Flow: "state of optimal performance denoted by smooth and accurate performance with an acute absorption in the task to the point of time dissociation and dissociative tendencies"
Gold, Joshua; Ciorciari, Joseph. Behavioral Sciences (2076-328X). Sep2020, Vol. 10 Issue 9, p137. 1p
Gold, Joshua; Ciorciari, Joseph. Behavioral Sciences (2076-328X). Sep2020, Vol. 10 Issue 9, p137. 1p
The word absorbed reminds this writer that of being occupied or engaged in something, as Mariam Webster defines the word absorption. Distraction and boredom appear to be the opposite of absorption. If so, then it appears that flow is cure or treatment for distraction.
The definition also suggests flow is linked to accurate performance of relevant tasks and lack of awareness of time ( dissociation of time). Dissociation of time suggests atemporal character of flow, suggesting its affinity with the unconscious mind, which Freud says is atemporal
One of the thing that Liban noticed that flow allows him to get more done. He associates it with movement, standing as opposed to sitting & with doing things faster, one after the other. It is as if he lost inertia, & entered the zone of action, wherein the disposition is action
He is also reminded of having warmed up for action, not for rest. An evidence for this, he noticed, is that his recurring tendency to sleep is replaced by recurring tendencies to work and having light sleep during the day, suggesting preponderance of activeness.
This preponderance for action may have been the predominant motif or rationale for the universe to choose motion, as opposed to rest, as default or the natural state of existence per se.
With this disposition to act, get things done, also comes with deep insights of what needs to be done. For this reason, some talk about unification of implicit & explicit knowledge, or perhaps the conscious & the unconscious mind. Is this crude example of active Intellegence?
Are people prone to spontaneity, as opposed to planning, more disposed to the experience of flow, where disassociation of time, accurate performance and identity with the task at hand prevails. Does this make pre-planning less relevant task. Personality has been linked to flow.
Spontaneity is Latin word, which means of one’s own accord, an agreement obtains between conscious and unconscious mind, or implicit, explicit knowledge and action. Is it the unconscious and conscious minds acting in unison or in harmony?
One of the key ingredients of the #flow experience to this writer is not balance of challenges and skills, but immediate feedback from actions engaged. Immediate feedback is reinforcement mechanism that increases the probability of such behavior occurring in the future.
If so, flow may be maintained if one engages in goal oriented activities that supplies constant rewards, however small such rewards may be, like accomplishing small task of cleaning or organizing a file, and giving up task when you fail to solve it and coming back to it later.
It is not clear to this writer what it is, but doing what one knows at the moment to be sort of things that needs to be done, acting intuitively that is, allows him to maintain harmony between the two systems that the mind is composed of, system one and two: basis of flow?
“..many distractions.. that result in a reduction of productivity. Yet a 10-year longitudinal study Cranston and Keller [4] showed people in flow states were 500% more productive. Gold, Joshua; Ciorciari, Joseph. Behavioral Sciences (2076-328X). Sep2020, Vol. 10 Issue 9, p137. 1p
At some point, Liban stopped remaining in flow and got distracted again. Maintaining the state became difficult. This is where relaxation is needed to re-enter the zone again. The re-entry failed after the fall, leading to sustained distraction.
Another factor that characterizes distraction, as opposed to the state of flow, is his in ability to learn from mistakes, and his tendency to repeat the same failing strategies again and again, rather than come back to it or list the help of experts.
Repeated failures act as punishment decreasing the probability of remaining in flow. As stated earlier, flow relies on reinforcements resulting from small repeated victories. When such reinforcement mechanism is removed, flow collapses, punishment favors now distraction
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