How to enter the ‘flow state’ for effortless creativity

Author: Matthew Davis / Source: Big Think

We experience the “flow state” when a given task becomes effortless and time slips by without our noticing.
The concept has appeared in many ancient philosophies like Stoicism and Taoism, and modern research has confirmed this experience is real.
By learning more about the flow state and how to trigger it, we can both work more productively and feel more satisfied with life.
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When writing the Principia Mathematica, Isaac Newton was said to have forgotten to eat, bathe, and sleep. Michelangelo, too, often became so engrossed in his paintings that he would forget to eat or sleep. Some of you have undoubtedly had an experience where the hours felt like minutes, when you were so wrapped up in the task at hand that forgetting a meal is a real risk.

If that’s the case, then you’ve experienced something called the “flow state.”

The idea of flow has been around for millennia. The Taoist concept of wu wei, or effortless action, is very similar to flow, as well as Aristotle’s idea of eudaimonia, or the state of possessing a “good spirit.” However, this ancient concept has only recently been empirically studied and characterized.

Psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi (pronounced me-high chick-sent-me-high) first studied flow states in the 1970s. The experiences of painters such as Michelangelo inspired him to study the phenomenon, which he defined as “being so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.” It’s an absorbing, intrinsically rewarding state that we enter when performing certain tasks.

What’s the flow state about?

Flow only happens when you’ve got the right level of skill for a task with the right level of challenge. Specifically, Csíkszentmihályi identified three components necessary to enter the flow state: