Flow

[hobbsyoyo]

There is a phenomenon called Flow, where you are able to super-focus on a task you are working on to a high degree. Distractions fall away and your thoughts stop drifting as you lock-in on whatever you are doing. This state of mind is generally seen as pleasurable, if not hedonistically so. This state of mind is also commonly referred to as being 'in the zone'.

What are your experiences with flow? How often do you achieve it and how do you achieve it? What are you doing when you enter this state? What breaks you out of it?

 

[hobbsyoyo]

For me, I get into a state of flow when I am working on something which requires a moderate amount of thinking. So if I'm cooking a finicky recipe or I'm doing something with my job that is somewhat familiar to me but is not a mindlessly easy task, I can get into a state of flow. On the other hand, if I'm cooking macaroni and cheese or copy-pasting data into spreadsheets, I don't usually enter a flow state. On the third hand, if I am trying a brand new recipe that is really complex or I am working on a work problem that is outside my comfort zone, I also do not enter a state of flow.

So basically for me there is a sweet spot of mental engagement that is conducive to flow and that mental effort on either side of that engagement band (too easy or too hard) does not usually lead to a flow state.

I have also noticed that music can sometimes enhance a flow state but more often it can be distracting and detrimental to flow. Basically, non-vocal music such as jazz, most classical music and a lot of electronic music can help with flow, but things with lyrics tend to distract me as there is a greater chance I'll come across a song I don't like which breaks my concentration.


Finally, I find that some particular video games are super flow-conducive. For me, the Harvest Moon series is pretty much the epitome of flow as most of my game time is spent running through a mental task list that has to be done in a particular order to enhance efficiency. This level of task prioritization I find keeps me mentally engaged at just the right levels as the tasks themselves are easy and mindless but keeping everything straight and in the proper order takes a bit of concentration without being exceedingly hard.

 

[MaryKB]

When I first saw this thread title, I thought it was going to be about monthly bleeding.

I get that a lot at work. I do best in bursts, when I get creative energy and can focus in "the zone." I'll do pretty much nothing for days, then get a week's worth of effort done in a couple hours.

I write like that too.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Oh yeah good one! I often get into flow when I'm posting here.

 

[Synobun]

I rarely get into it. When I can, though, I really appreciate it. It lets me distract myself from how I physically and mentally feel for a couple hours and my productivity skyrockets. My editing speed is at least 5x what it normally is when I get into flow.

Unfortunately, getting into it is impeded by my body. If I feel horrible, there's very, very little chance of me getting into that state. (In order to be productive.)

I used to get into flow with repetitive tasks in Minecraft years ago. I'd do "manual labour" for friends because I'd enjoy it and I'd just kinda zone out during it.

For most of August I tried to get into a quasi-flow state by colouring pictures via an app on my phone in order to distract myself from how sick I am. Its efficacy has worn off. I only colour one or two pictures a day now. But I've coloured something like 620 pictures in total, so you can guess how many I was colouring per day a month ago.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I used to be able to get into it. It doesn't happen much anymore. And these days it's more like a broken tap where a huge gush of water comes out and then runs dry after a minute or two.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I get that a lot at work. I do best in bursts, when I get creative energy and can focus in "the zone." I'll do pretty much nothing for days, then get a week's worth of effort done in a couple hours.

I feel like this is super common in knowledge work but not very well understood or appreciated. I feel like most managers expect their workers to be in an office and maintain a steady state of production day in and day out as if knowledge work is directly equivalent to factory work or working on a line in a restaurant. These are not comparable, and while it's expected that your line cook at Burger King will maintain a steady output of burgers through their whole shift, working with your brain really isn't like that. But the unrealistic expectation is there, which leads to bosses demanding everyone be in the office for 40+ hours a week regardless of whether or not they actually need to be.

 

[hobbsyoyo]

I have had a very difficult time reaching a state of flow over the last few months as my anxiety and depression over the general state of the country and everything that's going on have interfered. I basically can't reach flow if I'm low-grade depressed or anxious and those have been my default state since about March. I do seem to be having a bit of a turnaround lately, maybe I'm just normalizing all the craziness of the world 6 months in. Or maybe I'm just having a good week and will revert by next.


When I worked in restaurants, I would frequently enter a state of flow, especially when the orders began to pile up and I had to really concentrate on the work sequence to make sure dishes cooked in such a way that entire orders came together at the same time for serving.

 

[Kyriakos]

There is a phenomenon called Flow, where you are able to super-focus on a task you are working on to a high degree. Distractions fall away and your thoughts stop drifting as you lock-in on whatever you are doing. This state of mind is generally seen as pleasurable, if not hedonistically so. This state of mind is also commonly referred to as being 'in the zone'.

