Flow

Flow, we've all heard of it in some way.. But what is it actually and at what times is it experienced? One thing I know for sure, I was not in flow yesterday. After a wonderful To Do list, I felt tired and thought it would be good to do some of the reading in my bed. I didn't do much reading because after I read three lines, I felt asleep as a rock. Three hours later I woke up and I realized that wasted most of my day. To make it not of a big deal for myself, I just assume that I needed it to work more effectively at a later time. As I wrote in previous blogs, sleep is incredibly important to me because I know how much of my effectiveness depends on it, it helps me to focus better in any moment and to do not get distracted by all the thoughts in my head. I think a person can only really enjoy a moment if he or she is physically and especially mentally present. 7 hours sleep is for me is the minimum, preferably 8 hours. The first week in London was a mess for me when it comes to sleeping, so I decided to set an alarm for my bedtime. Well it is not exactly my bedtime, the alarm goes off at the moment when I have to get ready for the night, including writing in my 'Journal ', which I have started with in the second Week. 

But anyway, back To Flow. Today I went discovering with my bike in the area where I live, with my positive psychology book in Pocket. While I was on a lying on a grass field I read about Flow, which comes from a researcher's work with a very complicated name. Through the book I was thinking about what flow actually was and at what times I experienced it myself. Flow can be experienced at the moment you're doing something that you're into. It may be something what you are passionate about, or, for example, an assignment you make for your studies or Work. Flow is located in the area between something that is too much of a challenge for you and something that is too little challenge for YOU. If it is too difficult, is there much more chance of getting confused and you most likely to give up earlier. if it is too easy for you, there is chance that you will become terribly bored and you will not even take that effort to the activity. Think about it, have you ever received an assignment for your studies, where you didn't know where to start and so you didn't do anything at all? To get into FLOW there has to be the right amount of challenge for YOU. Once you totally go for it, nothing distracts you and the time seems to be very slow at the moment or is goes very fast. When I think about moments I experienced this, I can think especially of many different moments. For example, I felt that way during a football training or a match, but it can also occur if I listen to something about positive psychology in a podcast or during Lectures. I seem to experience it while writing this blog. Yet I am often busy with other things in my head; Did I receive a message on whatsapp? Do I actually have to make a shopping list now? Which people do I have to mail back? Sometimes I have the idea that I have to do everything at once, while it has been proven that people work better when they are dealing with one thing at a time and that Multitask Nothing more than a fable. 

Have you ever heard of flow? In what moments do you experience something like this in your life? Where has this occurred in the past few weeks with you? Take 1 minute to think about it. Do you sometimes try to get in to flow intentionally? The last I find incredibly interesting because I think you can do a lot about your own circumstances that can contribute to the fact that you will come into a flow state. For example, I have noticed that if I write my blog, it helps to put my phone away and take an specific hour to write this, this way  it is much easier than taking small breaks in between to do other things. Sometimes we are not always passionate about working on an assignment. A handy tool for me is; The Pomodoro Technique. This can be an incredibly effective means of giving you a push in the right direction of FLOW. So if you are interested in this, you need to hand in something important soon or want to work more effectively, please have a look at the link below:

Https://francescocirillo.com/pages/pomodoro-technique