Hongkongers work some of the longest hours on earth, and for many people "work-life balance" is little more than a luxurious daydream. Under the sway of materialism, everyone treats getting rich as life's goal, and income seems to be the sole purpose of work. Even when you land a job that fits your interests, a relentless drive for perfection can sometimes leave us gasping for air. Since work takes up such a large part of life, does that mean work can only ever mean stress and suffering? Psychology tells us that work can bring us happiness — and the secret lies in "flow".
What is flow? And how does it relate to a "stream"?
"Flow" is a psychological state proposed by the Hungarian-American psychologist Csíkszentmihályi Mihály in this paper. The Chinese name for it literally evokes a "stream", a vivid image, while "flow" itself refers to the mental state in which a person is completely focused on and absorbed in doing something, with no ulterior motive, purely for the sake of doing it. Actions and thoughts move forward of their own accord, and body and mind "flow" along with the activity itself.
A state of flow comes with the following sensations (Csikszentmihalyi & Larson, 2014):
1. Intense concentration on the work you are doing
2. Performing the required actions almost without conscious thought
3. A sense that you can handle whatever the work throws at you
4. A sense that time is passing faster than usual
5. The work itself gives you a sense of fulfilment
So, in concrete terms, how can we reach a state of flow?
Reaching flow requires the following two conditions (Csikszentmihalyi & Larson, 2014):
1. The task itself is challenging, with a level of difficulty that does not exceed your abilities yet still demands your full effort to tackle (just-manageable challenges)
2. As you complete each step, the task itself lets you know whether you have done that step well or badly. (For example, finishing a row or a box in Sudoku is one such step.) Completing stage-by-stage steps lets you see that you are reaching your goal one step at a time, and that you are solving the difficulty one step at a time, and that brings a sense of fulfilment.
This shows that flow is a state in which a person gains a sense of fulfilment in the course of working — and that fulfilment does not come from a salary or the praise of bosses and colleagues, but from the work itself. At the same time, because of the fulfilment this work brings, we are able to immerse ourselves in it, reaching a kind of emptiness in which we momentarily forget our worries while still being aware that we are working. In fact, a state of flow does not have to be reached only at work: any activity you find interesting, familiar and reasonably challenging — Sudoku, jigsaw puzzles, any kind of exercise and so on — can carry us into flow.
The autotelic personality — finding joy in taking on challenges
After studying flow theory and observing the patterns by which different people enter flow, Csíkszentmihályi concluded that people with an autotelic personality find it easier to enter and sustain a state of flow. The autotelic personality involves several capacities, including curiosity about the various things in life, perseverance and being less self-centred. These capacities make it easier for a person to derive intrinsic motivation from doing something, and to enjoy the work itself — which is also a necessary condition for entering a state of flow.
In fact, this resonates with another concept from positive psychology — the growth mindset. Having a growth mindset means believing that ability and intelligence can keep developing and improving through effort, accepting criticism when you make mistakes and objectively pinpointing the reasons for failure — for instance, "I didn't put in enough time to revise" rather than "I'm too stupid", which blames failure on factors that cannot be changed.
The benefits and applications of "flow"
Beyond giving you a sense of fulfilment at work, the experience of "flow" also brings the following benefits:
Positive emotions – When you reach a state of "flow" by taking part in an activity you love, you not only generate pleasant emotions; because the bulk of your concentration shifts onto the work, your worries and other negative emotions are also pushed to the back of your mind.
Improved performance – One study found that for ordinary corporate employees, the state of "flow" accounts for only five percent of the working day. Yet when this proportion is raised to fifteen percent, employees' productivity doubles!
Improved creativity – In a state of "flow", because a person temporarily sets aside everyday clutter and other constraints, inspiration and creativity are greatly enhanced.
Fostering skill improvement – A state of "flow" drives a person to keep trying again and rise to the challenge even amid difficulty, leading to a rapid leap forward in their skills. So when we want to learn or refine a skill, we should keep taking on challenges and enjoy them, and we will advance by leaps and bounds.
To reach a state of flow, do you first have to find the thing that interests you most?
In fact, entering a state of flow is not a state of relaxation or rest; rather, it is the feeling of throwing yourself fully into a challenge and putting all your effort into solving a difficulty. Finding intrinsic motivation in various activities is not determined solely by innate ability or preference; it is more a matter of mindset — staying unbowed and undaunted in the face of a challenge, and feeling fulfilled in the process of solving a difficulty step by step. That is the essence of flow.
The editor reckons one time I reached flow was a secondary-school assignment that required completing a piece of programming. The coursework was actually very difficult: along the way I had to keep Googling and trying out new techniques, and there were always inexplicable bugs to deal with — but after gradually solving the various bugs, my mind felt no restlessness; instead there was a kind of fulfilment, and before I knew it several hours had slipped by.
Interpreting it through the concept of flow: before solving a bug the editor had no idea whether they were capable of solving it on their own, nor how long it would take to solve a given bug. But a challenge — a just-manageable challenge — actually requires you to believe you are able to solve it before you can complete it. Sometimes you can only judge whether a challenge or setback is surmountable once you have tried; persevere, look at your mistakes objectively, and affirm your own ability when solving a difficulty, and perhaps you will gradually be able to enter a state of flow.
References
1. Csikszentmihalyi, M., & Larson, R. (2014). Flow and the foundations of positive psychology (Vol. 10, pp. 978-94). Dordrecht: Springer.
2. Dweck, C. (2015). Carol Dweck revisits the growth mindset. Education week, 35(5), 20-24.
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