativity, and problem-solving ability because of the heightened concentration. As a result, you can easily take up and solve more challenges.
• Flow boosts your self-confidence that is the key to learning new skills, solving problems, and facing new challenges. It helps in your overall development.
• You might have observed that you come out satisfied every time you finish specific work with deep concentration. Thus, the more you implement flow at your workplace, the more is your job satisfaction.
• With more and more people achieving the flow state in a team, there is a positive atmosphere. This positivity doubles the productivity of the team.
• Flow helps you get better at regulating your emotions. You know how not to get distracted with bad memories and negative thoughts. You know how to deal with stress and not let it affect your work. 

Criticism for flow theory

Yes, flow is very beneficial to get your tasks done, boost your creativity, give better performance, increase your productivity, accelerate your learning abilities, and all that. But it does have its drawbacks. 

Sometimes, people in the flow lose track of the time that might adversely affect other aspects of their lives. For example, they might get addicted to a particular activity that might cause further problems.

Csikszentmihályi himself has written about it:

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.

Conclusion

Achieving the flow state while you perform your necessary tasks helps you to double your productivity. If you often achieve it in your workplace, it helps in your career growth too. But don’t let it harm you. Instead, try to keep it balanced and controlled. 

And remember – it takes practice to get into that state when you want to. You will have some bad days and good days. Just be positive and don’t give up.