We are living in the Age of Distraction.

Every app, email, and social feed is engineered to shatter your attention into a million pieces.

A goldfish has a longer attention span (9 seconds) than humans (8.2 seconds) these days. 

If you try to build a meaningful career or achieve a specific goal using a scattered, 10-second attention span, you will fail. It’s that simple. 

But what if you could tap into a coherent state where time seems to melt away, your performance skyrockets, and the work itself becomes its own reward?

This is the state of Flow—the legendary peak performance and optimal experience zone popularized for meaningful and optimal experiences. 

But Flow doesn't happen by accident.

It is unlocked by the fundamental skill of deep, intentional Focus. 

This isn't just about productivity; it’s about fulfillment.

Where did this psychological concept come from?

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Flow Model Diagram.

This concept was researched by Positive psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the mid 1970s describing flow as "an optimal experience" where people are fully engaged in the activity, losing track of time and self talk or desires. 

Self talk/desires as in that annoying voice in our heads that tells us we're doing it wrong, its time to eat, its time to do this that and the next thing before we even find a moment of presence in our current place.

Csikszentmihalyi has spent years investigating and analyzing what makes life optimal, an example is flow. 

Think about times when you're completely immersed in an activity, when the brain noise & internal dialogue fades and what's left is complete immersion in what you're doing.

Whether that's when having a conversation, playing a sport, eating, or indulging in a creative endeavor, doesn't time just seem to fade and focused feeling seem to enter?

Csikszentmihalyi often described Flow as an autotelic experience. An autotelic experience quite simply describes an activity that’s pleasant, enjoyable, and intrinsically motivating  (so just by doing it rather than having an external motivation/outcome).

When you make the journey more fun than the destination (autotelic) your goals become less about an outcome and more about a way of being; which is the definition to real, lasting happiness and just about real, lasting anything.

This blog post will show you how to master the practical steps of deep focus so you can consistently enter the Flow State, unlock your goals, and finally achieve that lasting happiness that comes from doing challenging work well.

P.S. We designed a guided journal that integrates this concept beautifully in order to find lasting happiness and make it a daily routine. Our journal blends focus (method/proven technique and habit building) and flow (non repetitive engaging prompts that change in the same direction) to take you on a 12-week journey of positive transformation.

 Shop Flow Journal 

 

What Is Flow?

Flow is a state of complete immersion in an activity, where we lose track of time by being completely indulged & present within the experience losing track of mental chatter, self desires or unnecessary internal dialogue and have a balanced skill level and challenge in. 

Flow has been described as “the holistic sensation people feel when acting with complete involvement.”

Benefits Of Flow

I have to say, I flow. Not all the time but when I am working out/moving, being creative, and learning, my flow seems to come out. We all have different flows so remember that.

Below are some benefits and along with confirming their truth I've added my own which I'll explain. 

Fulfillment, Joy and Happiness

Flow is associated with positive mood, sense of accomplishment, and meaningfulness. (Frontiers in Psychology, 2021).

Because: brain reward systems like dopamine are engaged and attention is shifted from beta (outward) to alpha (harmony inward/relaxed focus; alpha bridges the gap between the conscious and subconscious mind)

Motivation

Dopamine and task engagement controlling systems support motivation and energy in flow states (PMC, 2021)

Because: Dopamine drives the reward feelings we get when we set out to accomplish something and norepinephrine release (for task engagement) support these. (however both skill level and challenge has to balance during tasks to evoke pleasure and engagement) 

Engagement, Performance, Enhanced skill / Impact on life 

EEG studies show increased theta (relaxation/impressionable mind) and moderate alpha (calm focus) in flow which reduce distractions, sharpen focus, and enhance experience and therefore impact. (NCBI, 2018). 

Because: Our brain waves change dependent on what we are focusing on and experiencing, this is what makes activities more impactful, stressful, or relaxing. 

Learning, development, creativity

High flow states show reduced prefrontal cortex activity. This means less outward or external focus which can turn inward. (ScienceDirect.2024)

Because: Flow quiets the prefrontal cortex (self-monitoring - beta/outward focused experiences), allowing freer idea generation and deeper learning from experience.

I would add:

Meditation & Mindfulness

Meditation is the act of focus and stillness or feeling. Let's call stillness the 'flow' in the act of meditation for this example. 

Regardless when you focus on anything and then add your flow (whatever that experience may be like video games, workouts, walks) it can be called a meditation as you're expanding deeper into relaxation and expansion of the activity. 

When your immersed in an activity your fully grasping its experience and emotional feeling and its intention for what it does for you, just like meditation. 

In my case when I workout, I am mostly focused on my breathing, what I'm doing, and how it feels. This is an example of when you have complete presence and can be called meditation. 

Meaningful life

Flow adds meaning, purpose and intention to our days, losing track of time and pursuing our goals makes us feel like we're living more intentionally and purposefully. 

Think about when you have shallow conversations like "hi how are you, great, we both know we're lying but let's just keep smiling" vs "yea man life is what it is, let's make it good now and getting better, any who what 'cha working on right now?" you obviously are more impacted and immersed with the second. 

The Impact Of Flow On The Brain

We move through different brain states throughout the day and this concept will link deeply to how flow scientifically influences the brain. 

