Track the good times

Big Frank has been thinking about the good times, and paying more attention to them. When you are really involved in creating something new you don't have enough attention left to monitor your identity (your problems, hunger, anxiety, etc. - all of these disappear from your conciousness). Something that requires a lot of attention leaves your existence unattended (that's a good thing - that's when you are in flow!). You don't think, you merge yourself with your activity. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced chick-sent-me-high-ee) talks about this state of flow at TED. He explains how it feels to be in flow. At that time you

• Are completely involved in what you are doing.
• Are in a state of ecstasy (outside normal reality)
• Experience a sense of inner clarity
• Know that the activity is doable
• Have a sense of serenity (no worries - outside the ego)
• Feel a sense of timelessness (thoroughly focussed on the present)
• Have intrinsic motivation

Csikszentmihalyi came to these results by collecting data from people by paging them 10 times per day and asking them to record what they were doing, how they were feeling, and to note the amount of skill they needed at that time along with the challenge being faced. It turns out that when both are high, but not too high, flow can often be found. This is when people typically are most happy.

So join Big Frank in his own experiment and note for yourselves during the day when you are most happy:

• Where are you?
• What are you doing?
• How much of a challenge are you facing?
• How much skill is required to do what you are doing?

When are you in flow? Big Frank is going to track his flow and post his results here. He welcomes anybody else to do the same.