Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement With Everyday Life
by: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Topics include: psychic entropy, passive leisure, our psychic energy, active leisure
From Library Journal
While many self-help books purport to tell readers how to find happiness, few such titles can claim to be based on any scientifically valid, large-scale studies. One of the happy exceptions was University of Chicago psychologist Csikszentmihalyi's Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (LJ 3/15/90). There the author published the results of studies using the Experience Sampling Method (ESM), in which he found that people were happiest when most absorbed in their actions, a state the author termed flow. The current book (part of Basic's series purporting to present "a crystallization of a lifetime's work and thought" by noted scholars) presents similar material, but with an emphasis slightly shifted toward practical applications of the ESM findings. Public librarians should check their shelves: if their copies of Flow are tattered or nonexistent, they should definitely buy this new title; if they have a decent copy of the older book, this is still a recommended purchase. Academic libraries need to have the author's more scholarly book but will find this popular with undergraduates.
Mary Ann Hughes, Neill P.L., Pullman, Wash.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The New York Times Book Review, Jacqueline Boone
Csikszentmihalyi eloquently argues that living fully in the here and now requires that one heed the lessons of the past and acknowledge that today's most seemingly trivial acts inevitably have an impact on the future.
The New York Times Book Review, Jacqueline Boone
Although the assertions occasionally smack of hyperbole and overgeneralization, Csikszentmihalyi's message encompasses an inspiring and challenging truth...
Card catalog description
Based on a far-reaching study of thousands of individuals, Finding Flow contends that we often walk through our days unaware and out of touch with our emotional lives. As a result of this inattention, we find ourselves constantly bouncing between two extremes: during much of the day we live inundated by the anxiety and pressures of our work and obligations, and during our leisure moments, we tend to live in passive boredom. Part psychological study and part self-help book, Finding Flow is a prescriptive guide that helps us reclaim ownership of our lives. The key, according to Csikszentmihalyi, is to challenge ourselves with tasks that require a high degree of skill and commitment. Instead of watching television, play the piano; transform a routine task with a different approach. In short, learn the joy of complete engagement. Though they appear simple on the surface, the lessons in Finding Flow are life-changing. By crystallizing these concepts - developed through a life's work and research at the University of Chicago - into clear guidelines, Csikszentmihalyi has crafted a profound and momentous work that provides readers with the tools they need to live richer, more vital lives.
Reviews:
What is a good life?', is basically the question addressed by this book. Well, isn't a good life just about being happy? Ok, but that is not the complete answer. For how do we become and stay happy? Not by watching TV, eating, or relaxing all day! In small doses these things are good and improve your daily life, but the effects are not additive. In other words: a point of diminishing returns is quickly reached. Also you don't become happy by having to do nothing. Csikszentmihalyi's research shows that both intrinsic motivation (wanting to do something) and extrinsic motivation (having to do something) are preferable to not having any kind of goal to focus your attention.
Csikszentmihalyi argues that a life filled with `flow activities' is more worth living than one spent consuming passive entertainment. He says, the point is to be happy while doing things that stretch your goals and skills that help you grow and fulfil your potential. In other words: the content of your experiences over a lifetime determines the quality of your life. Then what exactly s `flow'? Is it just some vague new New Age concept? Not at all! It is precisely defined and well-researched. The experience if flow is the sense of effortless action we feel in moments that we see as the best in our lives. In order to have flow experiences you need clear goals/demands, immediate and relevant feedback and a balance between your skills and the demands. Then your attention becomes ordered and fully invested. Because of the total demand on you psychic energy you become completely focused, your self-consciousness disappears, as does your sense of time, yet you feel strong and competent. When in flow, you are not exactly happy, because you are not focused on your inner states (that would take away your attention from the task at hand). But looking back you are happy. Having flow experiences leads to growth and learning and improving your life becomes a question of making flow as much as possible a constant part of your everyday experience.
