Understanding Flow State: A life of optimal focus and creative joy

I remember it like it was yesterday.

I was sixteen, standing out on the garden patio of our house in Cyprus. It was a hot June day. My grandma—still very lucid during that time—was tanning in the corner.

In front of me was a large canvas with a partially-finished owl painting: a collection of abstract, flowing sparks of colour.

I’d been holding a paint palette for hours that day, and hours the day before—but the time had disappeared without me knowing. I still look back on this moment as one of the happiest of my life.

This is the flow state: one of life’s great joys.

It’s where memorable moments are made and the door to immense creativity is opened.

For creators, writers, or entrepreneurs, this state of mind is a resource to build momentum, be fully present with your creation, and bring ideas to life.

So what’s happening in the flow state, and how can we enter it more often?

How do you trigger the flow state?

The flow state is when you’re completely caught in the web of your activity. A euphoria of focus and absorption where time slips away and all that matters - all that exists - is what you are doing here and now.

To find more flow in our lives, we should understand the factors that activate it.

The book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi breaks down each element that triggers the flow state:

1. The activity must be challenging, but not overly difficult

A flow state is induced by taking on activities that aren’t too easy to be boring but aren’t too tough to be stressful. It’s the perfect balance that makes most computer games addictive, as you build up your skills to meet the growing challenges ahead.

2. Clear goals 

The activity should be bound by rules, with a clear, precise goal. When you know the outcome you need or can picture your final product, you can more easily sink into a flow state to achieve it. 

3. Immediate feedback 

Activities should have a way of establishing feedback, to know whether you're on the right path or not. For example, your next shot in a tennis game is a clear indication of whether you’re going to win the next point or not.

4. Concentration on the task

We don’t (and shouldn’t) think about unrelated distractions in a flow state. The spotlight of your attention should shine only on that one task. It helps to place your phone notifications on silent, and perhaps face your desk against a wall.

5. Merging action and awareness

This means reaching a state of presence: leaving no excess energy for anything else. The activity then feels ‘automatic’, like the ‘through me’ state of consciousness.

6. A feeling of control

We achieve a powerful sense of control, as if we’re able to do or achieve anything during our flow state. This is what can make triggering it so addictive!

7. Loss of self

With all of your focus poured into the task, you don’t hear inner voices for one moment about the past, the future, or self-scrutiny. In the case of mountain climbers or extreme sports, concern for the self may disappear completely.

8. The transformation of time

It often feels like time speeds up or slows down. Time becomes irrelevant.

9. An ‘autotelic’ experience

Autotelic is a word derived from the Greek: "auto," meaning self, and "telos," meaning goal. It means that you find an activity intrinsically motivating and inspiring. Drawing a picture or writing a story may not pay you money - but it’s not of your concern. The pleasure is the act itself.

Practices that activate the flow state (for writers and creators)

The best way to repeat a state of mind is to track how you previously reached it.

When I write and I’m searching for flow, I need to make changes like these:

Start the morning without distractions

Brain coach Jim Kwik said it best: ‘​​to win the day, you have to win the first hour.’ By starting your morning picking up your phone and browsing social media, you’re priming your brain to be reactive - not creative. Maintain control of the first hour of your day, prioritizing your mind toward your goals or, at least, distraction-free time.

Know your first task

Earnest Hemingway used to wrap up his writing for the day mid-chapter, or sometimes mid-sentence. Why? So he knew exactly how to get started the next day. Likewise, you too should give yourself momentum when you start your task by knowing exactly what you’ll take on, and what the goal is.

Keep your workspace in order

Every night, kitchen staff across the world meticulously organise the workspace. In the culinary world, this is called ‘mise en place’: a way for today’s staff to prep tomorrow’s. Without this process, friction enters the workflow. So clean your desk tonight and get organised! You’ll cook up creative work tomorrow with focus and purpose.

Commit to being distraction-free

You’re looking to be creative - not reactive. Leave your phone out of the room for a few hours, and give your family, partner, or roommate the heads up that you’re unavailable. The world won’t collapse if you do (and if it does, at least you’ll be having too much fun to notice).

Set a timer

Setting a pomodoro timer might not work for everyone, but it works for me. Once I click that ‘start timer’ button, it’s a clear signal that it’s go time!

Choose your focus playlist

Deemed ‘The Mozart Effect’ many studies have shown classical music to be ideal for long-lasting focus. My personal go-to music is rhythmic and lyricless, such as this techno playlist. And nowadays, there are apps like brain.fm that’s scientifically proven to increase focus too.

Change your location

Sometimes, a specific location triggers deeper focus and a creative flow state. I find the background noise and activity of a coffee shop or library can be fantastic places to find flow.

Flow: a path to true happiness

There’s nothing quite like getting sucked into the flow state’s vortex. In the book Flow, Mihály Csíkszentmihályi writes:

The best moments in our lives, are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times... The best moments usually occur when a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile. Optimal experience is thus something that we make happen.

If you’re anything like me, you often seek this state of mind. 

Why? Because not only is it a valuable zone of productivity, but a state of joy: the pure energy from crushing your goals (and having fun while you’re doing it).

This is the zone of the autotelic individual.

In the context of creativity, an autotelic pursuit is pursued for its own sake, not for any external rewards or outcomes.

The creative process becomes the source of fulfillment, independent of external validation or success, and a path to growth and change.

Life is about succumbing to these moments and hunting more of them.