LOSING OURSELVES IN THE FLOW

Posted by Mike Foster: Become A POTSC Fan

Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi calls it "FLOW."

He describes it as "the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter."

Imagine those enjoyable times when your attention is so focused that time seems to fly by. You are 100% engaged. You are in the "FLOW."

For me I have felt "FLOW" when:

1. Last summer I turned off my phone and sat on a beach in Maui for 6 hours.

2. When I read the book Freakonomics.

3. When I saw U2 in Atlanta and the time I had a 2 hour coffee with Marcus Buckingham.

4. I feel it when I sit with my moleskin and my mind wanders to dream about new and future ideas.

"FLOW" is hard to experience sometimes. Constant interruptions. Too much connectedness through technology. Multi-tasking. All are barriers to losing yourself in something.

But research shows experiencing these moments of full engagement are critical to finding happiness.

So what does "FLOW" look like for you? What activities make you feel like nothing else matters?