Csikszentmihalyi describes how you can find flow in several important life domains. One domain is work. Often we short-sightedly spend a lot of energy to take the easy way and cut corners, trying to do as little as possible in our jobs. If we would spend the same amount of energy trying to accomplish more we would probably enjoy our work more and be more successful as well. To improve your work you can try to take the whole context of your job into account. Doing this you can better understand your contribution to the whole and understand and value your role more. This enables you to invest more energy and withdraw more meaning from your work. Further, to use flow at work you can try to establish a situation in which your job (an other people's jobs) provides clear goals, unambiguous feedback, a sense of control, few distractions and challenges that match your skills. Just as much as in work you can create flow in your family and other relationships according to Csikszentmihalyi. He says it is particularly important to give attention to building harmony between participant's goals and to find ways to balance the meaningfulness of the rewards you get from work and relationships.
This book is definitely worth reading. Csikszentmihalyi's answer to the question `What is a good life?' is practical and convincing.
Review of Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement With Everyday Life, by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi 1) He divides our waking time into basically productive work, maintenance activities, leisure activities and our time in the social sphere as with productive peers, family, or self. 2) Emotions are subjective, yet the experience of emotions create our sense of reality. 3) Flow = Highly positive emotions such as being happy, alertness, active, strong, sociable, cheerful, focused, and conscious. When we are using all of our talents, fully engaged, with immediate and revelent feedback we are in a state of flow. Helpful hint: "Engineer your daily life around getting the most rewarding experiences from it. Not those experiences of flow and satisfaction in one's life. Learn to manage the daily rhythms of life. He relays the problems of being alone and discusses how being with others naturally structure and sets goals for us. He suggests that it is very worthwhile to structure our being with others in enjoyable relaxed times. Leisure can be dangerous for us because we lack the goals and structure of an outside influence. Flow producing activites require "activation time and energy". --- My suggestion if you are lost with this stuff is to take a free online Myers Briggs test to see how you score, and then search for job recommendations for ENTP or whatever you happen to be. You will find an indication of what you should be doing in terms of achieving FLOW. I think people should have more time between college and the real world to figure out what it is they do best so that job satisfaction and personal happiness and productivity will go up. Maybe people wouldn't be so unhappy with their jobs later in life!
Helpful hint: "Engineer your daily life around getting the most rewarding experiences from it. Not those experiences of flow and satisfaction in one's life. Learn to manage the daily rhythms of life. He relays the problems of being alone and discusses how being with others naturally structure and sets goals for us. He suggests that it is very worthwhile to structure our being with others in enjoyable relaxed times. Leisure can be dangerous for us because we lack the goals and structure of an outside influence. Flow producing activites require "activation time and energy".
Several books have been written on the subject of happiness, good life, meaningful life etc. Typically, writers unravel their "philosophy of life" without backing up their theories with facts. Most of the self help books are full of clich s like "Have a positive attitude", "Never give up" etc. Mihaly takes a very different approach. Armed with a scientific approach to measure experiences (ESM - Experience Sampling Method) Mihaly goes on to show the correlation between the choices people make and the quality of their lives. Again, what is propounded by the author is not "coffee table philosophy" but inference drawn on the basis of statistical data collected in several experiments. ESM study clearly shows that people feel at their best when they indulge in high- challenge, high skill activities (like demanding work, playing a game, pursuing a hobby) and feel at their worst when they indulge in low challenge - low skill activities (like watching TV). As one of the reviewers has written, some argue that this can be deduced from "common sense". There is a huge difference between the conventional wisdom attributed to common sense and inferences drawn on the basis of research. As one of the experiments described by Mihaly indicates a myth (attributed to "common sense") that people "know" how to use leisure falls flat on its face. (More on this in next paragraph) The book touches upon a variety of interesting and important topics. Of all the topics discussed in the book, the one I that I like best is the chapter on Risks and Rewards of Leisure. As Mihaly points out, we are some how supposed to possess skills required for the effective use of leisure. As the ESM based research indicates, people feel good when they do things they want to do or do things that they have to do. People feel at their worst when they do certain things because there is nothing else to do - mostly in their leisure. It turns out that we are not really all that skilled in using leisure effectively. Mihaly then goes on to show how the people who have been successful in leading a meaningful life use their leisure. What sets this book apart from the league of self help books is the presentation of scientifically collected data in conjunction with the insights of a brilliant psychologist. The book provides a great value for what it costs in dollars.