Aloha Friday Motivation | Go With the Flow Edition | #19

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 Happy Aloha Friday! (blog link)

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's (pronounced: MEE-hy CHEEK-sent-mee-HAH-yee,) most important and influential work was on the psychology of flow, “a state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the situation.” Flow has been described in other ways as well, most notably by athletes who are said to be in the “zone” when performing at their peak abilities. Angela Duckworth’s book Grit delved extensively into flow and the work of Mihaly. In the flow state we are able to concentrate better, focus more intently, and perform at a peak level because we simply get out of our own way; we get out of our head. But the flow state is not limited to sports. A flow state is essential for musicians, artists, even us “corporate athletes” in our pursuit of excellence.

Achieving and maintaining a flow state at work (corporate gig, musician, artist, athlete, or otherwise) creates efficiency while impacting the quality of the final product. While there are various views on how one attains a flow state, preparation is key and the right environment is essential. Did you know, video games employ a hypnotic repetitive rhythm in their music to help gamers achieve this state. You can actually leverage this during your work hours by playing a rhythmic ambient track as background music. Or…you could play Jimi!

In celebration of Jimi’s birthday, here are the Top 10 Jimi songs of all time! But as Sydney Deane famously said to Billy Hoyle, in White Men Can’t Jump, “Look man, you can listen to Jimi but you can't hear him. There's a difference man. Just because you're listening to him doesn't mean you're hearing him.” Take a stab at hearing Jimi if the spirit moves you and you might just hear the flow state in action. 


 

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