Let’s face it- you don’t always work as fast as you know you can, or aren’t quite as mentally involved in your work as you want to be. When you are working at your best, and are “fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity,” you are in a state of flow.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, psychology professor at Claremont Graduate University, proposed the theory of flow state to describe the phenomenon when you are “in the zone.” Your work seemingly becomes easier, and you produce work at its highest quality and speed. Unfortunately, you cannot just force yourself to enter flow. It is something that just occurs when the situation is right.
Csikszentmihalyi stated that there are three conditions for achieving flow (from Wikipedia):
- One must be involved in an activity with a clear set of goals. This adds direction and structure to the task.
- One must have a good balance between the perceived challenges of the task at hand and his or her own perceived skills. One must have confidence that he or she is capable to do the task at hand.
- The task at hand must have clear and immediate feedback. This helps the person negotiate any changing demands and allows him or her to adjust his or her performance to maintain the flow state.
Use this information to ensure that your work environment is best for you, so that you can enter your flow state and maximize your productivity.
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