Bring Flow into Focus
I think there are three levels of performance among marathon runners. The professionals who do the very best are elite athletes. They train both mind and body to work optimally and consciously. They succeed via conscious competence. The very best amateurs probably compete adding some degree of ‘flow’ to their very good conscious competence but lack professional level athleticism. Flow is the concept invented by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi that is like being in the zone i.e. positively relaxed in a way that enhances performance. The third level are people who just try very hard and do well by dint of effort.
I think you can do your work better, moving up from trying very hard to achieve more by knowing how to get some ‘flow’ into your performance. Csikszentmihalyi thinks you can invite ‘ flow’ into your performance. Here’s how.
1] Prepare for big challenges that can crop up during the day. When I’m coaching people about upcoming meetings I have them do a ‘potential problem analysis’ as part of the preparation for the meeting. We also work on various ‘scripts’ so they’ve thought in advance what they’ll say as things unfold with the usual surprises. Not having to think too much during a stressful meeting invites flow.
2] Clean up the messes in your life. Messes are distracting and you carry them around with you all them time, at least subconsciously. Messes can be environmental, financial, administrative, about relationships, health or legal. For example, preparing your papers in advance of a meeting to be more organized and less distracting can make you more effective.
3] Learn to focus better. One way to do this is to create a parking lot in every meeting. Use it to park diverting ideas that inevitably come up. This takes practice. Start by getting in the habit of making a personal ‘focusing’ note of your objective for each agenda item. When something off topic comes up ask to ‘park’ it so you can go back to focusing on the objective. Get away from the idea that you can multi-task your way thru meetings. You may be able to, but the truth is, very inefficiently.
