Flow Systems
Losing concentration and struggling to enjoy an activity you value is often the result of falling out of flow.
A “Flow State” is the experiencing of complete and utter absorption in an activity that you love to do for its own sake. Time speeds up or slows down, and you have so much control over the activity that it almost feels like everything is happening on its own, often to the point where your sense of self merges with the activity or completely vanishes all together.
This state is the pinnacle of creative engagement, and although the larger scope of the creative process includes many things beyond this state, flow is truly the beating heart of every successful creative’s career and experience. Understanding how to get into a state of flow, and how to maintain this state effortlessly, will open up massive rivers of engagement, motivation, and enjoyment.
Flow is a delicate balancing act between your skill in the activity at hand, and the challenges the activity presents. When the challenges overwhelm your skills you will fall into a state of agitation and eventually anxiety as you become overwhelmed by stress. When your skill towers over the challenge of an activity you’ll slip into apathy which eventually leads to boredom and massive disinterest. Both of these non-optimal states (boredom and anxiety) can be avoided by actively working on maintaining this balance between challenge and skill, and this is exactly what this model is designed to help you do.
If you are already in flow, then hey soak it up and enjoy the ride my friend! But if you begin to recognize that you are not as deeply engaged as you could be, your first task is to recognize the nature of your imbalance. Are you becoming bored and disinterested? Or anxious and frustrated? After you’ve determined which side of the flow you’re on, you can begin working toward getting back into flow by applying the suggestions outlined below.
FRUSTRATION, WORRY, & ANXIETY
Take a Deep Breath: Deepening our breathing can help slow down our heart rate and works to regulate many of our physiological systems. Although subtle when employed often and at strategic times it can be one of the most useful regulators for maintaining balance and flow.
Slow Down Your Pace: This is a frequent suggestion from every seasoned music teacher to their students. Slowing things down lets us pay more attention to the subtle complexities of an activity and it gives our bodies and brains more time to analyze and process the activity at hand in ways that can greatly simplify what we’re doing.
Take a Short Break: Not only can short breaks energize our creative process (a step called “incubation”) they can also allow physical and mental fatigue a chance to recover and heal after a period of extended use.
Have Someone Help or Scaffold: Scaffolding refers to when a teacher or mentor works to simplify an activity by helping with the most difficult parts in a way that allows you to focus on the main tasks you’re attempting, for example a coach my offer an arm for support and balance as a gymnast attempts a new element, allowing them to focus on foot placement and distance without worrying as much about balance.
Use Extra Support Tools & Resources: Similar to scaffolding, but with the use of materials instead of an expert, for example add bumper lanes to avoid gutter balls when bowling, or use a compass or ruler when drawing geometric shapes.
Repeat Small Chunks: breaking a complex task into smaller bits and then repeating them will allow your mind and body to create “muscle memory” or “procedural memory” a process in which your mind gently automates some of the tasks so that you can focus your attention on others aspects of the activity. For example repeating a small phrase on piano will help your fingers remember where to go so that you can instead focus on how that chunk fits with the larger scheme of dynamics and phrasing.
Remove Layers of Complexity: If you have no one to help with scaffolding and you have no extra support tools or resources, you can still simplify your challenge by simply removing parts of the activity. For example you can shoot basketball hoops without people defending you, you can try writing a story without worrying about spelling or grammatical structure, or you can attempt a piano part by ignoring the bass clef and looking only at the treble clef part.
Observe a Mentor or Instructor: Sometimes completely removing yourself from an activity and seeing how someone who is skilled performs can open up new approaches and insights. Even watching videos online or going to a performance can often be enough to demonstrate new methods and techniques that may help you get into flow.
Try a Simpler yet Related Activity: This is a kind of self scaffolding in which you do something else that may build you up to where you want to be. If a bicycle is too demanding, try a tricycle. If writing for an orchestra is too demanding, try a quartet or small band. If painting a mural is too difficult try a small sketchbook.
APATHY, BOREDOM, & MONOTONY
Speed Up your Pace: Doing things faster limits the amount of time your body and mind has to process information and can lead to interesting new work-arounds and techniques. Try writing a whole song in 15 minutes, or stepping up your typing speed as you write.
Set Specific Goals: Often times we fall into boredom because we don’t really have a good direction to focus our energy. Choose something specific you’re trying to accomplish and it can give you a new challenge to meet your skill. For example choose a specific route when rock climbing, or aim for a certain emotion when composing music. Make sure there is clear and immediate feedback for your goals so that you know how well you’re doing.
Refine Smaller Details: Really dive into the minutiae of your fine motor skills and honed senses to find a whole new world of detail that can captivate you and add more challenge. For example, when painting begin to notice the outline of each shape and character and fine tune them, or if you are swimming, really pay attention to the angles of your hands and feet as you stroke.
Try a New Angle or Perspective: Not only can this open up vastly new ways of approaching an activity, but it can also offer distinct challenges and more interesting ways of going about something you’re already familiar with. For example try writing music in a wildly different environment or DAW, or if you’re working on a presentation, try recording it so that you can watch or listen from a new direction.
Use Fewer Tools or Senses: You may have more crutches or scaffolding in your activity than you realize which may be making it too easy. Try playing drums with your eyes closed, or attempt to cook something without a recipe.
Use a New Technique: If you’re already mastered a particular technique to the point where it has becoming less engaging, try learning a new one to replace or complement that technique, for example try drawing with your non-dominant hand, try skateboarding with your non-dominant foot forward, try writing music in a new genre, or see if any colleagues or mentors have different approaches or techniques that you can adopt.
Collaborate & Blend Your Work: A great way to add fresh and interesting new challenges into your workflow is to bring another person into the activity. Write a song with someone new, collaborate on a painting, or try to work with a co-author on a paper or presentation.
Add a New Layer of Complexity: Adding new parts to a system will undoubtedly add more complexity and challenge to your activity, and if the new layers match your skills and interests you’re sure to move closer to a state of flow. For example try adding a new instrument to your live musical performance, try adding a new rhetorical tool to your writing such as rhyming or iambic pentameter. Trying adding new layers of color theory or geometric principles to your graphic design.
Work in a New Environment: The environment you are in when you learn something has a huge impact on how it is learned and how it is performed. Try hiking in a new landscape, writing in a new park, golfing in the desert, or dancing underwater.
You can accomplish everything within this concept map on your own, but the support of a qualified and enthusiastic coach can ensure that you accomplish them with the right amount of support at a pace that works for you.
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