Finding the Flow

When I was in college, I learned about FLOW by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.  I don't remember many other specifics from college, but dear Mihaly has stuck with me, most certainly because of his name.  Though FLOW also stuck with me for another reason.  The concept was intriguing and I wanted to feel it.

The basic premise of FLOW is there is a sweet spot where the challenge of the task at hand perfectly aligns with your ability to accomplish the task.  You get into the FLOW and suddenly the rest of the world disappears and time stands still.

In preparation for Ironman Arizona, Sally and I did a quarry swim.  It was an opportunity to swim all 2.4 miles uninterrupted in a somewhat controlled environment.  At one point during the swim I went into, what I can only look back now and realize, is the FLOW state.  I was pulling the water effortlessly, gliding, swimming, and not wholly conscience of what I was doing.  My body just did what I needed it to do without me telling it and my brain turned off.  I was snapped out of it when I saw Sally alongside me.  It was a perfect union of the task with my ability to do it.

"You know that what you need to do is possible to do, even though difficult, and sense of time disappears, you forget about yourself, you feel part of something larger."

--Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Rereading my Ironman Arizona race report and thinking back to those last few miles of the run, and I think I was in FLOW again.  I didn't look around me, though I was aware of people there.  I set my mind to tell my body to move to the finish line and it just went.


The beauty of FLOW is that it can be experienced by anyone at any skill level.  You don't have to be a fast athlete or even and athlete at all.  You just have to find the perfect union of skill and challenge.  Too much challenge and not enough skill equals anxiety.  Too much skill and not enough challenge means boredom.

http://www.pursuit-of-happiness.org/history-of-happiness/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi/

Why am I telling you all of this?  Because FLOW, or the search for it, is addictive.  I've obviously thought about it for the past twenty years.  I signed up for the lottery for the Chesapeake Bay Swim, 4.4 miles from Annapolis to Kent Island.  People ask why.  Aside from the usual because-I-can, deep down, I want to find that FLOW again.  I want to feel that unwavering concentration where my skills exactly match the task and I turn my brain off and just go.  

Think back to your most perfect race.  The time where everything went so smoothly you finished and wished you could do it all again.  Now tell me that somewhere deep down, besides the improving times, better form, podium finish, you sign up for races wishing for a perfect race again--no matter the time results.

More info on FLOW:  http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/199707/finding-flow 

If you want to hear Mihaly talk about FLOW personally, check out his TED video.  He talks about athletes at 12:00 ish.