I spent some time in flow state yesterday at work. That’s rare for me, unfortunately. The life of a middle manager can be full of interruptions and meetings and crises, with precious few opportunities to buckle down and get some honest work done. I’m sure you can relate, whatever your job might be.
For those who don’t know, flow state is “…the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing, characterized by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity.” [wikipedia] It’s hard to explain, but when you’re in it, you don’t really feel the passage of time, you don’t get tired or bored, and you crank out lots of work, usually very good work. Being able to get into flow at will is something to aspire to, something great artists and athletes can do.
What’s interesting about this - at least it’s interesting to me - is that I got into flow doing something that’s not usually part of my job. I was setting up the next incarnation of The Daily Network Monitor Blog in WordPress. I am by no means a codemonkey, but I was up to my elbows in PHP and CSS and RSS, and I was seriously into it and suddenly it was dark when I looked up from my computer. I’m not going to pretend to have a hidden talent for programming, but I think I did pretty well. You can judge for yourself when the new site goes live.
Until then, I hope you all step away from the reader and find a project that needs doing that you can dive into and achieve some flow. Happy new year.
Tags: blogs, coding, flow, wordpress
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