#002: Flow State

intro

Flow state flow state flow state.

Are these two words music to your ears?

To me, they’re practically a siren call.

If you aren’t familiar, flow state is a stream of creative energy you experience where you lose track of normal life things (obligations, bad hair, what you're eating later) because you’re so focused on one thing.

You lose yourself for an indiscernible amount of time because you lose track of that, too.

As with any exhilarating experience, people become obsessed with controlling it… I'm no exception.

Even as I sat down to write this newsletter, I received a newsletter with the subject line, "How to Focus On Command."

…Click!

The tips were like others I've seen in countless productivity blogs, articles, and books. Most can be categorized into these 3 buckets:

• Controlling your environment (white noise, no phone, more natural light, cool temperature, etc.)

• Managing your time (time-blocking, Pomodoro, etc.)

• Optimizing your health (sleep, hydration, light breakfast, etc.)

99% of “focus” advice out there can be distilled to the following:

Control things outside to feel more energy inside.

A tale as old as time.

the mindset shift

A couple of weeks ago, I had an epiphany. Incidentally, it happened at a time I consistently experience the most flow – while flying.

I was reading a book* about how creating a new reality begins with engaging in this non-material world where all that exists is potential energy.

The way into this world is to transcend (or let go) of the 3 things tying you to the "material world" – specifically your body, your environment, and time.

As I read more about this amorphous and fluid “non-material” world where your body, surroundings, and time don’t exist, I realized something.

This sounds a whole lot like flow.

It begged the question (circling back to the “generic productivity” advice above):

How could focusing on the same 3 factors that comprise the "real" or "material" world (body, environment, time) allow us to step into a highly intelligent, enjoyable, and energizing headspace where none of those things exist?

The thing is...They don’t.

Sure, managing the real-world stuff makes focusing easier. It's harder to focus if you have to use the bathroom. Or if someone's talking in the same room as you. Or if you're stressed about something you're doing 2 hours from now.

But chances are you know people who can be laser-focused in far less than optimal bodies, environments, or schedules. Perhaps you're one of them!

[NOTE: This moment of flow I personally experienced is a prime example. I was 4 hours into a flight, on 3 hours of sleep, dehydrated, needing to pee, yet my creativity flowed. My focus was sharp and electric.]

These outside factors alone are not what allow you to enter this self-driving, high-vibing focused state.

Controlling these factors is only as helpful as our will to let them go.

The whole point of managing our bodies, environment, and time is so we can let them go.

ready for flow?

You've sat down. You’re ready to work on X thing for the next Y minutes.

Visualize a massive container of potential energy, much greater than you can see all at once. This is your energy.

Imagine that focusing on X opens up a channel allowing your energy to start flowing.

Lots of things can also open up new channels.

Obvious distractions like your phone, but also random mental chatter.

To feel a steady stream of focused energy, the key is to become aware of these distractions. All so you can let them go.

Consider how many of your thoughts bring you back to the real world (i.e. related to your body, environment, or time).

"Ugh, I can't believe I just wasted 40 minutes on Instagram."

“When am I going to work out later today?”

"This place is a mess. I can't focus like this."

"I'd love something salty right about now."

"I'm not in the right headspace for this."

"This is confusing/boring/scary/annoying." [NOTE: While this might seem like a thought about the task, what makes the thought "uncomfortable," and thus, distracting, is the uncomfortable sensation we simultaneously feel in the body.]

Each new distracting thought is a new channel forming.

Relax behind the thought, and let go.

You can't prevent having the thoughts. By the time you become aware of them, they’ve already happened. But you can stop feeding them.

Every time we let go of a distraction, we close an energy channel.

Notice what happens internally when you choose to mentally "X" out of the distraction. It might not be long until you feel an increased surge of energy flowing through you.

It's as if the attention you'd otherwise be feeding the distraction merges back to energizing your original focus.

This practice is how we rewire the energy-draining subconscious “chatter” running in the background of our minds.

We have all of the energy we need to drop into deep and creative focus anytime we want.

With time, more and more energy will be yours to use freely. No longer bound to the noise of your mind.

go flow & flourish,

silvi

*Still playing with (aka trying to minimize) the level of distraction in the newsletter so I’m sneaking the book link I mentioned earlier here 🙂 

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