The Fastest Way to Get Into the State of Flow
How to get into state of flow at will and stay in it.
If you have ever experienced the state of flow, you know how awesome it feels. But a lot of us struggle to get in the flow state and very few can do it at will.
However, all professional athletes can get into a flow state at will. I've learned this technique from watching them, and now I, too, can get in the state of flow when I want. It feels like a superpower.
I am going to share that technique with you today. By the time you finish reading this, you will have learned the skill. So, let's get to it.
Follow these steps, and you can get into the state of flow fast:
Brain dump everything in your mind on a piece of paper or your phone. It includes all to-do tasks, phone calls to make, emails to reply to, and everything you have to do except the task.
Start a 5 minutes timer: Only when all thoughts are outside of your mind on paper or the phone, start a timer for 5 minutes and focus on the task.
If you are not in the state of flow in 5 minutes, repeat steps 1-2. You likely still have to-do work left in your head that's not written down yet.
Why does it work?
In the flow state, we don't have any thoughts in our heads. We are focused on the task at hand. But if already we have thoughts in our head, our brains resist going into the flow state because it has to keep on remembering the same task repeatedly, so we don't forget the task. It is a cognitive load that doesn't allow the brain to focus.
This is the reason why so many creative people have a flow state in the early mornings. They don't have many things to occupy their mind during that time, so it's easy to get in the state of flow.
By doing the brain dump, we are simulating that early morning mental state. After writing things down, our brain doesn't have to remember them anymore and is free to focus. It makes getting in the flow state smooth, sustainable, and repeatable.
How to stay in the flow state?
The only times you will step out of the flow state is if some other thought enters your mind and occupy your attention. When that happens, write them down and jump back into a state of slow 🧘♂️
👉 If you like this content, please follow me on Twitter [@maddynator] as I tweet about these topics more often than writing blogs. The topics I tweet about are software engineering, productivity, mental models, and personal development.