I reacquainted myself this week with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s thoughts on Flow. He describes flow as the mental state of intense focus you experience when you are completely absorbed in a challenging but doable task.

Flow happens when you are totally engaged in an activity you excel at, have unlimited energy for, and makes time pass quickly.

Ideally, you should find a work environment that allows you to experience flow. You should also keep flow in mind if you are in charge of a work environment.

Piggybacking on this idea, a guy named Schaffer proposed seven conditions that produce flow:

• Knowing what to do.
• Knowing how to do it.
• Knowing how well you are doing.
• Knowing where to go (if navigation is involved).
• High perceived challenges.
• High perceived skills.
• Freedom from distractions.

So, if you are on your own, make sure you understand the concept of flow and get the training/coaching you need to succeed. It helps if you know you’re on the right track.

Ask yourself:

• Am I getting better?
• What’s the record?
• What’s regarded as excellent?
• How am I progressing?

Your task needs to be doable, but challenging.

You have a greater chance to achieve flow if you have above average skills.

Eliminate distractions and hassles.

If you are a boss, think about your work environment and team members with the above suggestions in mind. Then, tweak and modify things to get closer to the ideal.

The total opposite of flow is boredom. When you’re feeling bored, or your team seems complacent, review these flow conditions to gain insight on how to proceed.