Have you ever noticed how some days you can manage a task with the minimum of effort while on other days the same task can feel like that you are walking through thick mud? Think back to the last time when you were involved in a particular task or activity where you became so involved in what you were doing that time just flew away. A time where you were so focussed on what you were doing that nothing distracted you and your efficiency was like never before. This phenomenon is what we refer to as Flow! When we are in the flow our level of “self” is so aware that we often become at one with the task. Our focus is only on one thing and any mistakes we make just wash off us and vanish in to thin air. At the end of the task we often feel proud and on a high, we feel invincible!
A simple example of this might be washing dishes by hand after a large dinner party. Picture this. In front of you stands a large pile of dirty plates and this is all that lies before you and an evening of relaxation on the sofa. But you are ready for this. You turn on your best motivational song on the stereo and you can feel your foot start to tap to the rhythm. You immerse yourself in the activity and systematically take each plate one by one and rinse them from their dirt. Plate after plate becomes clean, you move with precision and skill… you are on fire, you are a machine! At the end of the task you lay on the sofa with your favourite drink in you hand and look back at a row of sparkling, clean plates glistening in the dish rack. If they gave out Olympic medals for washing dishes you would have a gold medal hanging from your neck and your national anthem would be echoing around the room. You can feel the sense of achievement rush though your body, you were in the zone, you had flow!
So how can you best make sure that you find your flow again, especially in the workplace? It is very much individual, but flow often occurs when a number of different factors come in to play. It often happens when we set ourself clear goals that are achievable but yet challenging. Goals that once completed will give us an immediate reward and satisfaction. It happens when we manage to close off all external distractions and can focus on the enjoyment of completing the task at hand. Most importantly though flow occurs when we undertake the task with a smile on our face.
At Think Do & Grow we want you to find your flow every day. When we work with leaders we help them become more effective and we aim to help them put a smile in to every task they undertake.
Contact us if you want us to help you find your flow, together with one of our leadership programmes we can help you put that gold medal around your neck!
Email: info@thinkdoandgrow.com