Some of these include Beta (where attention is mostly on tasks or outward experiences),  Theta (where attention is drawn inward and is highly impressionable (we are in this state from ages 1–7 and just as we wake up, or right before sleep, which is why the brain is so impressionable at those times)

Delta is another state linked to the deepest levels of rest and restoration.

Flow has been linked to decreased activity in Beta (especially in the prefrontal cortex) and increases in Theta and moderate Alpha compared to boredom or disengagement, based on EEG studies.

Still, it can depend on the task, and brain states may oscillate — for example, a reduction in Beta (or outward focus) can make Theta (inward; feeling focus) more prominent.

A 2021 study also found norepinephrine (task engagement or disengagement control) helps sustain attention on the task.

Meaning in flow, neurons “wire and fire” more effectively and therefore become more automatic to do. If you've ever heard the infamous "neurons that fire together, wire together" in neuroscience you understand the impact of how strong and automatic/easy these tasks become, therefore grow in. 

How to actually get into Flow? 

Clear Intentions; Focus Makes Flow.

Without a clear outcome or intention you are looking to achieve, how can you know what to focus on? 

The first step of having optimal experiences is knowing what you want to get out of them and why. 

Next, you need to have something to measure the success of your intention. 

Whether that is some type of mental, physical, emotional relief or some type of measurement to continue your progress while you do your activity or set out to achieve your intention. 

Minimize Distractions

There is so many distractions available today to take us away from reality - when its stressful it can be especially easy to fall into these distracting tendencies like social media, food, emails, there's like thousands of other things available to us. 

So before you set out to complete your task, minimize distractions that may take your focus from them. 

Whether that's by clearing your desk and keeping the one thing you do need on it, setting a timer, using noise cancelling headphones or sitting alone. 

Just like when we're trying to eat healthy we're not likely (if we're in charge of grocery shopping) to buy a bunch of junk food instead. 

Balance

In order to flow i.e. have optimal experiences, true personal growth & expansion and make life better to live: our activities need to have a balance of skill and challenge. 

Meaning relative to what you already know about this activity,  the challenge needs to be slightly harder. 

For example, let's say you are beginning a new fitness routine you have never done before. 

This means if you know what you have to do already then based on your current level of knowledge you make it a little harder than what you know. 

If you've never done it before than maybe 2 minutes of that activity may provoke complete focus, because well its just two minutes you have to start with. 

Now if you were an avid workout-er the challenge, in relativity to what you already know, must be harder in order to not cause boredom, disengagement, or distractive tendencies (that plague us now more than ever)

P.S. We designed a guided journal that blends focus + flow beautifully in order to find lasting happiness, make it a daily routine, and move closer towards your dreams with ease (using data backed techniques) Check it out below if you're looking to move forward daily with ease.

 Shop Flow Journal 

Our opinion

We link focus and flow to the conscious (attentive - present - logical mind) and subconscious (auto - past - emotional) mind. We would describe your logical intention or goal as the conscious or present direction and flow or experience/feeling of that goal the subconscious or automatic "known" experience.

When you link them together it creates total harmony inward extending outward into actions and outcomes. 

Think about being hungry and wanting a sandwich. 

Imagine if you didn't really feel like making it though, you have all the ingredients but shucks you just don't feel like it.

That would quite make an impact on the process and the way your sandwich may turn out; perhaps even sloppy. 

Think about it now in reverse. You want a sandwich, you feel like making a sandwich and eating it but you don't have any ingredients or don't know how to make it. 

See now focus gives the direction for flow which is why its so important, but if you don't enjoy it, that's going to impact it just as hard. 

We can also link this to mind-heart coherence.

When you have mind-heart coherence everything simply works more smoothly, this is literally focus + flow in action and it makes life both enjoyable, meaningful and intentional.

Takeaway

You needaaaa a bit of flow in your life. How can you make it happen? Start with:

A clear intention

A way to measure your progress in that intention (whether through relief, meaning, etc)

An activity you enjoy that provides some type of emotional, physical, mental relief, benefit, or meaning you feel.

Presence and focus.

A balance of skill level and challenge. 

Tip? If you're just beginning start small, increase as you go, and focus on your mindset. If you're not and just looking to make goals enjoyable - balance your skill level with your intention. Then increase as you go and be completely focused for that time using the instructions above. 

Conclusion: The Ultimate Reward is the Process

The Age of Distraction has trained us to seek constant novelty and external validation, leaving us feeling scattered and perpetually unsatisfied.

The teachings of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and decades of neuroscience show us that the secret to lasting happiness and goal achievement isn't an external reward, it’s the deep satisfaction of operating at your absolute focused.

By committing to the practical steps of deep focus, setting clear intentions, minimizing the noise, and finding that optimal balance between skill and challenge, you give yourself the key to unlock Flow.

Stop chasing the outcome and start mastering the process.

Your flow is waiting.

P.S. We made a guided journal to help (the focus part) Happiness is the beginning of motivation, energy, and vitality. Not the toxic kind, the gentle, flexible kind that doesn't ignore but accepts and shifts. A powerful but gentle 12 week journey made for only those ready to look forward and go that way. Check it out below if you're interested. 

 Shop Flow Journal