What they found was that the specific activity mattered less than you might think. Almost anything can be a flow experience:Ĭsikszentmihalyi and his team of researchers developed the theory of flow through interviewing people (from all walks of life, all across the world) about the times in their lives that they felt most content, most in control, and most in the moment. “I developed a theory of optimal experience based on the concept of flow- the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it”įor the sake of classification, I put this post in the “Productivity” category, but I could just as easily have put it under “Living”, “Health”, “Studying”, “Psychology”, or “Learning”.įlow touches on so many aspects of human experience that it’s difficult to categorize it. I’ll explain what it is, why it matters, and how you can cultivate flow in situations you encounter as a student. In today’s post, I’ll explore the truth of flow, straight from the source. Increased productivity is a side effect of flow, but achieving flow is ultimately about leading a more enjoyable, happier life. As the book’s subtitle implies, flow is about so much more than being more productive. It’s such a powerful concept that all the productivity blogs and business websites have taken the concept and run away with it, offering tips to achieving flow in order to be more productive.īut many of these bloggers have missed the point of the original book that started it all: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experienceby Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

Psychologists call this experience “flow”, and it’s essential to doing meaningful deep work.

Have you ever experienced a time when you felt like you were “in the zone”? Where you were so involved in what you were doing that everything else around you melted away, and time stood still?

5 Situations to Cultivate Flow as a Student.

Flowstate music