A briefing on “flow”

No brief commentary can do full justice to a concept as complicated – and as important — as flow, I realize, but it may be of interest and value to review a few key points about it.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

1. Hungarian scientist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (“Cheeks-sent-me-high”) is generally credited with formulating the concept of flow based on decades of research. He published Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience in 1990.

Note: Bernie DeKoven is one of the most original thinkers among contemporary authors of business books. He recently pointed out to me that “actually, Csikszentmihalyi used the word ‘flow’ in his book Beyond Boredom and Anxiety published in 1975.  Can you believe it? I’ve been quoting from it ever since.”

2. There are several ways of describing the state of flow. Here is mine, based on what I have learned from Csikszentmihalyi : Pretend that you are a basketball player who hits every shot, a putter who sinks every putt, a bowler who only makes strikes, a rifleman or archer who only hits bulls eyes, etc. You are oblivious to where you are, what time it is, who else is there, etc. Athletes call it “the zone.” Musicians call in “in the groove.” Gamblers call it “on a roll.” Activity seems effortless.

3. In a workplace, “flow” can be achieved but seldom sustained. Reasons vary.

Amy Arnsten

4. A neurologist from Yale, Amy Arnsten, has conducted years of research on positive and negative arousal. Here is my take on her key points:

• One challenge for supervisors is to determine which level of stress is best for each worker for whom they are directly responsible: This is their “sweet spot” for peak performance.

• There are two critically important chemicals, dopamine and norpinephrine, that affect synapses in the prefrontal cortex: Not enough of dopamine and/or norpinephrine results in boredom, too much results in burn-out. Usually there are early-warning signs of insufficiency or excess.

5. It is important to create or locate optimal conditions (i.e. mental, emotional, and environmental) for experiencing “flow,” then take full advantage of “being at our best” for as long as possible.

*     *     *

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is professor and former chairman of the Department of Psychology at the University of Chicago. His previous books include Flow and The Evolving Self. Flow was identified during the 1993 NBC Super Bowl broadcast as the book that inspired Jimmy Johnson, then coach of the Dallas Cowboys. It was also a selection of the Book-of-the-Month Club and the Quality Paperback Book Club.

Amy Arnsten was raised in Maplewood, N.J. where she attended Columbia High School. She received her B.A. in Neuroscience from Brown University in 1976, and her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from UCSD in 1981. She did post-doctoral research with Dr. Susan Iversen at Cambridge University, and with Dr. Patricia Goldman-Rakic at Yale. Dr. Arnsten’s research has led to the development of guanfacine (IntunivTM) for the treatment of ADHD and related prefrontal cortical disorders.

How much do you know about your brain?

This not a trick question.

In recent years, I have read a number of books based on wide and deep research that have helped me to gain a much better understanding of whatever it is between my two ears.

Here are the key points that are of greatest interest to me:

1. The brain is a muscle and therefore requires frequent and rigorous exercise, exercise that is both mental and physical.

Note: The eyes are also muscles and can be strengthened by daily exercises that — over time — will substantially increase reading speed, comprehension, and retention. That’s a subject for another blog post.

2. It is comprised of three regions, each of which evolved separately but they function together interdependently as networked biological computers in constant communication. Each has its own purposes, intelligence, and programmed subjectivity.

3. The first is the brain stem sitting atop the spinal cord, the so-called “lizard brain,” which controls feeding, fighting, fleeing, and fooling around (the “Four Fs”).

4. The second is the neocortex, or “rational brain,” the region we think we think with. It organizes, categorizes, strategizes, and performs a host of other analytical and conceptual functions.

5. The third region, the limbic system, or “emotional brain,” evaluates the reward potential of judgment calls, and processes information 80,000 time s faster than the neocortex. Many have characterized it as a “prediction machine.” It is wired to select a choice with the highest probable return.

6. Something called the amygdala is key to the limbic operating system. It consists of two bundles of neurons about the size and shape of an almond. These “bundles,” although idling in neutral, are ever ready to be fast sprung by one of two possibilities: “This will help me” or “This will hurt me.”

7. The Amygadala is so important because it determines which neurochemicals the brain releases in response to either of the two contingencies.

8. Various chemicals (e.g. oxytocin , serotin, and dopamine) vary in nature and impact but, together, enable the brain to become programmed for survival that, in turns, requires making the decisions to ensure that.

What about the mind?

Most experts explain that it is “what the brain does.”

SUGGESTED READINGS

Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School
John Medina

How We Decide
Jonah Lehrer

Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain
John J. Ratey

Think Better: An Innovator’s Guide to Productive Thinking
Tim Hurson

A User’s Guide to the Brain: Perception, Attention, and the Four Theaters of the Brain
John J. Ratey

If you are feeling frisky and really want to put some white caps on your gray matter, check out Gerald M. Edelman’s Bright Air, Brilliant Fire: On The Matter of The Mind.