Authors: Tyler Phillips (Research Psychologist & Head of Research and Content) and Dr. Etienne van der Walt (Neurologist and CEO & Founder of Neurozone®).
Ever wonder how being completely immersed in your work can boost your well-being? Let's dive into the concept of flow, consider some ways to boost it, and uncover how it can enhance our mental health.
What is Flow?
Flow is the state of being so absorbed in your activity that time flies, your focus sharpens, and everything seems to come together effortlessly. It’s ‘being in the zone’, where you enjoy the process and perform at your best. Here are the key features and conditions of flow:
- Clear Goals: Your task has well-defined objectives and subgoals.
- Immediate Feedback: You get clear and instant feedback from your actions, whether through your environment or bodily sensations.
- Balanced Challenge: The task is challenging enough to engage you (instead of bore you), but not so difficult that it causes you anxiety.
- Concentration: Distractions fade away as you become intensely focused.
- Loss of Worries: Everyday concerns drop out of your awareness.
- Loss of Self-Consciousness: You stop scrutinizing yourself and forget about the fear of failure or embarrassment.
- Sense of Control: You feel in command and can influence the outcome.
- Time Transformation: Hours pass by like minutes.
- Intrinsic Motivation: The activity itself is enjoyable and rewarding. It feels good to be in flow.
Flow and Well-being
Given these features, it’s no surprise that flow is linked to well-being. Research has shown that people who experience flow more often tend to report higher life satisfaction, self-esteem, and fulfillment. So, how can we increase our chances of experiencing flow and reaping its benefits on our well-being?
Job Crafting for Flow
One effective strategy is ‘job crafting,’ which involves making proactive changes to align your work with your values, strengths, and passions. Researchers have identified three types of job crafting:
- Task Crafting: Changing the number and types of tasks you do.
- Cognitive Crafting: Changing how you perceive your work.
- Relational Crafting: Changing your interactions with colleagues, supervisors, and clients.
Interestingly, these researchers found that cognitive crafting had the most significant impact on flow at work in their sample. They also found that cognitive crafting improved workers’ positive mental health by enabling them to experience flow. So, when you change how you view your work, you’re more likely to experience flow, leading to improved mental health and well-being.
How exactly should you change the way you view your work? You find meaning, personal development, and reward in it. Employees need to assess why their work is meaningful and how it serves a larger purpose, both in their organizations and personal lives.
Materialistic Values Hinder Flow
At the same time, we must pursue rewards and a sense of purpose that are not solely tied to materialistic values. Other researchers have found that people who focus heavily on material gains like money and goods tend to experience flow less often. This makes sense because flow is intrinsically motivated; it’s about finding joy in the activity itself, not just the outcome of the activity (e.g., your paycheck). While financial rewards are important, balancing them with intangible sources of fulfillment is crucial to unlocking flow.
Self-Regulation and Flow
Research has also found that people with strong self-regulation skills tend to experience flow more often. Self-regulation involves aligning your behavior, thoughts, and emotions with your goals and expectations, such as choosing healthy food or managing nerves before a presentation. These skills are necessary to achieve the concentration of flow. So, improving them can help you enter and maintain flow more easily.
Mindfulness as a Tool
Mindfulness is an effective way to enhance self-regulation. This makes a lot of sense since mindfulness involves focusing on the present moment and watching your thoughts and feelings without judgment, helping you choose your actions more consciously. Interestingly, practicing mindfulness can not only enhance your self-regulation, but it can also deprioritize materialistic values by connecting you with what is truly meaningful. So, mindfulness enables flow – and well-being – in several ways.
Bringing It All Together
Experiencing flow at work can significantly boost your well-being. By engaging in cognitive crafting (finding purpose and meaning in your work), balancing material and intangible values, and practicing mindfulness to improve self-regulation, you can enter flow more often. This practice can enhance your productivity and your quality of life, helping you thrive personally and professionally.
In summary, flow isn’t just a state of optimal performance; it’s a pathway to greater satisfaction and fulfillment. By understanding and cultivating the conditions that lead to flow, you can unlock its benefits and improve your overall well-being.