Flow States to Improve Performance

In a previous post, I wrote about the stress cycle and how to avoid burnout. In this post, I wanted to talk about flow state, which I think of as the opposite side of the same coin.

For the sake of giving credit where it is due, most of the information herein is what I got from an interview I heard with Steven Kotler.

So, what is a flow state? It's a cognitive state where a person is fully immersed and focused. It's characterized by rapt attention so deep that a sense of time is lost. Some people refer to it as being 'in the zone', or having a runners high.

Most people have had some degree of experience with this. Those days in the office where, at the end of the day, you felt incredibly productive and satisfied? You were probably in a flow state. What I found fascinating about the interview was that Steven discussed the neurobiology of flow, what happens during flow, and even discussed triggers and ways we can get into it.

To lay the groundwork, the first thing to mention is that brainwaves are different during a flow state vs normal consciousness. There are four primary types of brainwaves:

• Beta: Normal mental state
• High Beta: A bit faster than beta. Typically seen when anxious
• Alpha: When the brain is at rest, and there is little resistance between ideas. Daydreaming
• Theta: Mostly when in REM sleep. No resistance between ideas.

So, starting from a known, normal position - we typically spend a large portion of our waking hours in beta, where we are fully conscious of time, our sense of self, and what is going on around us. The conscious mind is very fast and powerful, but it does have limitations - it can only hold on to a handful of threads at a time, and has limited RAM, so to speak.

When in flow, the brain processes in alpha waves, and we get a sense of time dilation and a sense of one-ness with the activity we are engaging in. The reason is because there are two changes that occur in the brain during a meditative state such as flow - portions of the prefrontal cortex (where our sense of time is) shut down, and the right frontal lobe (where we get our sense of self) deactivates.

In addition to the brainwave shift, the other thing is that flow results in the dumping of the most potent neurochemicals - dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, serotonin, oxytocin and endorphins. All these chemicals are what allows for increased data acquisition abilities and creativity spikes.

A flow state has four primary phases that one has to move through:

• Struggle: This is either something quickly induced by something like a fight or flight response, or a long building time to spool up. During this phase, the prefrontal cortex is very active, various stress hormones (cortisol, adrenaline) build up, and the brain is in beta and high beta.
• Release: This is a distraction where you get your mind off the topic at hand. This is the phase where the brain shifts from beta to alpha. However, not all distractions are created equal - TV and social media are terrible, because they keep your brain in beta. Physical movement (running, walking - something repetitive where you can allow your attention to wander a bit) is a common practice to move into this phase.
• Flow: Where you are trying to get!
• Recovery: After the neurochemical dump, a recovery period is needed.

As I mentioned before, most people have had the experience of being in a flow state at some point. It's highly addictive - having a natural high induced by massive amounts of neurochemicals that are far more powerful than any synthetic version will do that.

So, then, how do we get into flow?

At its core, flow only happens when we are fully immersed in the present moment. This does take effort (see 'Struggle' phase above), but there are things we can do help us focus:

• Engage in activities that induce flow: Think of the activities you enjoy doing just for the heck of it. If you enjoy doing something for the experience itself, that is likely a flow activity for you. As adults, we tend to focus on our careers and family, and those flow inducing activities tend to take a back seat. Flow begets flow - so go back to doing what you enjoy doing.
• Clear goals: Think about what would make the day excellent. This usually requires a bit of planning - but the less time you spend in a state of trying to figure out what to do, where you are prone to distractions that keep you in alpha state, the higher chance you'll be able to get into a flow state. Flow redeems the hard work - a checklist without flow is burnout.

Finally - once you are in a flow state, you stay in a flow state by managing distractions and preventing the prefrontal cortex from getting involved. Dropping out of flow can be expensive, and can take up to 15 minutes to get back into it. Phone, email, looking at the clock, checking social media - all of these items distract and interrupt your productivity.