Have you experienced flow yet, well if you are lucky then you may have experienced it, the great thing is, with practice you can hopefully get there many times a day. What is flow then, well it is a state where you are able to focus completely, everything seemingly disappears in the background and you are able to perform at your very best.
Perform at the Peak
The work in itself feels quite effortless. People describe flow as a time when they perform at their peak, and this is regardless of their vocations and professions, irrespective of the job or jobs a person is holding, ranging from surgery to chess and other sports, it is not just experts who experience this mindset, the phenomenon applies in equal measure to other folks as well, everybody works best, when they are in the zone. This is true when HR professionals are conducting a recruitment drive to shore up employment by filling in a vacancy.
State of Mind
And who knows better than the smart leaders, that by helping people get into the flow, and staying there, they would be able to work at their peak abilities. This is especially true of people whose work requires a hefty dose of creativity. What happens when your brain is on flow, well in this state of mind, the brain is infact primed for optimal and peak performance and creativity.
Link Ideas Together
One must note that this is a transient condition, it is interesting to know the science behind the phenomenon, neuroscientists term it as transient hypofrontality, in layman terms it is the deactivation of the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain dealing with thinking as well as cognitive functions. This condition is temporary, another notable thing is the sense of self drops, as it resides in the prefrontal cortex. In this state the brain is flooded with performance enhancing chemicals, like dopamine and endorphins, and these chemicals enhance our ability to focus, and link ideas together in still newer ways.
Stretch Your Skills
What leads to the flow. There are several conditions which lead to the flow state, one of the component happens to be, the level of difficulty of the task in hand, too simple a task would invariably lead to boredom, whereas too challenging one would result in lots of stress and frustration as well. Whereas when you are engaging in something, which just stretches your skills, it is much more likely to cultivate the flow state as you know it.
Fully Absorbed Focus
If your work really matters to you, and if you certainly care about what you are doing than you are much more likely to reach the flow state. It helps to have fully absorbed focus, as it eases you into the flow, it is a known fact, the more we happen to concentrate on a task, the sooner we start working on it. Compared to the right level of challenge, and caring about your work, focus is indeed something that one can control. It calls for increased skills when it comes to paying attention, to what one chooses, and this in turn leads to much stronger concentration, this concentration may lead to the prized flow state.
Mental Gym
It is interesting to note, one can develop the ability to focus, much like working out at the gym for increasing our muscle strength, we may use a mental gym, harnessing mindfulness to bring back the attention that has strayed, thereby strengthening our ability to concentrate, a basic mental workout like focusing on your breath is indeed quite helpful. It strengthens the pathways that determine your ability to focus.
Final Words
Additionally stronger concentration skills, help you to step down the path to the flow or zone state, no matter where you happen to be and what you happen to be doing. Wise are those leaders who enable their employees to reach the flow and stay put for longer because employees work at their peak capabilities when they are in the zone, which is great for productivity as well as the bottom line too.
