Flow is powerful.
For the great achievers, Mozart, who had 600 compositions, and Thomas Edison, who had 1,093 inventions, and Isaac Asimov, who wrote 475 books, they have found their “flow”. (So far, I’ve written 35 bestselling books, so yes, in a small way, I’ve found my flow too.)
David Myers says, To be in the flow is to be unself-consciously absorbed. Think of a situation where you get so caught up in an activity that your mind doesn’t wander, that you become oblivious to your surroundings, and time flies.
What does flow mean? To help us understand it, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Don’t ask me to pronounce her name) created this chart below…
If your job challenges are high but your skills are abysmally low, the result is anxiety. That’s what happens to the new salesman who faints every time he faces a client. He should either get a new job that matches his skills–like a mattress quality tester for some bed manufacturer–or get training to upgrade his skills in selling.
If your job challenges are low and your skills are low as well, you’d get apathy. An example would be an accountant who doesn’t even know how to use a calculator but doesn’t worry one bit of losing his job because his father owns the business.
If your job challenges are low but your skills are high, you produce boredom. That’s what happens to a gifted craftsman and carpenter who has the ability to build beautiful mansions but works for a factory that manufactures nothing else but low-budget 6”x3” wooden caskets.
If your job challenges are high and your skills are equally high, you’ve got the best result: flow. When you work, time ceases to exist. You enjoy yourself, you feel as though you were born for the job, and if you had a chance to live your life again, you’d be tempted to choose the same profession!
Evaluate your present job right now. Does it give enough challenge for you? And do you have enough skills to match those challenges? If you see an inequality, what can you do about it?
Find your flow!
May your dreams come true,
Bo Sanchez
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