The Ultimate Guide To The Flow State: How To Enter Flow

With the increase in Flow popularity, more people want to learn how to enter the Flow state. This post will provide you with all the information you need on Flow.

What Is Flow?

You may know Flow as being ‘in the zone’, or as being entirely focused on one activity. Flow is the technical term for this experience. It is an optimal state of consciousness, when we are feeling our best and performing our best.

Flow is the complete immersion in a task. It’s those moments where we are so absorbed in a task that everything else seems to disappear.

Action merges with awareness. Time dilates, feeling either much quicker or much slower depending on the activity. Some Flow experiences can feel like a frame-by-frame speed, such as in a car crash.

While, in other Flow experiences, time seems to speed up. This is much more common. Hours can feel like minutes; time will fly by in the blink of an eye.

The science of Flow has been around for a while. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi discovered that Flow was universal. This means that anyone and everyone can experience it. Before his discovery, people thought Flow was only for the world’s best.

Here, we’ll be looking at Flow for productivity. But, a lot of the information here is applicable elsewhere. You can use it to find Flow in any activity. At the end of this post, we’ll look at Flow for happiness.

A definition of Flow

The term ‘Flow’ describes the feeling experienced in this optimal state. Actions seem to flow into each other, without effort. To experience this, though, Flow has to be as near as possible to high-speed, creative decision making. Without near-perfection, actions wouldn’t transition with ease.

One of the causes of Flow is transient hypofrontality.

Transient means impermanent. Hypo, the opposite of hyper, means to slow down and deactivate. Frontality relates the prefrontal cortex in the brain. This is where higher cognitive functioning takes place.

Your sense of will and sense of morality exist in your prefrontal cortex. The same is true of your complex decision making.

While in Flow, your prefrontal cortex is temporarily inactive. Time passes differently while in Flow because this part of your brain calculates time.

Your inner critic and voice of doubt, shut off while in Flow because your prefrontal cortex produces them.

The result of this is freedom; it’s a liberating feeling.

Further, risk-taking and creativity rise while in the Flow state. Creativity can rise by up to 700% when your prefrontal cortex is inactive!

The benefits of Flow

Researchers believe that the Flow state causes the results of optimal human experience. Think about gold medalists, academic breakthroughs, creative masterminds. These are all a result of people being in this state of optimal performance.

When in Flow, we are more productive. Studies have found that while in Flow, people can be 500% more productive.

That means if you went to work on Monday and worked the entire day in Flow, you could take the remaining 4 days off. You’d be as productive as people who didn’t experience Flow that week!

While in Flow, all aspects of performance – both mental and physical – dramatically improve. The brain releases 5 different chemicals into the brain during Flow. These are all associated with pleasure and performance enhancement.

This is the only time we know of where 5 chemicals are present at once. Because of this, the Flow state is actually quite addictive.

But, scientists and researchers don’t like the use of this word. Instead, they call Flow an ‘autotelic’ experience – which means the purpose and the reward of the activity is the activity itself.

Neurochemistry of Flow

The chemicals found in the brain while in Flow are often associated with and generated through the use of recreational drugs. Each of the 5 Flow chemicals is pleasurable alone, which is the reason people take the relevant drugs.

Some people can become so addicted to the Flow state that they begin to take drugs to recreate the pleasure experienced while in Flow.

Robin Williams turned to cocaine usage and other drugs for this reason. He wanted to feel something akin to the pleasure of performing on stage. This is a sad and unfortunate example that helps to explain how pleasurable the Flow state must be.

If you’re interested, here are the chemicals found in the brain during Flow. Alongside them are the common drug associations:

• Norepinephrine – Speed, Ritalin
• Dopamine – Cocaine
• Anandamide – Cannabis
• Endorphins – Opiates
• Serotonin – MDMA

Flow also helps with learning as a result of these chemicals. The more neurochemicals present during an experience, the better your memory of that experience. This means there is a greater chance that the experience will move from your short- to long-term memory.

One role of neurochemicals in the brain is to tell the brain what’s important and to save things for later. The more neurochemicals that are present, the more important an experience will seem. So, the more likely that your brain will save it for later.

5 neurochemicals in the brain at once is the most we can experience at any point. As a result, while in Flow, there is a significant increase in learning and memory.

