Flow refers to the mental state in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized
focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. I am
enamored by the concept of “Flow” even though I have to admit my experience
with Flow have been more due to the lack of it rather than the state of
attaining it.
We all
must of encountered the state of flow at one point or the other. A common
example is say we are playing a favorite
game when we have deep concentration in the limited activity of playing the game so
much so that we have a distorted sense of time that just passed.
Bruce Lee, advocates the need for
fluidity or the state of Flow as “Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put
water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it
becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water
can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.”
Edward de Bono call this the as “rock
Logic & Water Logic’. While Rock logic refers to actions based on a
predetermined state, de Bono advocates the Water logic which refers to the
actions based on current circumstances and
situations.
Interestingly, Toyota’s renowned
manufacturing system called Toyota Production System(TPS) is based on Flow. The
objective in a TPS is to make the product flow through value-added processes
without interruption from the time the customer gives an order to the point
when the cash is collected. It is a continuous improvement process.
While these justify the benefits of
Flow, attaining fluidity is not easy. There are no fixed
set of steps that will ensure that Flow is attained because it is based on a
situation and response might vary with each situation. Nevertheless, I
discovered there are three basic tenets that can help inch somebody towards attaining the
“Flow”.
First principle is to focus on Action and not just Thinking :
Have a basic plan and just start taking the action. You may face failure in the process but that is what
would provide you with the fluidity to redo it again better than the first
time. So these days if I want to write, I just write for an allocated time
without worrying about the grammar, factual or logical inaccuracies.
Second principle is to eliminate waste:
A waste is an activity that does not add value to the product being worked
upon.If you are writing a piece of software , an email alert that forces you to
check your Inbox or your impulse to go for the coffee break is the Waste. Waste
is detriment because it breaks the Flow…Waste is like the dam across the river.So,
resist the urges that are detrimental to you Flow at least for the allocated time
Third principle is to Practice continuously:
so you took the action,failed …redid it with corrections…failed again…do it
once again. So you are improving constantly based on actions. So the emphasis
is not on the failure but on the rapid strides in Improvements you made...which
comes through Continuous practice only.
Why don’t you start applying the
above concepts to the activities of your daily life and see if you can achieve
the Flow. If nothing…you are at the very least ,Practicing continuously as I am doing!!!