{"id":115,"date":"2021-07-30T13:57:47","date_gmt":"2021-07-30T13:57:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.work-play.co.uk\/?p=115"},"modified":"2021-09-21T14:26:22","modified_gmt":"2021-09-21T14:26:22","slug":"how-get-mythical-flow-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.work-play.co.uk\/__OLD\/how-get-mythical-flow-state\/","title":{"rendered":"How to get to the mythical \u2018flow state\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cFlow state is the mental state you enter when you are so focused on the task at hand that the rest of the world fades away\u201d. In other words, you find yourself \u2018in the zone\u2019. It can be, for some of us, a rare, almost mythical discovery, the feeling of being in flow. It can be hard to describe or replicate, but when you are there it is an incredible feeling.<\/p>\n

When we are in a flow state, or simply \u2018in flow\u2019, we are deeply engrossed in a single task, and seemingly nothing can distract you from it. It\u2019s an incredible mix of feeling pushed, motivated and engaged to the max, coupled with an unparalleled feeling of enjoyment and satisfaction. Hours can pass by in what feels like minutes and the amount of work, or deep thinking, you can get done can be staggering. Productivity has been shown to skyrocket when we get into a flow state.<\/p>\n

Often we can fall into this state, sometimes by accident. So, what are some of the characteristics of the tasks and things we can do to get ourselves into this state, more frequently?<\/p>\n

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  1. Remove distractions \u2212 This is such an important one for giving yourself the mental time and space to get into deep, single-task focused work. Shut the emails down, pop your phone on aeroplane mode, say \u2018BRB\u2019 to your MSN pals (if you are not a 90\u2019s\/00\u2019s kid this will likely mean nothing to you). It\u2019s also favourable if your work doesn\u2019t require the internet, to shut the laptop down completely and go old school \u2212 pen and paper.<\/li>\n
  2. Afford yourself the time \u2212 A state of flow can take a little while to get into. It\u2019s not something you can necessarily squeeze 5 \u2212 10 minutes of, in between meetings. And probably not something you want to do either. Instead block out some time in your calendar, ideally at least an hour, and a time where you know you\u2019re mentally at your freshest. Then get into it.<\/li>\n
  3. The work needs to be a tantalising mix of fun and pleasurable, mixed in with pushing your boundaries of capabilities. Research has shown it doesn\u2019t need to be a big stretch of your current capabilities, merely 4% above where you\u2019re currently at will do the trick. This can be hard to quantify, but regularly pushing yourself in both your work and private ventures, will ensure you\u2019ll find the sweet spot eventually. Besides, getting out of our comfort zones is so key to growing as individuals.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    \u201cFlow state is the mental state you enter when you are so focused on the task at hand that the rest…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":568,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-focus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.work-play.co.uk\/__OLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.work-play.co.uk\/__OLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.work-play.co.uk\/__OLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.work-play.co.uk\/__OLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.work-play.co.uk\/__OLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.work-play.co.uk\/__OLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.work-play.co.uk\/__OLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/568"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.work-play.co.uk\/__OLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.work-play.co.uk\/__OLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.work-play.co.uk\/__OLD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}