How to create flow

Last year I started investigating flow, for whatever reason, I am not actually sure but either way that doesn’t really matter.  Flow is a state of being fully immersed in what you are doing, where time flies and your level of competence matches the challenge.  It is a highly absorbing state, and a beautiful one to be in – being ‘at one’ with the activity you are doing, and highly productive.  With the help of friends I came to the conclusion that:

“Non-grasping to the end product allows flow to happen because you are living in the process, step by step and logical steps take over.”

But there is more to it than just focusing on the process, and so came the experiment in flow. This involved writing a book, and while this continues I can definitely see how beneficial flow is so wanted to share it. Flow has allowed me to write over 1200 words an hour and so far plough through six chapters of a book in a matter of weeks. What is most surprising is that is just comes out (the words), almost fully formed, with little editing, and not much thought either. No writers block, no nothing that is resistant. Aside from non-grasping to the outcome and focusing on the process I tested out a few other ideas to see their effect, and they have helped to allow flow to coarse through. Key word: allow.

Letting go of judgments
Before we do anything we filter it through our emotional brains, and judge our ability to do that thing we are about to do. If you have created conditions where you don’t do this, you can just do, instead of constantly, judge, do, judge, do. Matthieu Ricard refers to a state of flow as being “a loss of reflective self-consciousness,” so you are doing and not self-criticising. How do you let go of this? Remind yourself that having an opinion about what you are doing serves absolutely no purpose, especially when you go over it ten times in your head – in one minute. It is a waste of thinking time. A typical one for me is ”what will people think of that sentence?” Another condition I have found is to write when I am not fully engaged with the world yet. This means writing away from others, work places etc that all influence us, which for me means writing in the morning, before I have engaged with the outside world.

Routine
Our bodies love routine as this is rooted in our hormones that have routine injecting and regulating our bodies rhythm. When we create routines, positive or negative we are in harmony with our natural rhythms. A negative habit such as a routine of watching 3-hours of television a day; depending on your intention on spending your time (this might be bliss for some people). Positive routines are those that move you closer to what you want. I created a routine by writing before work. I know I can’t write after work as I am too tired and my head is full of my day. First thing in the morning I get up, make coffee and then write for 30-minutes. No more, no less. I have to get up at 6am to fit this, and mediation in, before leaving for work and I am not a morning person, which brings me to my next point.

Prioritising: sleep or write?
When you want to achieve flow you need to set up the conditions to help you achieve it. Prioritising has helped me in that if I am going to go against my natural inclination to sleep in, and get up early (because I truly hate it!), then I am going to make the most of it. I am not going to let my mind wander, or allow myself to be a plaything of my judgements or thoughts. It is only a short period of time, I cannot waste it which leads onto the next point.

Stop before you need to
By setting a small amount of time to do that thing you want to create flow in, you don’t waste time. You want to have golden minutes and always creating conditions whereby you stop before you need to, keeps enthusiasm and thirst there for more.

Remove distractions
No internet, no mobile, no anything. It’s as simple or as hard as that. This is why I find it impossible to write at night as there are too many things to do, or when I had a flat mate, a noisy one, making it impossible to channel anything into a sentence. Ensuring I don’t log onto the internet and don’t check my emails ensures no engagement with the outside world which draws you into thinking, not flowing.

Intention
If you give yourself fully to an activity it is easier to initiate flow. For me, this is setting an intention. If I am to only have 30-minutes to write my intention is quality, not distracting myself with the internet or planning my day. Having an intention of quality, and of flow switches your mind and body on to create that ideal state.

Flags
Full concentration or focus is impossible – it is more about coming back from deviations in concentration and that is where I have found flags useful. Flags are mental thoughts that if a judgement comes up, or anything countering the creation of flow, then mentally a flag pops up and I remind myself to get back on task. I have noticed that as I continue to write I am getting faster and faster and the time between being distracted and noticing the flag is getting smaller telling me I am making flow a habit.

Buddhist Monk Matthieu Ricard says “to be free is to master oneself.” I would add to that: freedom allows flow, to create and be creative. I challenged myself to be able to write a book in a 40-hr week in 30-minute chunks. So far I’m a third of the way through in 27-hrs so it may not be the 40-hrs I had hoped for, but hey a lot of people work more than 40-hrs a week right? Either way, I hope you can apply some of the aspects outlined above to create flow and more enjoyment, in that thing you do.

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