‘An optimal state of consciousness’: is flow the secret to happiness?

What is the secret to happiness? In a 2004 Ted Talk, psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi boldly claimed to have the answer: flow.

Flow is the experience of being completely absorbed in a particular task. Sometimes we call it being “in the zone”. Csikszentmihalyi described it in his Ted Talk as an “effortless, spontaneous feeling” and an “ecstatic state”.

“Flow is an optimal state of consciousness where we feel our best and we perform our best,” says Steven Kotler, an author, journalist and director of Flow Research Collective, a training and research organization. People can get into a flow state when doing “just about anything”, he adds. Athletes experience it. So do musicians, writers, accountants, gamers – you name it.

Since the concept of flow first entered the mainstream in 1975, when Csikszentmihalyi published his book Beyond Boredom and Anxiety: Experiencing Flow in Work and Play, it has grown into a huge area of research. And it’s good business. Everyone from multinational companies to sports teams wants to figure out how their people can reach an “optimal state of consciousness” and perform their best.

An effortless, optimal, ecstatic state of being sounds lovely. So how do you achieve a flow state? And what can pull you out of it?

What is flow?

Flow is a “deep state of focus in which every component of the mind and body work together towards one aim”, says Dr Cameron Norsworthy, scientist, athlete, principal at the Flow Centre, a training and coaching organization, and author of the upcoming book How to Find Flow.

In Beyond Boredom and Anxiety, Cskiszentmihalyi talked to rock climbers, chess players, musicians and others who claimed to have experienced this state of total, blissful focus.

Csikszentmihalyi identified seven conditions that seem to be present when a person is in a flow state:

• An intense focus that “leads to a sense of ecstasy”

• Knowing exactly what you want from one moment to the next

• Getting immediate feedback on what you are doing

• Knowing your goal is achievable, even if it is difficult

• Losing track of time

• Forgetting yourself – you are so focused on your task that any self-consciousness disappears

• Feeling part of something bigger than yourself

People can experience flow doing lots of things, but not everyone can experience flow doing the same things.

“I’m not a physicist, so if I were to sit down to a bunch of equations that are commonplace to a physicist, they would be too difficult for me, and it would not be a flow-inducing task,” explains Dr Richard Huskey, an associate professor in the department of communication and cognitive science program at the University of California, Davis.

What are the benefits of flow?

Csikszentmihalyi called flow the secret to happiness. But why does it feel so good?

For flow to occur, says Norsworthy, there needs to be an inner harmony that allows one to focus completely. Often, one’s “thinking brain” becomes less central in a flow state, meaning that our inner critics and usual well-worn mental narratives tend to disappear. This leaves us “feeling liberated” and “less bogged down by life’s stressors”, Norsworthy says.

Flow has also been associated with several signs of human flourishing, says Huskey. This includes increased productivity, improved performance, increased creativity and long-term wellbeing and resilience.

Research has also shown that flow can protect against depression, anxiety and neuroticism, Kotler notes.

In short, the benefit of flow is that it is associated with other beneficial states. But according to Huskey, the scientific community is still not entirely sure which mental and physical mechanisms are behind this state. “We’re just now beginning to do the experimental work that moves us beyond correlation and into causation,” he says.

How do you get into flow?

There is no on-off switch for flow. “It would be impossible to ‘hack’ flow on demand,” says Norsworthy. But we can increase our chances to experience it, he adds.

The key to entering a flow state is correctly balancing the difficulty of a task with one’s skill level.

“Different combinations of challenge and skill lead to different psychological states,” says Huskey. A task with a low degree of difficulty that doesn’t require much skill – say, washing the dishes – might result in apathy. A task with a high degree of difficulty where one doesn’t have the required skill level – Huskey’s physics equations, for example – may lead to anxiety.

But if a task is difficult and we have the high-level skillset necessary to accomplish it, “we should be more likely to experience flow,” says Huskey.

This also means that while you may not experience a flow state when you first start practicing a new skill – such as running or doing calculus – as you become more adept, you become more likely to get in the zone.

Huskey points to his own yoga practice. “When I first got started, it was definitely not a flow experience,” he says. But over time, as he familiarized himself with the poses and breathing techniques, he began to access a flow state.

People can also experience flow in groups, like sports teams. “The challenge of collaborating on a joint task can be a source of flow in and of itself,” says Huskey.

Some individuals seem more prone to experience flow states than others. Research has shown those with an autotelic personality – meaning the tendency to engage in an activity for its own sake rather than for any possible reward – are more likely than others to experience flow.

What interrupts flow?

“Conflict disrupts harmony,” says Norsworthy, so any inner conflict you may have about how or why you are undertaking an activity will undermine your ability to flow in it. Lack of purpose, ambiguous goals, or engaging in something because we feel we should rather than because we want to, are all factors that will disrupt flow.

Flow also requires attention, so anything that distracts us pulls us out of flow.

“Distraction is the biggest killer [of flow],” says Kotler. Things such as cellphone notifications, pings from emails and open office plans where anyone can come talk to you at any time are all terrible for flow, he says.

This doesn’t mean that you have to work from a sensory deprivation tank. But notice what conditions seem to facilitate flow for you, and which seem to disrupt it. Take music, Huskey says.

“I can only listen to certain types of music when I do data analysis,” Huskey says. “If I’m listening to my absolutely favorite song and I love the lyrics and I can’t help but sing along, my attention gets drawn on to the music but not the task.”

This is why I spend most of my day hooked up to brown noise, but maybe “rainfall” or “industrial fan sounds” are more your thing. They’re all blandly inoffensive, distraction-free and extremely hard to sing along to.