28
Aug
2009
Flowing Along
I’ve been doing a lot of writing this week - end of year reports and a journal article. A colleague called while I was in the middle of trying to pull together some ideas for the journal article and I couldn’t answer the phone. I later told him I was in a “writing trance”. When our attention is focused so fully on a task I think we experience freedom. I experience this ”trance” state at other times - in a yoga class or when I’m running or rollerblading for example. It’s an opportunity be singularly focused and let the extraneous worries and deadlines fall away.
As I was watching the news the other night, the reporter covered a story about recent research on multi-tasking. For those of us who tend to be proud of our ability to handle many tasks at once, we may want to think twice. The study has found that multi-tasking actually reduces our memory capacity! Those of us who rely on Blackberries, cell phones, lap tops, and other gadgets should beware. Moving from one gadget to the next while trying to complete a task over taxes our brains!
I like what Mihail Csikszentmihaly calls “flow”. He says that when we are engaged in a task that takes us beyond thinking about ourselves and that requires us to use abilities we enjoy, we can experience Flow. What I like about Flow is that it not only allows us to enjoy what we’re doing but it provides better output for others as well. So, at work, when we are able to engage in Flow, our productivity increases at the same time that our satisfaction with what we’re doing increases. A good win-win. You can read more about this if you like at this link: http://anneoffner.com/newsletter/FlowandWork(February2007).pdf
More writing for me next week but I will stop back in for another blog.
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