You may have heard of Malcolm Gladwell’s 10,000 hours to mastery – Flow will cut that time in half. That’s how powerful and beneficial this state is.

Entering Flow

Criteria for entering Flow

To enter Flow, you must meet certain criteria. You can break these down into 8 different criteria and features. Flow is when a person:

1. Is engaged in a doable task
2. Is able to focus
3. Has a clear goal
4. Receives immediate feedback
5. Moves without worrying
6. Has a sense of control
7. Has suspended the sense of self
8. Has temporarily lost a sense of time

Although it’s not required to meet all these criteria, the more you can meet the easier it will be to find Flow.

Flow exists in a state between boredom and anxiety. Difficulty and skill increase in proportion. If the task is too difficult but requires little skill, then anxiety is present. Likewise, if the task requires a lot of skill yet isn’t difficult, boredom is present.

Here, since we’re looking at Flow in more detail, we want to be focusing on the upper-right section of the graph. This is where Flow resides.

You should ignore the bottom-left section of the Flow channel. When considering Flow for happiness, this section is unimportant.

An activity that requires low skill and isn’t difficult creates apathy. You can find a more detailed graph below.

Consider the example of someone who sits around all day watching TV. Through receiving immediate dopamine and instant gratification, that person becomes lazy.

They become unmotivated to do anything other than the current, low effort activity. They become apathetic.

You may think that doing activities such as this will make you ‘happy’. They won’t. The truth is, sitting around doing nothing all day will not make you genuinely happy.

This is because doing nothing is not an optimal experience. Move your focus towards more difficult activities that need more skill. You’ll be on your way to ecstasy, thanks to Flow.

Triggers to enter Flow

Triggers, unlike criteria, are things that can help you get into Flow, or even outright cause it. By definition, they are triggers to enter the Flow state.

There are many triggers to enter Flow, both for individuals and for teams. I’ll list these out shortly. But first, it’s important to know that you are by no means limited to these triggers.

How you best enter Flow will be different from how another person enters Flow. The triggers listed here are general but will help nonetheless.

Steven Kotler listed 20 different triggers for entering Flow in a Mindvalley talk. 10 for individuals and 10 for groups. These are:

Further, Maximilian Gotzler lists 17 Flow triggers in a talk he did for Biohacker Summit back in 2016. These triggers have been further split into groups based on the type of trigger that they are. You may begin to notice some commonality:

The last is Creativity, which is a trigger on its own. Often, being creative will lead you into Flow. The reasoning is the same as that we explored earlier – the prefrontal cortex shutting down. Creativity exists, for the most part, outside of this part of the brain.

In life-on-the-line action-adventure sports, you can use this trigger to achieve dramatic results. That’s how we’re seeing near-exponential progress from action sports. Frequent experience of high-consequence situations can help daredevils to prompt Flow. This prompts Flow and allows them to perform better.

Reaching and maintaining Flow

To reach the Flow state, and to remain in it, we must minimise and cut distractions. Distractions are the biggest obstacles we must overcome for our focus and productivity. To enter Flow more often, we can remove the biggest distractions from our environment.

There are two forms of distractions, offered through The Art of Improvement:

External Distractions – Notifications, smartphone, social media, email, noise, etc

Internal Distractions – Thoughts, stress, anxiety, an overactive mind, etc

Your ability to focus, find Flow, and complete deep work all increase by removing distractions.

Eliminating External Distractions

This is the easier of the two, as you can deal with most external distractions immediately. First, identify your biggest sources of external distraction. Most often, these are:

• Smartphones
• Social Media
• Food
• Netflix
• Email
• Video Games
• Instant Messaging Apps

Once identified, deal with that distraction. To do so, you can do one of two things:

1. Remove the distraction from your environment.
2. Remove yourself from the distraction.

The more difficult it is to access distractions, the less likely you are to get distracted.

Many of the above distractions have been designed to hook you in and distract you. It’s how the companies make money.

Your brain releases dopamine while engaging in these activities, providing pleasurable immediate gratification. This is why it can be difficult to resist the temptation of picking up your phone or checking email. The mind is always looking for the path of least resistance. The above distractions provide that path.

