When it Rains it Pours
I was looking at a github commits history of a project I've been working on and realized a strange phenomenon with the commits. They were fairly consistent in number throughout the project, but the bulk of actual code and at that "functional code" came in chunks. When I thought about the chunks I could remember vividly the sensation, the experience of pumping out the code. I could also remember the days that little content was added, but the days I was cranking I remembered that I was in the groove. I was cranking because I was grooving and in that reminiscence I realized I need to get cranking or at the very least I want to get cranking!
What's Flow
When working through my undergraduate degree at Quest University I had a class with a particular professor's assistant who claimed to have invented the term Flow. When I questioned him about it he doubled down and reaffirmed what I had heard. So still quite confused I pressed him further and had him explain flow to me. He never once mentioned anything familiar to my understanding of physics. He explained flow as a psychological phenomenon. He talked about the experience of moving through a task with intention and consideration. He defined flow as the moment one becomes so focused on something that their actions become entangled with that thing. At that point I began to recognize what he meant by flow. My narrow focus upon his abrupt introduction had been widened. I knew flow well. I knew the groove well. The Flow was when I got shit done. But how do I cultivate Flow?
1, 2, 3, Flow.
Flow is when "shit gets done" and as such is necessary to be effective at anything one does. To cultivate flow one must understand flow. The key components of flow like many other experiences are the experiences preceding the moment and the local environment it exists in. Working with this framework of flow, to cultivate flow one needs to understand the experiences that proceed their flow and the environments that they experience flow. Once the environments and experiences one associates with flow have been identified the process becomes a little repetitive as cultivating flow now becomes cultivating the experiences that precipitate the experience of flow. With that I leave you to cultivate your flow.
Cheers!
For those keeping score at home - JS Set vol. II coming soon...
For those keeping score at home who missed it - JS Set Vol. I
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