Activating Flow States to Sustain Peak Performance

In today’s hyper-connected world we are expected to handle a range of diverse tasks instantly and without compromising performance.

Phone calls, interruptions, new information, other people, impromptu meetings and unforeseen circumstances distract us from attending to one task in an ideally effective state.

Our outcome as managers and professionals has become getting more done in less time while preserving the required quality of everything we do.

When we can activate and maintain a high performance state, we can stay on task as we switch from one activity to another and manage interruptions without losing track of what we are doing, and we can stay sane at the same time.

In this article I will be exploring the relationship between skills, mindset, our states/emotions and our performance. I will then describe the structure of high-performance ‘flow’ states and how to access and activate them for the purpose of increasing personal performance and reducing the stress associated with constant demands on our attention.

As you read about developing and activating flow states, you can test the simple patterns that I describe and note how this impacts your own performance.

What is flow?

There is a growing awareness of a psychological phenomenon associated with high performance which is called flow. This is an experience where a person is fully engrossed in an activity to the extent that nothing else intrudes and they are performing at the edge of their capacity.

Being in a flow state is pleasurable and in some instances the person experiences a distortion of their experience of time. What is a flow state?

The original work was developed by the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi who described flow as

"...being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.”

People can activate a flow state deliberately to boost their performance when they are aware of the structure of flow states and the contextual conditions in which they occur.

later I will unpack the features of a flow state and describe how to activate high performance flow states deliberately so you can apply your flow state to situations of your choice to enhance your performance.

When and where do flow states occur?

What are the contextual conditions where flow states occur naturally for an individual? Consider any experience where you were actively engaged and fully absorbed in an activity, where you lost your sense of time passing and in which you performed exquisitely.

In that example you were probably doing something at which you were skilled. There was a challenge in what you were doing and you were stretched to the edge of your ability to do that task in that situation.

Flow occurs when a person is engaged in a task that they are skilled at, in a context that provides enough challenge for them to stretch themselves. The challenge in that context must not exceed their capacity nor must the challenge be too easy. It should require all their attention.

If your work is to manage or lead others, consider giving tasks to your people that challenge them enough yet remain within their capacity. Consider how you can organise your own work to provide enough challenge for yourself.

Motivation and Flow States

Intrinsic or self motivation is an essential and prerequisite component for entering and maintaining a flow state. Intrinsic motivation is present when you are interested in the task you are doing and the context in which you are doing it. 

I used to teach these skills with a psychiatrist. He told me the story of how he was almost thrown out of his medical studies for underperforming. He reminded himself that he was doing his undergraduate medical degree so that he could progress to post grad studies to become a psychiatrist. He made a decision “I might as well make this interesting”. He loved history, so he reframed medicine as history. He put himself into a state of interest in relation to his studies and then performed exceptionally well. 

Once interested and motivated he was able to fully engage himself in his studies. Consider examples from your personal history where you performed well and note, were you interested in the context, the outcome and task (intrinsically motivated)? Did you want to achieve your outcome or intention? 

Features of Flow States

People who are embodied in high performance flow states have minimal muscular tension in their physiology. Typically their breathing is even and their attention is externally focused on the world and the task or activity that they are engaged in. 

If you observe someone who is in a flow state and performing exceptionally well you might notice that there is a symmetry in their body. Their eyes have a soft focus and their attention is on the world around them. Their peripheral vision is typically engaged and open, hence the soft focus. 

A person in a high performance flow state experiences no self-reflection. They are fully absorbed in the task that they are doing. There is a complete absence of internal dialogue. 

Contrast this with someone who is performing poorly. Their focus is often tight to the extent of tunnel vision. They have a lot of internal dialogue and they are often self-reflecting as they attempt to do the task or activity.

Physiology, state and performance 

We have to use language to create and name any category and this may make an artificial distinction that is epistemologically shoddy. For example, separating mind and body linguistically, directs our thinking to make that metaphor concrete. How do we decide what falls into the category called Mind and the category called Body?

Physiology does not distinguish between mind and body. The brain is included naturally.

In any state we are using physiology, breathing and sensory attention in a particular manner. If we change our breathing, the way we are holding ourselves or moving will alter. If we change our physiology or shift how we use our senses our state changes.

There is a relationship between our physiology, breathing pattern and state. This is fundamental to developing, accessing, activating and applying flow states and is described clearly in a model developed by the linguist and co-creator of Neuro-Linguistic Programming John Grinder which he called ‘The Chain of Excellence’.

The model holds that a person’s performance is a function of their state. To change state change physiology and a simple way to change physiology is to change one’s breathing pattern.