You should now understand the nature of external distractions. We can now begin to create distance between ourselves and the distraction. Here are some tips to help you do that:

• Turn off your smartphone / put it on aeroplane mode, or put it in a different room. Make it hard to access.
• Download and install a website blocker. This will prevent you from accessing social media or distracting websites.
• Turn off all notifications.
• Only keep relevant work tabs open. Don’t keep unnecessary tabs open, such as for social media and email.
• Work in a quiet space.
• Use noise-cancelling headphones.

Eliminating Internal Distractions

Removing external distractions is great. But, regardless of how much distance you create, you’ll always have one other major source of distraction. Internal distractions through the mind.

To do deep work and enter Flow, you must learn to calm and focus the mind. One of the best ways of doing this is through practicing regular meditation. Meditation will help to calm the mind and prevent it from racing or overthinking. It improves focus and decreases any inner chatter you may experience.

Another method is through daily journaling. The simple act of writing your thoughts down on paper will help to organise your mind.

Your mind is a generator; a creation machine for ideas and thoughts – not a storage place to keep those thoughts. We must write relevant thoughts and ideas down for optimal efficiency in the mind.

Tips to enter Flow

Through using many of the triggers listed earlier, you’ll be able to enter Flow more often. But, here are a few more tips to help you enter Flow in a more personal and specific way.

• Ask yourself:
  • Where are you most often in Flow?
  • What are you doing in that moment – both externally and internally?
  • Why is that experience so meaningful to you?
  • How do you enter the Flow state on purpose, and with purpose?
• Try to translate your experience of Flow in one area into another area of your life. Most often, you’ll need to look for the things you are doing internally during Flow. Then, apply these elsewhere to experience Flow in other situations.
  • For example, let’s say you’re someone who finds Flow in writing. You can use immediate feedback (words typed), combined with creating something, to find Flow easier in other areas.
• Create a playlist for focusing and being productive. Only listen to this music while you are working. Your brain will begin to associate that music with being productive. Whenever you want to enter Flow and focus for an extended period of time, listen to that music.
  • Additionally, music can speed up the firing of neurons in the brain. This can help you to enter the Flow state faster.
• Choose activities that you enjoy doing when wanting to experience Flow. It’s much easier to be fully immersed and engaged in an activity if you enjoy doing it.
• Find the best time of day to enter Flow for you. Are you a morning person or an evening person?
  • The best time of day for me to find Flow is in the early morning hours. Most of the world isn’t yet awake, so distractions are naturally minimised.

Positive habits and routines

It’s much easier to enter Flow if you’ve already built momentum through positive habits. Once the ball is rolling, it’s easier to follow that momentum forwards. Focusing becomes less challenging, allowing you to find Flow faster.

Develop routines and positive habits to reduce distractions. This will help you to set yourself up for Flow.

Think back to earlier on how to deal with external and internal distractions. By meditating and journaling ahead of work, you’ll find Flow easier.

Routines provide structure and consistency to your life. The more often you do a routine, the more natural and automatic it becomes.

The same applies to Flow – if you create a specific routine for finding Flow, you can find Flow much quicker. An example Flow routine could be:

1. Getting some food
2. Showering
3. Meditating
4. Journaling for 5-10 minutes
5. Preparing for work
6. Turning on work / Flow playlist
7. Working until entering Flow

What’s your Flow profile?

This isn’t something that I’m going to write about, since I don’t have enough knowledge. But, it is useful to learn the best ways for you, as an individual, to find Flow.

You can head to Flow Genome Project and take the free quiz to find out. You’ll learn which Flow profile you align with, which will help you to find Flow easier in the future.

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Flow For Happiness

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi shared in his book ‘Flow’ that people with the highest life satisfaction and life happiness are the people who experience Flow most often. He found that Flow is actually fundamental to life satisfaction.

While in the Flow state, nothing else seems to matter. Problems, worries, fears, and sources of stress disappear. The state itself is extremely enjoyable because of this.

Being completely immersed in Flow and knowing you can deal with problems as they arise is one of the best feelings. Entering this state on the regular can promote happiness and wellbeing in your life.

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Conclusion

If you’re interested in learning more about Flow, this talk from Steven Kotler is very useful and well presented. It’s where I learned most of the information in this guide.

I hope you’ve learnt something about Flow from this blog post. It’s a fascinating topic which I could discuss further but wanted to keep this post to a somewhat introductory level.

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Thanks for reading.

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