4 Tactics for Entering a Flow State

On our 10th anniversary Judith took me on an epic trip to a remote island in the middle of the ocean. On one afternoon during that trip, Judith and I were snorkelling above a reef. As we were swimming, we noticed that the reef had dropped off below us. All we could see were fish.

Judith tapped my side. I looked back and she motioned to the right. There was a 6-foot reef shark swimming up beside me. I was swimming with the shark right next to me.

In that brief moment, I could see the shark’s dorsal fin over the water alongside me. I could see the shark’s eye. I could see its teeth. I could see the pores on its skin. I could see the way it was moving. I could see the individual muscles along its body.

I could tap my feet in sync with the rhythm of its fin strokes. I was swimming in sync with the shark.

It was one of the coolest 30 seconds of my life. And during that brief experience, I am certain my brain was firing gamma brainwaves (created in moments of peak experience, synchrony, and connection).

It was a moment of peak experience. I was in a deep flow state.

Flow was first described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who identified it as a highly focused state conducive to peak performance and productivity. Being in “the zone” or a “flow” state is characterized by complete absorption in an activity and being entirely in the present (no sense of past or future).

Csikszentmihalyi describes eight characteristics of flow: concentration on the task, clarity of goals, transformation of time, intrinsic reward, effortlessness, a balance of challenge and skills, a merging of actions and awareness, and a feeling of control.

Flow is when we are energized, motivated, focused, happy, and able to perform at our best.

 It is an incredible experience. It is also difficult to replicate consistently - fortunately swimming with sharks is a rare occurence. Here are a few practices that can help you enter your flow state on demand.

 Flow State Tactic #1: Identify your best zone moment

Think of a time when you achieved something great and were in a particularly good zone when you were doing the performance.

Describe the moment. Single words can be helpful. Maybe they include where you were, what you were doing, and how you felt. How did you feel? What were you thinking? What were you doing?

 Visualize anything that reminds you of the actions, thoughts, and feelings that happened during your optimal performance.

 Flow State Tactic #2: Embrace the Extraordinary

Flow states happen in people actively engaged in moments of pure extraordinary experience: like that bike ride when you forget you’re cycling or the run when it feels easy, or teaching the class and everyone is connected or that speech when you were so dominant you lost track of yourself. That moment with your partner when you’re completely locked in on each other. That instant when you see the shape of your sculpture emerge or your experiment succeed.

Just be deeply present and let the moment take over.

 Flow State Tactic #3: Think About the Why

Fearing external judgment and relying on external validation to feel good are equally problematic. And both are a barrier to achieving high performance.

Far away from fear and the need for external validation (praise, admiration, awards, approval) lies meaning. Terminally ill patients never wish they had been praised and admired more. They don’t wish they had earned more employee-of-the-month plaques.

They are focused on internal questions of meaning: being true to themselves, having closer relationships, wishing work hadn’t defined them so much.

They don’t think so much about the what of life— their jobs or material possessions or trophies—but on the why of life.

 It’s not what you do, but why you do it. Remember your why to enter the zone.

 Flow State Tactic #4: Let Go of the Fear of Failure

People who have achieved immense success invariably say that before they got it right, they got it colossally wrong. Many times. And they will point out that they were able to capitalize on those failures because they saw them as a gift, not a curse.

Elite athletes don’t get to the top of their sport by having competed against people they could beat. They pushed themselves to the limit so that they failed—again and again. Then they used the information and experience from those setbacks to get better.

Somehow, we must get rid of our underlying belief that failure is embarrassing, a sign of weakness, or an indication that we are not cut out to succeed.

To enter flow states, we have to embrace— deeply and fully—the idea that there is no way to achieve your potential if you don’t put yourself in situations where you will fail, and then do it with no fear. Maybe not happily, but with passion.

We must reframe failure as an essential ingredient in growth. By perceiving it as a challenge rather than a threat, we can enter the zone.

Final Thoughts

Flow states are magical moments that enable us to reach our true potential almost effortlessly. I hope these few ideas have helped you to understand your flow states better and maybe how you can enter the zone. 

That’s it for this week! Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

Yours for health, wellbeing & peak performance - Dr. Greg