Exploring flow states

Most people have experienced being in a high performance flow state. One way to explore any state is comparing and contrasting it with a different state. This is one of the most basic ways in which we learn. We are creating what the anthropologist Gregory Bateson calls “news of difference”. 

To do this, identify two states for the contrast. Take an example of when you were in a flow state and select an example of when you were performing below par. 

The next step is to reactivate each state separately. To do this, take your example of the flow state and remember when and where you experienced the state and the circumstances. Can you remember what you saw, heard and felt at the time? Make sure the memory is life size, three dimensional and moving. Take the position as if you are reliving the experience, looking out of your eyes, listening through your ears, aware of posture and pattern of breathing. Then shake off the state and repeat the exercise using the subpar state.

Compare the experiences of the two states noting differences in posture, breathing and muscular tension, and attention variables: focus vs peripheral vision, external sound vs internal dialogue. 

Generating flow states Using Sense Memory

One way to access a high-performance flow state is through reactivating an example from your own history. 

When we do this we are bringing conscious attention to the sights, sounds and sensations we experienced there at that time. Method actors refer to this as Sense Memory. It is an approach they use for activating and embodying desired states to bring a character to life.

A potential risk of using sense memory to reactivate a state is that the state may have unwanted historical associations that reduce the quality of the result. As we want to improve our performance when we apply a state to the new context, it is wise to choose an original context that fits, or use a different process.

Another way to activate a high-performance flow state is to use a game or activity that generates a flow state which is free of history and associations.

The activity produces a high-performance flow state as a by product of performing the activity itself. The state is content free, produced in the present and can be applied to any context where we want it. 

Defining the context for enhancing our performance

High-performance flow states can be applied to situations, times and places to increase our performance significantly. First we need to identify and prepare the context where we want to boost our performance.

Ask yourself, ‘Is there a situation, time and place where I produce poor performance?’. When you have chosen a context, explore it with sense memory. Place yourself mentally back in that situation and bring it to life around you. Make it life size, see what you saw, hear what you heard and feel what you felt. Note the scents and temperature of the context.

Take an inventory of your state in that situation. How is your posture, movement and breathing pattern? How are you attending with your senses? Is there any internal dialogue?

Now ‘step away’ from that situation and act ‘as if’ you can observe yourself in that context. 

Consider, "If I were to increase my performance noticeably in that context, what would be the consequences to productivity, effectiveness and personal accomplishment"?

Now you have defined and prepared the context you are ready to create a flow state for that context.

Generating flow states using activities

There is a number of games already developed for generating flow states as byproducts of performing the activities. I will describe the principles of game design so that you can explore this for yourself, instead of describing the specific games that I use with clients. 

Juggling is an activity that can be used to generate a high performance flow state, with one addition. What are the features of learning to juggle that produce a flow state? 

Juggling has a variable set of conditions to produce challenge. When first learning to juggle you start with just one ball, then progress to two balls and then to three. You have enough challenge based on your level of skill. For some people, using one or two balls correctly with an even rhythm and an even arc, can produce sufficient challenge for them to perform at the edge of their ability. 

Automation. As you progress, tossing and catching the ball/s will automate. The basic movements will become unconsciously competent and when this happens, you can add another level of difficulty. 

External attention and stimulation of peripheral vision. Juggling the balls in a steady, even rhythm automatically stimulates and opens up peripheral vision. Your visual attention will be external. 

Juggling has other features that can generate a flow state in addition to the features mentioned already.

Physiology. Juggling uses both sides of your body and thus activates both brain hemispheres. To succeed, you must use your physiology in a resourceful manner with upright, balanced posture and even breathing. Typically people breathe with an even rhythm when in highly resourceful states.

Ideally you want to have minimal muscular tension in your body as you juggle. There should be varying tension only in the muscles you need to make the toss and catch. 

Reduced internal dialogue. To do this I suggest you add a ‘content free’ auditory task to your juggling such as reciting multiplication tables out loud. This not only helps to keep your chosen rhythm, it also has the same function as a mantra used in meditation, that is to occupy the mental circuitry used for internal dialogue. 

Feedback on performance. In most games feedback is provided by a coach. With juggling the feedback is provided through dropping the ball. When this happens, pick up the ball, readjust your attention and physiology and begin again.

Juggling while performing an auditory task for about 15 minutes without dropping the balls will normally develop a flow state.

We routinely coach our clients and teach to our students how to identity and prepare contexts for increasing their performance. We have also developed a number of games and activities for accessing, developing, activating and applying high performance flow states to enable them to enhance their performance in contexts of their choice.