Book Review— Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
Do you ever read a book that totally changes your perspective on things?
As a Life Coach, I constantly read non-fiction books– books that hone my skills as a coach and equip me with research and knowledge to help my life coaching clients achieve massive success in their lives.
I recently read a book that was enlightening in so many ways: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.
Flow is a classic book in the world of psychology, and for a good reason. It was written in 1990 by one of the founding fathers of Positive Psychology, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, after decades of research. The goal of Csikszentmihalyi’s research was to discover what creates an “optimal experience” for people. In other words, when are we MOST happy? When do we thrive as humans?
It’s not what you’d expect! Csikszentmihalyi found that people are NOT most happy when they are on vacation, sipping a cocktail on a beach, or just relaxing at home. Quite the opposite, actually!
Csikszentmihalyi states, “The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”
The “flow” state is the zone you are in when you are focused on something so intently that it almost seems time doesn’t exist. You are so engrossed in what you are doing, that an almost magic haze surrounds you, requiring almost all of your energy and attention. Flow is “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.”
A few examples of people in the flow state:
A writer who is so immersed in their writing that time passes without them even noticing
An athlete playing their chosen sport, focused intently on their performance
Friends engaged in a thoughtful conversation that sucks them in and eliminate distractions
The research in Flow states that people are happier and more fulfilled during a flow state than they are when they are doing just about anything else– more than when they are watching TV, on vacation, driving, or almost any other daily task.
As a Life Coach, I found myself thinking, “So if humans strive to be in the ‘flow state’ as much as possible, would that make our lives happier and more enjoyable?” After reading the book, I’ve concluded that YES! The more often you can be in the flow state, the happier you will be in life.
Additional benefits of being in the flow state include:
Better focus and fewer distractions
Overall better performance
Greater motivation and incentive to complete tasks or projects
Gaining greater skills and competencies
If your current career feels unenjoyable, monotonous, and disengaging… if you’re thinking to yourself, “I can’t remember the last time I was in a flow state, and it certainly wasn’t at work!” it’s time to reconsider. Perhaps your job isn’t challenging enough. Perhaps you are allowing distractions to enter your mental and physical space, taking your attention away from crucial work. Or maybe you find the function of your job so unrewarding that you don’t even want to stay focused on it for that long simply because it isn’t worth it.
Is there a job that would be more rewarding? More enjoyable? More challenging? A job that would require your full attention and engagement that you would find fully satisfying?
Spending your time in the flow state leads to more happiness. When you're in the flow, the magic happens. To rediscover your inner flow, stop and notice the resistance in your life. Where are you not allowing flow to happen? What needs to change?
If you’re a woman looking to achieve peak performance at work, while finding more joy and fulfillment in life, I highly recommend reading Flow. To have a thriving life where you are truly living your own optimal experience, flow is necessary. When we strive for flow, our happiness increases, as does the quality of our lives.
Let’s get in the flow, ladies.
