Flow state are usually described as the state where you will engage in an activity and simply lose track of time...and when it seems as if there is nothing else on this planet besides you and your activity.The flow state is a very powerful state of mind and whilst in it, it will seem as if you are ‘flowing’ through your work.So, How do we get there?

What Is A 'Flow State?

It’s been proven by research that in order to reach flow state, you must eliminate all external distractions. Every time you get pulled out of your focus, you’ll be taken further away from flow state. Only when you can focus with undivided attention for around 10–15 minutes, you can get into flow state.Therefore, it’s critical that you put your phone away and disable all alerts and notifications, close all social media tabs, remove all unnecessary files and objects from your workspace, and preferably go to a quiet environment.This will protect you and allow you to enter a state of hyperfocus.

Eliminate External Distractions

Besides eliminating external distractions, you also need to eliminate internal distractions if you want to reach flow state. Whenever you experience stress or have too much on your mind, it’ll be incredibly hard to keep your mind focused on your task at hand — and therefore it’ll be impossible to reach flow state.If this happens regularly to you, I recommend you try two things:<ul><li>Journaling every morning and evening</li><li>Daily meditation (at least 10 minutes)</li></ul>

Eliminate Internal Distractions

Flow is 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.

Getting into flow state is hard if you are low on energy. You need to have the willpower to focus on just one thing and not get distracted along the way. Tapping into your willpower and attention is energy draining, so you need to do it when your mind is sharp and energized.If you try to get into flow state when you are tired and energy drained, it’ll feel like an uphill battle where you get distracted much easier and have less willpower to stay with your tasks.Therefore, It's recommend you use your mornings to get into flow state, or right after you took a real break of around 15-30 minutes.

Work At Your Biological Peak Time

Music can help you become highly focused and, therefore, highly productive. Especially when you listen to music on repeat.Listening to music with your earbuds in helps you to block external distractions such as any chatter. Furthermore, it helps to keep internal distractions at a minimum.It’s important that the song you put on is familiar. When new or various different songs come up, the music starts to compete for attention in your brain.Putting one song on repeat for 1–2 hours or listening to repetitive type music will help you reach a state of flow with more ease.

Listen To The Right Kind Of Music

If you want to reach flow state, the task that you’re working on must be challenging enough for your brain to be fully engaged, but not too challenging as this will lead to anger and stress.If a task is too easy, you’ll be bored quickly and your mind is likely to wander, so you won’t reach flow state. But, if a task is too hard you’ll likely get overwhelmed and not be able to achieve that subconscious level that is necessary for the flow state.Flow state can only be achieved when an activity is hard enough to keep your brain interested, and when you’re skilled enough to tackle the challenge.

Pick A Challenging Task

The last method is to create a mental cue for yourself to enter flow state. In other words, do something special each time before you go into flow state. Whether it’s repeating a special sentence or affirmation, taking a few deep breaths or anything else — do that same thing each time you want to get into flow state.Over time, this will help you create a mental cue for your brain. Each time you follow it, you tell your brain 'it’s time to get into flow state'.Our behaviour is largely based on neuro-associations, by creating a mental cue, you are essentially creating a neuro-association.

Create A Mental Cue

Caught myself in this state and decided to do some research and share it with you all...enjoy!

Think about the last time where you were engaged in an activity and you simply lost track of time.. You were focused like a ninja, you felt amazing and it seemed as if there was nothing else on this…

productivity

Productivity

personaldevelopment

Personal Development

timemanagement

Time Management

How To Reach Flow State (Using 6 Flow State ‘Triggers’)

'While we wait for life, life passes.'

I see this problem in a lot of people, including me. Either being overly picky or just hesitant and fearful to make progress or moves. A lot of people recognise signs and opportunities that are staring at us, right in front of our faces, but we attempt to seize them when they have just drifted out of our reach. Why?

Seize The Day

If you, currently reading this, struggle to make decisions and be assertive, it may be because of reasons such as:<ul><li>There may be a lot of responsibility put onto you and you may feel intimidated</li><li>You may want everything to be perfect and not have to suffer the consequences of making a mistake</li><li>You don't want to make the wrong decision</li></ul>This is completely normal. I'll be diving into each and I'll hopefully be able to provide some of you with some meaningful advice .

Indecisiveness

I have this fear a lot, being indecisive because there's a lot of responsibility and pressure on you. The truth is, with every thing you do, this is going to be the case, an action can change your life no matter how small it is.My point is you have to feel this responsibility, not only will it shape you into a better person overall, it will teach you about leadership and how to manage emotions such as stress.Let's say however, you make a bad decision that impacts you or those around you negatively, mistakes happen and they're apart of life but the key is learning, adapting and moving forward.

Responsibility 

A lot of my points are going to lead to similar things as the whole subject relates. Some of us naturally tend to want everything to be perfect, to make no mistakes and have everything already set without any work or effort.Mistakes are okay. But are they really mistakes?The way you perceive events makes a huge difference. E.G. you can dwell on negative thoughts or take just one thing from your 'mistakes' and turn them into successes.My point is, perfection is impossible, never fail to seize something with the fear of not doing things right. That's what Learning is for.

Perfectionism

Similar to what I said earlier, let's say you made a bad decision, now what?It most likely won't be as bad as you think, there's many ways around it, for example:<ul><li>You can take steps to ensure it doesn't happen again</li><li>You gain experience and knowledge </li><li>You'll be way better equipped in the future</li><li>Most importantly, you'll grow as a person.</li></ul>

Learning, Adapting And Moving Forward

At the end of the day, it's important to not be so hard on yourself, going back to the quote we can't sit back and be passive, if you see an opportunity, take it. If it doesn't go well then so what? You try again. The main message is to get up and do something great, whether it's today, tomorrow or in a few months, take action because time isn't infinite.Good luck and it's time to stop being passive!

The Message

I felt like I should speak about this since I'm trying to combat it myself, I hope this is useful to at least one person.

How To Reach Flow State (Using 6 Flow State ‘Triggers’)

Helping You To Solve Indecisiveness

Dylan S