In Flow

Maximizing Productivity through Improved Focus


© iStockphoto/beklaus

What is focus?

Let's take an example. Have you ever seen a hassled mom trying to get her young daughter to leave whatever she is doing and do something else? It's a common enough sight: Young children can get so wrapped up in whatever they're doing that it takes a lot of persuasion to get them to switch their attention.

This ability to focus totally on one thing comes naturally to young children, but it's one of the biggest challenges that most of the rest of us face. We struggle to concentrate and, because of this, fail to get on with the work we're doing.

Some people, though, seem able to focus intensely on what they're doing, and perform exceptionally well as a result. Modern psychologists refer to this state of absolute absorption or concentration in what we are doing, as being "in flow."

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who first described the concept, suggests that this state of being able to achieve total focus applies to almost every field of activity. According to Csikszentmihalyi, flow involves "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost". So how do we enter this "ecstatic" state?

Creating the Right Environment

Flow is easiest to achieve when:

... for the complete article:

Mind Tools members, click here.

Join the Mind Tools Club to finish this article AND get 1,000 more resources

Join now for just $1, first month

"When I started using Mind Tools, I was not in a supervisory position. Now I am. Along with that came a 12% increase in salary."
– Pat Degan, Houston, USA


Join the Mind Tools Club

Get training, help and ideas to boost your career: the Mind Tools Club gives you much, much more than you get here on the basic Mind Tools site.

And if you join before midnight on May 9th, we'll also give you a FREE copy of our Future-Proof Your Career workbook.

Find out what you get


Where to go from here:

Next article

Free newsletter

Join Mind Tools

Follow Mind_Tools on Twitter
Facebook

1 Day to Go!
Get Our Future-Proof Your Career Workbook FREE


Join the Mind Tools Club before midnight, May 9th, and get our Future-Proof Your Career workbook (worth US$19.99) for FREE.

Join for just US$1

Get the Free
Mind Tools App


Mind Tools Apps

Learn on the move with the free Mind Tools iPhone, iPad and Android Apps. Short bursts of business training ideal for busy people.

Get the Mind Tools App

What Bugs You?


  • Let us know about anything wrong, or anything you don't like about this site, and you could win a US$50 Amazon voucher!

Click here

Sponsored Links