Being in Flow or In the Zone

One of the states of emotional intelligence when performance is maximized was studied by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Psychologist from the University of Chicago, who studied accounts of peak performance for over 20 years.  Athletes know this state of grace as "the zone" where excellence becomes effortless, crowds and competitors cease to exist into a blissful, steady absorption of the moment.  Being able to enter flow is emotional intelligence at its best.  In flow emotions are not just contained and channeled, but positively energized and aligned with the task at hand. 

Generally everyone has some experience with flow from time to time, particularly when performing at their peak or stretching beyond their former limits.  It provides a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture.  In this state people become utterly absorbed in what they are doing, paying undivided attention to the task.  If we reflect on what we're doing, flow is interrupted.  Flow is a state of self-forgetfulness, the opposite of rumination and worry.  The sheer pleasure of the act itself is what motivates them. 

There are several ways to enter flow.  One is to intentionally focus a sharp attention on the task; a highly concentrated state is the essence of flow.  Once focus starts to lock in, it takes on a force of its own, both offering relief from emotional turbulence and making the task effortless. 

Entry to this zone can occur when people find a task they are skilled at and engage in it at a level that slightly taxes their ability.  If the task is too easy they get bored, if too difficult they get anxious.  Flow occurs in that delicate zone between boredom and anxiety.  It can be argued that mastery of a skill is spurred on by the experience of flow - that the motivation to get better at something, be it a musical instrument, dance or intricate task, is at least in part to stay in flow while doing it.  Artists who savored as students the sheer joy of art became serious painters while those focused on fame or wealth did not.  Creative achievements depend on single-minded immersion. 

In the educational model, those into flow instruction strive to find out what passions exist in the students and build upon these, shoring up those where the student is deficient.  Pursuing flow through learning is a more humane and natural way of teaching because it can marshal emotions to the educational pursuit or productive end.  Whether it be in controling impulse or putting off gratification, regulating our moods so they facilitate thinking, finding ways to face setbacks and challenges, finding ways to enter flow and perform more effectively all bespeak the power of emotion to guide effective effort.

As I indicated, all of us to some degree have experienced flow sometime in our careers or life.  When I was playing basketball in high school, I would practice 3 to 4 hours daily, shooting baskets at every angle.  I got to the point that I didn't even have to concentrate on the distance or angle.  I was in flow and at times during the game, that same feeling of flow was manifest.  One game in particular, I was running a slight fever and everything I shot seemed to go in.  I don't know if the fever made it even easier to tune out the crowd, the noise or the surrounding distractions but it was obvious to me after a state of flow.

Sometimes, at work I have also experienced that feeling of flow.  Once when engaged in a Baldrige audit of the HR department of Sprint, everything I looked at, analyzed and evaluated seemed like I had done it before and I could easily see opportunities for improvement when comparing to the Baldrige criteria.  I didn't need to do much questionning to find examples of excellence and those requiring improvement.  Another time I felt like I was in flow was when I managed the Affiliate markets, establishing guidelines and best practices for the 15 affiliate partners even in areas of administration that were beyond my scope of work such as risk management, public/private partnering, developing a network preventive maintenance program and aligning marketing, engineering, and other administrative departments to the Affiliate's strategic plan, etc.  The fourth time I felt flow was when I had to project plan the site development/contruction prerequisites of our last and most problematic 50 tower applications with less than 2 months to launch date.  We picked a tiger team, double processed sites and looked for the fastest approach to proceed.  Due to my diligence and success, I was promoted to a Site Development Manager.  Each of these events were things that inspired my passion for excellence and seemed like they energized me in the process.

I can relate to these events as my personal best stories, times when I was in flow or in the zone.  As I indicated earlier, being in flow is the most positive aspect of emotional intelligence.  We should strive to have more of thes in flow experiences in life to make life more enriching and to remove or reduce stress.  What experiences have you had where you were in flow whether in sports, art, music, work or hobbies?