Flow - Introduction

Flow

Balancing the Pendulum  (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).

Much like each of the other factors, the key to maximising your chances of uncovering your flow state is to find that particular sweet spot. In this case, the level of challenge and skill that brings out a flow state comes at a specialised Goldilocks zone. This refers to the task being hard enough to keep you fully engaged yet not so hard that you’ll choke. 

Here we are introduced to two psychological laws, the first being the Yerkes-Dodson law. This idea concerns the comparison between arousal and performance. It states that performance doesn’t just go up with more hype; rather, it follows an inverted U-shape. Optimal arousal is found at a level between low arousal and too much arousal, in a state where you are alert and sharp, indicating peak performance. 

The second law, Csikszentmihalyi’s Challenge–Skill Model, explains the balance between challenge level and skill level. It provides us with four examples. Low-challenge and low-skill, which brings out apathy. Low-challenge and high-skill, which brings out boredom. High-challenge and low skill, which brings out anxiety or stress. And finally, the optimal high-challenge and high-skill combination, the most suitable option to bring out your flow state. 

Both of these two ideas strongly advocate that performance depends on balance. Put together: being in flow usually lines up with that “optimal arousal” zone, in which you are not too stressed, not too chill, just right.

Like a sponge

Perhaps finding a specialised zone and staying in it might be overly challenging at the start, but here’s something different: an area where there is no said “Goldilocks zone”. Complete absorption is our second factor that maximises our chances of uncovering the flow state. It is when your attention is glued and stuck to the task; the rest of your world fades out. It is the extermination of your mental frame, in which the only survivor is the action itself. When you are completely absorbed in completing a task or action, your selective attention is maxed out, in which irrelevant sensory info is filtered hard by the brain’s attentional control systems. Your Default Mode Network activity dwindles and drops. All your processing power is on performance. You're a sponge. 

A butt for your darts

The first two factors are rather vague ideations that require considerable interpretation from the participating party itself. Here’s a much simpler one than the former. Set yourself clear goals and feedback. You should know exactly what the aim is and try your best to get instant feedback, which can be internal or external, to guide each of your moves. This gives the brain feedforward and feedback loops; the dopaminergic system thrives on small, clear wins. By immersing yourself within these loops, hesitation is cut. You always know “what’s next”, which keeps your momentum strong and rolling. 

Don’t think

If I asked you to describe what being in flow truly feels like, most people would likely say it’s kind of like moving effortlessly, without much conscious thought. When people talk about players like Neymar, you hear them describe him as playing in a way that seems almost thoughtless, the absence of thinking. And intrinsically, that is almost exactly what the flow state composes of. It is a state in which you know what you’re doing moment-to-moment, but you’re not self-aware of knowing it — no meta-thinking. Your self-referential processing is suppressed; sensorimotor and attentional systems dominate. Automaticity dominates, your motor cortex, cerebellum, and procedural memory handle execution while your prefrontal cortex steps back. You act and adjust instinctively. Your consciousness dwindles. You are flowing without thinking.

Tunnel vision for your brain

You know that feeling when you are completely locked in on something. You see nothing but that objective, your side vision blurs, your peripheral dims and dwindles, you are in a tunnel, driving ever faster to see that bit of light, gleaming at the end of that narrow tube. You have reached a completeness in your concentration on the task at hand. Psychologically, your attention is now highly selective, sustaining no attentional shift or drift. Your prefrontal cortex and its resources are locked to a single stream of input. Think of it as a single lane tunnel itself. It is narrow, and you can’t drift or shift unless you want to crash into the walls, you are completely determined to reach the end of that tunnel. This state of mind eliminates performance errors caused by distraction or split focus. 

Look good for the crowd or look good for yourself

The majority of athletes, and that of especially myself, tend to prop up this certain hyper ego within us, whether that’s on the competitive field or off. Before a game, we care so much about how we look to the crowd, how we would look in the matchday photos, we want to impress. Every athlete is their own arrogant protagonistic being. Flow isn’t eliminating that self-centered ego, it is a stage in the game where that intrinsic self-image seem to fade and disappear within what is happening on the field. You stop thinking about yourself. Your medial prefrontal cortex quiets, reducing self-referential thought. Your Default Mode Network, as mentioned earlier, is suppressed, leading to less internal chatter. When you find yourself losing that hyper ego, your fear of judgement disappears with it, boosting your confidence and freeing up cognitive bandwidth. 

I’m in control

There are two types of control. Conscious control involves intentional, willful actions and thoughts that you are aware of. On the competitive field, this can be seen in the form of self-confidence, to convince oneself that he or she is in total control. Unconscious control involves actions or processes that occur without awareness, often happening on autopilot. In order to achieve flow, we are aiming to reach that unconconcious level of control. That is not to say conscious control is not good, but to highlight that flow only occurs when that level of control reaches unconscious processing. Often times, conscious control is the first step of the stairs reaching unconscious control, that is why self-confidence and visualization is so important in the mental processes of an athlete. When athletes visualize, they are simulating an augmented situation in which they are in total control of their actions, and the actions of their opponents. It is an utopia for the athlete’s brain. By stimulating their conscious control prior to a competitive event or athletic course, athletes grant themselves a headstart into their eventual target of unconscious control, in which then high perceived competence meets low cognitive load. Your automatic systems run the show while conscious control eventually steps back. You are in flow. 

Time 

Once you are in flow, time will do one of the two things. To fly or to slow down. This can vary depending on the athlete, and depending on each game. Temporal perception changes because attentional resources are so focused on the task that your brain’s internal clock runs differently. This is linked to altered activity in brain regions like the basal ganglia and right parietal cortex. Here, another key theme of the factors of flow is evident. The extermination of unnecessary processing functions in the brain at the time of athletic competitiveness. It is the brain’s self-initiated housekeeping mechanism that allows it to free up more space to enhance the necessary processing functions. In this case, your brain diminishes your brain’s internal clock to free up capacity for more suitable processes in this situation, such as that of your dopamine system.