Finding Flow (review)

© 2000, Coert Visser

`What is a good life?', is basically the question addressed by Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Well, isn't a good life just about being happy? Ok, but that is not the complete answer. For how do we become and stay happy? Not by watching TV, eating, or relaxing all day! In small doses these things are good and improve your daily life, but the effects are not additive. In other words: a point of diminishing returns is quickly reached. Also you don't become happy by having to do nothing. Csikszentmihalyi's research shows that both intrinsic motivation (wanting to do something) and extrinsic motivation (having to do something) are preferable to not having any kind of goal to focus your attention.

Csikszentmihalyi argues that a life filled with `flow activities' is more worth living than one spent consuming passive entertainment. He says, the point is to be happy while doing things that stretch your goals and skills that help you grow and fulfil your potential. In other words: the content of your experiences over a lifetime determines the quality of your life. Then what exactly ìs `flow'? Is it just some vague new New Age concept? Not at all! It is precisely defined and well-researched. The experience if flow is the sense of effortless action we feel in moments that we see as the best in our lives. In order to have flow experiences you need clear goals/demands, immediate and relevant feedback and a balance between your skills and the demands. Then your attention becomes ordered and fully invested. Because of the total demand on you psychic energy you become completely focused, your self-consciousness disappears, as does your sense of time, yet you feel strong and competent. When in flow, you are not exactly happy, because you are not focused on your inner states (that would take away your attention from the task at hand). But looking back you are happy. Having flow experiences leads to growth and learning and improving your life becomes a question of making flow as much as possible a constant part of your everyday experience.

Csikszentmihalyi describes how you can find flow in several important life domains. One domain is work. Often we short-sightedly spend a lot of energy to take the easy way and cut corners, trying to do as little as possible in our jobs. If we would spend the same amount of energy trying to accomplish more we would probably enjoy our work more and be more successful as well. To improve your work you can try to take the whole context of your job into account. Doing this you can better understand your contribution to the whole and understand and value your role more. This enables you to invest more energy and withdraw more meaning from your work. Further, to use flow at work you can try to establish a situation in which your job (an other people's jobs) provides clear goals, unambiguous feedback, a sense of control, few distractions and challenges that match your skills. Just as much as in work you can create flow in your family and other relationships according to Csikszentmihalyi. He says it is particularly important to give attention to building harmony between participant's goals and to find ways to balance the meaningfulness of the rewards you get from work and relationships.

This book is definitely worth reading. Csikszentmihalyi's answer to the question `What is a good life?' is practical and convincing.

Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning

© 2003, Coert Visser

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is the Hungarian-born writer of the bestseller Flow. This professor of Psychology and Education at the University of Chicago has been studying this concept of Flow for many years and has written several interesting books, among which Flow (1990) and Finding Flow (1997). Now he has written a new book: Good Business. It turns out to be just the book I hoped he would write: a book about Flow and work.

Work can contribute to your well-being!Although many people view work primarily negatively, it can actually contribute importantly to your well-being, more so than gaining more and more possessions. And because work is so important, it is vital that managers and employees create conditions in which good work can happen. But what is good work? It is enjoying doing your best while at the same time contributing to something beyond yourself. Csikszentmihalyi explains how this can be achieved through two processes: 1) experiencing flow and 2) growth toward complexity. What precisely do these two things mean?

1. Experiencing FlowIn situations of flow, tasks demand the full involvement of the person. In these situations there is a perfect balance between the challenge of the task and the skills of the person. The so-called ´flow channel´ represents optimal experience, where both challenges and skills lie above the average level. More challenge than skill leads to arousal, anxiety, or worry. More skill than challenge leads to control, relaxation, or boredom. Flow depends on eight conditions: 1) goals are clear, 2) feedback is immediate, 3) a balance between opportunity and capacity, 4) concentration deepens, 5) the present is what matters, 6) control is no problem, 7) the sense of time is altered, 8) the loss of ego.

2. Growth Toward Complexity
People flourish when in their activities there is a trajectory of growth that results in the development of increasing emotional, cognitive and social complexity. With complexity two processes happen at once: a) DIFFERENTIATION: realizing that we are unique individuals, responsible for our own survival and well being, b) INTEGRATION: the realization that however unique we are, we are also part of a larger whole.

Conclusion:Regularly experiencing flow plus growing toward complexity are the ingredients of good work. But what about the ´happy´ part? How can it be that pleasurable activities, products and relaxation are less important for happiness than the hard work of flow and complexity?

Pleasure Versus EnjoymentCsikszentmihalyi contrasts pleasure with enjoyment. He explains pleasure is nice but also conservative and leading to equilibrium while enjoyment is like happiness in action leading to greater skills. Enjoyment leads to a “triumph over the forces of entropy” and is like building psychological capital. Too bad that our materialistic and marketing-dominated culture emphasizes the importance of pleasure over enjoyment, since enjoyment is far more likely to lead to long term happiness!

What can managers and employees do?Managers and employees can do quite a lot to advance conditions of flow and complexity. The book does not provide a simple list but the reader will probably get many ideas.

As a manager I could take the eight conditions of flow and the two aspects of complexity and use them to rethink work and the way I interact with my employees. Doing that I would recognize I need to (among other things) create attractive working conditions (with clear goals, feedback, etc), provide a good degree of control to stimulate the development of employees and build an organization with a long term purpose people can relate to. Another thing I could do is start a one-on-one or group dialogue with employees about these flow and complexity principles in order to improve work.

Employees also can do a lot. As an employee I could do certain things to improve my objective work conditions. I could ask for clearer goals, and more specific and timely feedback. I could negotiate with my manager to get more autonomy and more flexibility in time schedules. Further, I could change the way I look at and what I expect from work. If I indeed believe that the hard work of flow and complexity indeed improves the quality of my life …… I could resist the temptation to cut corners (doing my work with as little effort as possible) and instead pay attention more closely to the complexity of my tasks. In terms of my career development I could think about what kind of products I really believe in and what kind of company I truly would like to be part of.

ConclusionThe book contains a great framework, is well written and contains good examples. The one I liked best is the anecdote about the brother of the author, Moricz. It was not until his eighties that Moricz took up the hobby of the collection and study of crystals. Moricz describes a flow experience he had when looking at one of his crystals.

“I was looking at this thing just yesterday,” he said, smiling. “It was nine in the morning when I put it under the microscope. Outside it was sunny, just like today. I kept turning the rock around, looking at all the fissures, the intrusions, the dozen or more different crystal formations inside and around…then I looked up, and thought that a storm must be coming, because it had gotten so dark…then I realized that it was not overcast, but the sun had been setting – it was past seven in the evening.”

I think this is a wonderful book. I would, however, have liked the book even more if it had been still a bit more practical. Still, I recommend this book highly for anyone searching for ways to improve work and careers. I think Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (who seems to be a great example of his own theory) has something to offer of great value for them.