Flow - What it is and how to get it in your practice
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 27 ก.ย. 2024
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Sorry about the audio, folks, I used the wrong track.
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So here is the deal - Our brains are designed to enjoy learning and practicing a LOT with one result being greatly improved performance in any domain, but the price of entry to this state of work is pushing through the initial stages of incompetence, failure, and the feeling of being talentless as we move toward competency - no talent necessary. If there is a no fail path to success, and there is, then this should be simple, though it’s not easy, please let me explain.
Most of you folks who have successful careers in areas like math, music, or basketball have experienced this type of fun and interesting work. In fact all of us have experienced this from time to time in anything that catches our attention deeply. We become engrossed in a task trying to figure out this and that little thing then trying again. Very small stepwise solutions are found, and it feels good, we progress small challenge by small challenge. You think it has been 10-15 minutes, but you look up and an hour has passed. Time flies when you are having fun, and you got a TON of good productive work done. This state can be taught/learned/developed in oneself and others, and is the highest state of learning we can be involved in as well as enjoyable.
Sounds good, doesn’t it?
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There is a researcher named Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi who has devoted his career to studying this state, and he’s given it the name flow. Some people call this the zone, or the muse speaking to or through them, but there is no mystery here. It’s actually a continuous cycle of trying to find problems then trying to solve them. And that is something we rarely do in our usual play and pray mode of practice.
It’s in practicing that we build the mental model we need to participate in flow when we perform, but what do we do if we don’t have a highly developed mental model yet? How can flow help practicing then?
Some will tell you flow can only be achieved in areas in which one has highly developed skill and I used to believe this too. It’s true that flow is frequently present in those situations. However, incremental problem solving at whatever is just beyond our current ability as in well executed deliberate practice, with its focus on continually asking questions, redirecting focus, and trying new solutions, is a flow producing machine that creates an upward spiral of flow.
This creates, automatically, level specific problem solving which challenges us to try and develop solutions to the best of our ability and improve incrementally using trial and error.
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To put it kind of generally. Put ourselves, or a student, in a place where the task at hand is slightly outside of our current ability. Whatever we are practicing at the time should work fine. Examine it. What could be better? What are the components to that? What if we tried this? What if we tried that? Actually try it! How did it work? Examine it. What could be better? If we tried this would it make it better? If we tried that would it make it better? Actually try it! Did it make it better? Rinse, repeat and keep this up our whole practice. These ‘quests for problems and solutions’ work just like a video game to engage the mind, but without the perniciousness!
Perhaps we can understand it better by describing what flow is not (and what most practicing is!) mindless repetitions of material, not paying attention to whether it’s right or wrong or whether it could be improved etc. The old play and pray method. No wonder practice is sooooo boring and feels soooo LONG. This is why they have magazines in waiting rooms. Time moves excruciatingly slow for the unengaged mind AND we don’t make much progress.
We can start trying this with just one thing or goal, or if we’re teaching it to a student walk them through it in real time. Solve one semi-difficult problem guiding the student, or ourselves, to find any underlying components then try solutions to that small problem. It doesn’t matter if the solution works. If it doesn’t it gives us valuable information to guide our next trial. Doing so will allow us to notice more and more (a growing mental model) and we’ll improve one step at a time. Then go to the next thing you want to improve.
It’s interesting to note that Csikszentmihalyi makes a distinction between pleasure and enjoyment. Pleasure is fine and necessary, but vacuous and has little or no participatory elements. Lying on the beach, watching TV, etc. Enjoyment is when the brain is fully engaged and is in flow while becoming smarter. Makes you happier, smarter, better.
That’s how the brain works
Thanks evolutionary biology, we owe you one!
Great video Gregg! I'm going to implement this in my teaching immediately!
Appreciate the humor…..”spelled just like it sounds “. 😊
😀 When I have to write it I sometimes write, "Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (Pronounced: "Csikszentmihalyi")
Great content Gregg but plz keep the mic closer, it sounds like ur too far away from the mic.
You don't know how right you are! I used the wrong audio track. That is the mic on my phone (ugh!) not the one in front of me. Can't re-edit it now. As always, thanks for the feedback. All the best.