Flow

“You are in an ecstatic state to such a point that you feel as though you almost don’t exist,” says Hungarian psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi.   Athletes can experience these feelings when they perform at such a high level that they feel invincible, when they seem to float through the competition, their bodies able to do whatever they will them to do.  It does not happen often, and when it does, it is unforgettable.  It tends to accompany a state of mind characterized by a trance-like intense, yet seemingly effortless and enjoyable, concentration of mental and physical effort.  It can be accompanied by a feeling of joy.  Csíkszentmihályi calls it Flow.

Flow is the mental state in which a person is immersed in feelings of energized focus, full involvement, and success in an activity.  Studied extensively by Csíkszentmihályi, the concept has been applied to many fields.  According to Csíkszentmihályi, Flow is completely focused motivation.  It is a single-minded immersion and represents perhaps the ultimate in harnessing the emotions in the service of performing.  In Flow the emotions are not just contained and channeled, but they are also positive, energized, and aligned with the task at hand.  “The hallmark of flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while performing a task although flow is also described as a deep focus on nothing but the activity—not even oneself or one's emotions.”

The athlete cannot force Flow.  It just happens.  A Flow state will be most likely to occur when someone is wholeheartedly performing a task or activity for intrinsic purposes and sometimes with little regard for the benefit.

These three conditions are necessary to achieve Flow:        

1.      The athlete or performer must be involved in an activity with a clear set of goals.  Goals add direction and structure. 

2.      He or she must have a good balance between the perceived challenges of the task at hand and his or her own perceived skills.  He or she must have confidence that he or she is capable of completing the challenge successfully.  

3.      The task or challenge must have clear and immediate feedback.  Feedback helps the person negotiate any changing demands and allows him or her to adjust his or her performance to maintain the flow state.           

from Threes, Chapter 10, “Threes in Sports and Games” 

Read more about Flow, Zone and Joy in my new Kindle mini-e-book, Threes in Sports and Games, that’s available now at Amazon.