One of the great undiscovered joys of life comes from doing everything one attempts to the best of one's ability. There is a special sense of satisfaction, a pride in surveying such a work, a work which is rounded, full, exact, complete in its parts, which the superficial person who leaves his or her work in a slovenly, slipshod, half-finished condition, can never know. It is this conscientious completeness which turns any work into art. The smallest task, well done, becomes a miracle of achievement. - Og Mandido
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Tom
DeMarco describes
flow as a highly productive and
creative state of concentration.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes
flow as a sense of effortless
action that provides enjoyment and ultimately happiness because
your efforts are rewarded with learning and achievement. He goes on
to say that it's possible to improve your quality of life by making
sure that the conditions of flow are part of all your activities.
Here's a summary of Csiksczentmihalyi's components of flow,
enjoyment and happiness:
1. The challenges of doing something that you have the chance of
completing. If the challenge is too much for you then it's likely
to make you anxious. If the challenge is insufficient you may
become bored.
2. To help you enter flow and maintain concentration, identify a
clear goal for your session and work incrementally, concentrating
each increment on a limited field of attention.
3. Focus your awareness. Your actions and awareness will merge as
you assimilate immediate feedback.
4. Immersion in flow removes the worries and frustrations of
everyday life from your awareness.
5. Enjoyable experiences allow you to exercise a sense of control
over your actions.
6. Concern for self disappears, yet paradoxically the sense of
self emerges stronger after your session in flow has finished.
7. As you are immersed in flow your sense of time becomes
distorted with hours passing in what seemed like minutes.
Further reading:
Flow: The Psychology of Optimal
Experience
