When All Pieces of The Puzzle Come Together |
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Hello Dear Human, For the last few weeks, I was thinking about FLOW. The state of losing oneself in some physical or mental activity. Like getting lost on Wikipedia and starting with exploring some plants, ending up on talk page about late 60’ Spanish celebrities ;) Time went by, dozens of hyperlinks were clicked without even noticing this. Hunger or thirst was not present for hours. The question is what flow is and can I get it beyond Wikipedia madness?! Before we get there, I wanted to let you know, I probably will be in Warsaw for the second half of July! A workshop will take place, so stay tuned! But most of all if you want to have a face-to-face session with me, contact me! Summer is so perfect to have a “Humans Not Robots” meetings in the park! (like in the one below, why not in Łazienki? ;) |
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The Flow In 1996 the inventor of the term “flow” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi described it as "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost." But of course, immersing oneself in Wikipedia or playing jazz is not the only moment we can get into the flow. Each of us has it differently. For some it can be sport, for some, it's baking or cooking, for some, it will be artistic or engineering creation. For some of us, it could be something in our work. (lucky squirrels ;) |
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QUESTION What gives you this feeling like something that you are doing is happening beyond your consciousness? Like something bigger takes over the control and just guides you into the right solutions? When all the pieces of the puzzle almost magically are fitting together. |
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In an adorably retro TED talk from 2004, Csikszentmihalyi explained how the flow is this exact sweet spot when our skills for the activity are exactly a bit lower than the requirement, so we get excited and challenged, but we are good enough to be able to lose the control and…let it flow... |
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(image source: Wikipedia) Flow is a combination of 3 factors: skills + activity + losing control It happens when we are not afraid of trying and not bored by not being challenged enough. Jazz was mentioned as perfect activity to get into the flow (of course if you’re a musician with skills) because it is a lot about improvisation. So, of course, any art creation can spark the flow. Brené Brown said in one of the interviews, she gets the flow when speaking to people from the stage, so she doesn’t even rehearse because after 20 years of research, she just knows what to say and what she needs is the connection with the audience. Recently a lot of neurobiology research is touching this topic too to understand how improvisation like this leads to an “altered state of mind”. |
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Why does it matter for us ordinary people who are not VIP artists?
First of all, as silly as it sounds, this is, in general, a good state to be in. Feel the special connection with the universe, but also seeing how our skills and knowledge are contributing to something greater.
Another moment when it's helpful to understand the flow is when we feel stuck. We can then analyze what is missing to get into this state. What is blocking us? Is it not enough of skills? Is it an issue with the type of activity - just not our jam? Or maybe it’s that we can’t lose the control and let it go. If we feel bored, maybe it’s something we can do to spice it up a bit? If the struggle is too much, maybe to cut it in chunks, or practice a bit more before jumping into the big thing? Or maybe this particular activity will never give us this sense? (Then there might be some decisions to be made what to do about it.) |
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The Control In the world right now, we value control over everything, this broken promise of: "if I can control it, it will be fine, success is guaranteed". While the science of positive psychology shows clearly that this is about getting the balance between having the right challenge and the right level of skills, so the point is exactly of letting it go. Antifragility and in general all the agile practices are built on the notion that in a complex reality we will never be able to control it all, we should rather… hmm, well... improvise more… Being prepared, building a skill set, getting the right people on board, but not assuming that it all will give us 100% of success. Not being too relaxed, not being too worried. The sense of flow there adds the special spice: the joy of doing and not being afraid of failure. It’s like a reward for being in the sweet spot. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, you don’t want it to stop. A meeting that was supposed to be boring leads to exciting ideas and their implementation; difficult concepts start to click and we finally can explain something clearly; a task that seemed too complicated starts to just be exciting and fascinating when we finally can stop thinking about precision and technique after mastering it enough. |
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Together or Alone? I want to also mention something that for me looked suspicious. Is flow for lone wolves, genius creators only? The most often used examples for “flow” like jazz or improvisation theatre are activities that were not designed to be done alone. And this factor of losing control is very important. When we have enough skills, the potential surprise from other people is not only ok but welcome. This is how we give up control, believing there will be something bigger than just us and our individual skills there. That is why a good team trusts their skills and welcomes slips and mistakes because the rest together can handle it and carry on. Kelly Leonard and Tom Yorton in their book “Yes, And…” call it not a team, but an ensemble. While a team is more about the competition (a group of people forming one of the sides in a game or contest), an ensemble is a thing unto itself, an entity that is only true self when its members are performing as one. It’s not only a belief. It’s science. However often we reject those findings, because fulfilling all the requirements for flow is painful, and very much against most of what we are used to in our work that control in forms and substance is the key for success. Building an ensemble is a skill in itself. Following the rules of letting go is a radical counter intuitive idea in the reality of micromanagement and lack of trust. |
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What I can wish you My Dear Human, is to remember that not only the flow is our unique, not-robotic feature, but it is the super-power we can take advantage of when facing challenges. It gives us creativity, it shows us new ways, it's the ultimate force to use when problems are too complicated. And then let's remember ensemble is the solution when more than one human brain power is needed. Have a good Summer and remember to stay hydrated! |
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