flow

First described by the psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, flow is an enjoyable state of deep focus on a task such that you lose track of time. It is sometimes described as being “in the zone”. In “Flow Theory and Research”, Csíkszentmihályi and Jeanne Nakamura describe the factors that contribute to a state of flow:

• Intense and focused concentration on the present moment (akin to mindfulness in this respect)
• Merging of action and awareness
• A loss of reflective self-consciousness
  • Iris Murdoch uses the term “unselfing” for the way that engaging with art can cause us to lose ourselves.
• A sense of personal control or agency over the situation or activity
• A distortion of temporal experience, one’s subjective experience of time is altered
• Experience of the activity as intrinsically rewarding (autotelic)

Where Challenge Meets Skill

The activities that lead to flow states require a level of difficulty commensurate with one’s abilities: too easy and the task is boring, too hard and it’s frustrating, neither of which leads to flow. Flow is marked not by the absence of difficulty, but by a continual series of problems one is capable of solving.

Video games, especially those with adaptive difficulty, tend to follow this pattern and are thus flow state generators. Programming too is marked by this continual series of challenges (“I need to get this data. Ok, now I need to format it. Ok…”) and can lead to flow. This is what I like most about both.