What are your experiences with flow? How often do you achieve it and how do you achieve it? What are you doing when you enter this state? What breaks you out of it?

It is how one writes any decent piece of literature. After a point, the connections surface in consciousness and you can actually calculate what is needed to support an intricate pattern.
Although some authors seem to just construct the story beforehand, in its totality (eg Borges). Kafka certainly is in this category, however.

 

[MaryKB]

I feel like this is super common in knowledge work but not very well understood or appreciated. I feel like most managers expect their workers to be in an office and maintain a steady state of production day in and day out as if knowledge work is directly equivalent to factory work or working on a line in a restaurant. These are not comparable, and while it's expected that your line cook at Burger King will maintain a steady output of burgers through their whole shift, working with your brain really isn't like that. But the unrealistic expectation is there, which leads to bosses demanding everyone be in the office for 40+ hours a week regardless of whether or not they actually need to be.

My boss understands, and she lets me have complete freedom because she trusts me to get things done.

Life is good when you love your boss

 

[Synobun]

These are not comparable, and while it's expected that your line cook at Burger King will maintain a steady output of burgers through their whole shift, working with your brain really isn't like that.

The funny thing is that isn't actually true even for line work. You can really see and taste a difference in even fast food between workers who are "into it" and workers who aren't.

I bet your customers were happy whenever you entered a flow state while working on their food.

 

[Truthy]

There is a phenomenon called Flow, where you are able to super-focus on a task you are working on to a high degree. Distractions fall away and your thoughts stop drifting as you lock-in on whatever you are doing. This state of mind is generally seen as pleasurable, if not hedonistically so. This state of mind is also commonly referred to as being 'in the zone'.

What are your experiences with flow? How often do you achieve it and how do you achieve it? What are you doing when you enter this state? What breaks you out of it?

A few times a week and it's when I get basically all my work down. It usually follows a period of frustration and banging my head against the wall until I hit a breakthrough and then suddenly I'm having this runaway highly dopaminergic burst of productivity that'll last until 3 am and I can't pull myself away.

The rest of the week I either do pretty much nothing or I do simple boring things like meetings, reviewing job applicants, code review, or prattling with coworkers (edit: prattling with coworkers is actually fun though).

 

[Phrossack]

Basically never. My mind wanders constantly, always chasing after vaguely interesting ideas or dwelling on existential horrors. Besides, my job is pretty abstract and not even slightly related to my interests.

 

[thetrooper]

I find myself 'in the zone' every now and then when I'm riding my bike at high intensity. To get 'in the zone' this way is dependent on a) eating a proper meal prior to riding b) eating at the right time before riding c) being 100% healthy d) denying certain thought patterns and e) listening to some high bpm music.

 

[Kyriakos]

The funny thing is that isn't actually true even for line work. You can really see and taste a difference in even fast food between workers who are "into it" and workers who aren't.

I bet your customers were happy whenever you entered a flow state while working on their food.

I think it's already fine if there isn't anything of the worker in the food ^_^

 

[Estebonrober]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_wei

Describing a state of unconflicting personal harmony, free-flowing spontaneity and savoir-faire, it generally also more properly denotes a state of spirit or mind, and in Confucianism accords with conventional morality.

I love how old this concept is, I often get into it at work which is in itself interesting considering how different the patients are from one hour to the next. I do this as well with a guitar in my hands and often wished I had a recording device going for when it happens. Sometimes I get into it when doing woodworking stuff but not bear as much as the other two.

 

[Kyriakos]

Fun fact: the ancient Greek term for this would be οίστρος. Which means a number of things*, but I'd hazard the guess the etymology for the mental phenomenon is tied to the term being used for ovulation.
So next time you are experiencing "flow", Hobbs, think of it as ovulating

*flies that madden animals with their buzz were also called that. But who wants to be a fly, more so if the mental animal could then be a monstrous demiurge.

 

[The_J]

Normally I'd say "about 40 minutes into a run", but I think that's a different kind of flow (also @thetrooper ).

Work-wise, this doesn't really happen to me. Despite being a scientist, my problems are rarely taxing in the right way.
I think it did happen a few times when I had to program something longer, but that's also not often the case .

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Fun fact: the ancient Greek term for this would be οίστρος. Which means a number of things*, but I'd hazard the guess the etymology for the mental phenomenon is tied to the term being used for ovulation.
So next time you are experiencing "flow", Hobbs, think of it as ovulating

When I first saw this thread title, I thought it was going to be about monthly bleeding.

 

[Kyriakos]

I had missed that!
See, ancient Greeks knew everything.