Once you understand these principles, there are a range of tactics that I have found can help to tip me in:
- Find the right environment. Figure out which types of environments are most conducive to finding your flow, and work them in whenever possible. I know, for example, that a coffee shop will help me start writing much more easily than sitting in an office. A good friend absolutely swears by airplanes. The notion of the environment being important applies equally in athletic endeavours: the home field advantage is well-known, but I’ve spoken to athletes who find that playing in away settings delivers them a huge mental advantage — they lose themselves in a feeling of “them against the entire stadium.” Different people need different things. Learn what they are for you.
- Music seems to help immensely, particularly in the context of activating those emotions. It is not at all uncommon to see athletes listening to music during training or right before a big event. Winter Olympians have iPods built into their ski jackets. That’s no accident — the impact of music on athletic performance has been well researched. I’ve found the same effect while work — I spend a lot of time writing with headphones in, and getting the music right always seems to be a pretty important step to getting the words right. An added advantage: it blocks out distractions. Know what you need to feel to find flow, and then get your music to help.
- Caffeine. It won’t guarantee a state of flow — particularly if you’re using it as a crutch — but at least in my experience at work, it sure increases the odds.
- Exercising both your body and your mind. If you want to find flow in athletic endeavours, then don’t fail to exercise your mind; similarly, if you want to drop into the zone at work, then exercise your body. I had to stop exercising after a minor surgery — and my ability to get in the zone at work dropped substantially. I just couldn’t do it. The nature of the zone is that it is neither purely physical, nor purely mental. Having both parts of your body functioning well helps you get there.
- Find your best time of day. Understanding your circadian rhythms are critical. By going back and checking the timestamps on my best work, 3pm and 10pm seem to be peak periods for me. Similarly, I just know by experience that anything before 10am in the morning is simply a lost cause; yes, I can be productive, but there’s no way I’m getting in the zone.
Rather than focus on the temporary satisfaction you may feel from spending money, try the following to bring you happiness without it.
- Imagine Having no Money
Imagine what you would do for happiness if you had no money at all. Think about how you would spend your time, and what you would do for enjoyment. Change your focus from material possessions to other things that bring you enjoyment, such as spending quality time with your family and friends. Rather than focusing on the accumulation of possessions, concentrate instead on playing with or reading to your children, or spending time out enjoying nature.
- Want What you Already Have
Society teaches us to want what others have. Instead, shift your thinking so that you are satisfied with, or want, what is already yours. What tends to happen is once we reach our goals in terms of owning personal possessions, we trade those old goals in for a set of new ones that involves bigger, better, and grander objects.
Goals are good to have because they motivate us to work, and to continue to strive for self improvement. The key is to find a balance between having worthy goals and recognizing when we are allowing the desire for possessions to overwhelm the importance of other aspects of our lives. Rather than constantly striving for things we do not have, we need to shift our focus to being thankful for the things we already possess.
- Volunteer Your Time
One way to appreciate what you have is to work with others who have nothing, or who have disabilities that no amount of money can overcome. Volunteering time to work in a food bank, or to work with underprivileged children, can really alter your perspective on where you are in life, and can create a deeper appreciation for the gifts you do have in your life.
Helping others can boost your spirits as well. There is a great deal of personal satisfaction to be gained from giving aid to those who are in need of it, leaving you with a sense of satisfaction that will carry over into your own life. Use the experiences of helping others to teach your children compassion and civic responsibility.
With two months to go until the Rio+20 environmental conference, the UN is making a push towards moving away from using GDP as the end-all-be-all measurement of progress.
