Getting into Flow
I’ve been thinking heavily lately about Getting Things Done, and getting into flow. Lately I’ve been hearing the term flow used to describe something I’ve been accutely aware of for most of my life. It essentially means “in the zone” or “highly focused”. It’s when the only thing important at any given moment is the task at hand, and nothing else matters. Your mind is working like a perfect machine and is in a sort of unstoppable state.
Everyone gets into this state at one point or another – think of times when you’ve either been engrossed in creating artwork, photography, playing video games, being athletic, hiking, etc.
I’ve been noticing as I get older that it’s much harder for me to get into this zone. Even the slightest distraction can keep me away from getting into this highly productive state. So I decided to begin describing what seems to work, and what doesn’t. I’m not trying to be another Merlin Mann here, but by sharing my experiences I’m hoping that I’ll make stronger associations for myself.
That said, it took me four hours this morning to get to the point where I could even begin to focus on a single task for a several hour stretch. This is mostly because it’s Monday morning and I have ideas to capture, and communication that I need to conduct with clients and partners (as well as the desire to capture this process here on my blog).
But with all that behind me, here’s what’s getting me in the zone far:
* Tools that help me quickly dump all my ideas and tasks into a single spot with minimal interface, and a high degree of trust that I’ll be able to get those ideas back out of the tools.
* Sound isolating headphones. They block out any noise, even with no music playing, and because I’ve been productive while wearing them in the past, they’re helping now.
* Music I’ve heard over and over again. New music tends to distract me (because I love new music, and like to savour and untangle the new sounds).
* Three apps open and only those three – iTunes, Terminal and Textmate. I risk serious distraction with anything else open.
* A cold office. Heat slows me down and makes me sleepy (though my office is threatening to warm up now).
* Pepsi. Sad but true, the caffeine seems to help steady me. I will feel the sugar crash in about 2 hours though, so this needs to be solved. Any more caffeine than a single 12oz can scatters me.
* Competition. When I feel like what I’m doing is in close competition with something else, I get a bit crazy and engrossed. I also get engrossed in games for this same reason.
* Approaching cutoff time. I have four hours to get good work done. Surprisngly, this is a powerful trigger for me.
I plan on revisiting some these triggers to productivity in the near future as I take more interest in this. For now, I’m sitting on a surge of flow and I’m going to ride it out.
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Tags: flow, gtd, productivity
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“Three apps open and only those three – iTunes, Terminal and Textmate. I risk serious distraction with anything else open.”
This reminds me of that temptation blocker program from webjillion. You could set it up so that you coulnd’t actually load any distracting programs. What has happened to that web site?
http://www.lifehacker.com/software/downloads/download-of-the-day-temptation-blocker-115429.php
[link to webjillion no workey anymore]
Try green tea, instead of soda. It has no sugar, you can drink it all day long and keep a very modest caffeine buzz on, and you never crash. Trust me, you get used to the taste. I used to be a coffee addict, but now I’m a green tea addict. Plus, it’s full of antioxidants and good stuff. Treat yourself to a nice teapot and some jasmine pearl tea!
Great post!
I am just starting to get into “Getting Things Done” and it seems that everywhere that I look someone is talking about it… Anyway, I totally relate to your “getting in the zone” list, and I agree with Raymond: tea is my soda.
Thanks for the article… I can relate to quite a lot of it! I’ve also got to third the tea suggestion… I’ve personally come to live (or work, rather) off Numi Mint tea — it gets no better.
Good post, Michael. I’ve tried all sorts to get into that focused zone but I still find that the pressure of an impending deadline works the best. That’s not to great for me really.
On the tea front, I drink pots and pots of Da Hong Pao chineese tea and a fair few cups of Chai and green tea too. I’m sure it’s not good for me but it must be etter than the ten-odd mugs of coffee I used to drink.
My favorite description of flow was always this one: “Whatever it is that for you, when you’re doing it, time stops.” Everybody who’s ever gotten into the flow / the zone knows what it’s like to look up and realize that hours have passed when it felt like minutes.
Some of my best coding comes on planes and trains, precisely because I have no other distractions. It’s sad to think that writing code is supposed to be the thing that I’m most passionate about but I can only really get into when there’s nothing else to distract me
. But that only applies when I feel like I “have to” do something. Whenever it’s a project that I want to do, then motivation is hardly ever an issue. Getting me to stop working on it and do my other work is the problem. 
By the way, re: the Pepsi thing, I’m with you. Are you sure it’s the caffeine and not just “the habit” in general? I switched over to the caffeine free and never felt a bit of difference in my energy levels. I just like having the bottle. Has to be a bottle – something I can carry around and re-cap.
I’ve been on the GTD bandwagon since the beginning of 2006, and am still constantly tweaking. Here’s my current list of energy boosters/stabilizers:
* writing (i.e. primarily “morning pages”-style journalling ala The Artist’s Way)
* music (I like your emphasis on familiar, rather than new music; I’ve been trying to figure out which music works best for being motivating, not distracting)
* food: smoothies, powerbars, coffee in the morning, “chocolate crack” (the M&M equivalents from Whole Foods, with real sugar)
* regroup at a cafe
* hiking
* sleep sooner & wake earlier; this is #1
* nap: 20 minutes
* play with the cats
In response to your post, I’ve just added these items:
* set time limits
* competition
In retrospect, it seems very Zen that my energy-builders are about adding whitespace to my life rather than “trying harder”.
You have to check out Finding Flow” by Flow guru Csikszentmihalyi. It’s his most practical book on the subject and he’s the right guy to write it.
One other yin/yang type trick: finding flow has much to do with what you do *before* you try to find flow. I can’t get my mind in gear in my body isn’t: so before I try to get into the flow, I go for a run, lift some weights, chase the dog around the yard, something to get my body moving… then when I’m done it’s much easier to get my mind to follow. When I’m exercising regularly I get into flow much easier than when I’m not.
Great post It really got me thinking about how I can get back in the “zone”. Thanks.
I’m a professional writer and I wrote about the tricks I use to help me concentrate on my work on my blog: How to concentrate on writing.