How to reverse engineer your own flow state
Photo by Macarena Navarro on Unsplash
TL/DR:
Flow state isn't random. It comes from a set of conditions you could name and rebuild.
My best writing happens on an airplane: no wifi, no cell service, no chores in sight, loud engine noise, and a hard landing time.
A client's wife recreated a Starbucks in her house during the pandemic, down to the table dimensions and a YouTube "Starbucks sounds" video, so she could keep writing.
The at-home version costs nothing: wifi off, phone in another room, one dedicated seat, brown noise, and a set stop time.
Start by picturing the most focused you've ever been. Write down what was true about that place. Rebuild those pieces where you are.
The Whole Shebang:
“Did I ever tell you about the Starbucks in our house?”
No. What???
“Yeah, during the pandemic, my wife recreated a Starbucks in our house.”
Why??
“Well, my wife is an author, and she used to do all of her writing at Starbucks because, as you know, in a house with 2 small kids, it’s kinda hard to get sustained, focused writing time in.
And then the pandemic hit, and all of a sudden, going to Starbucks to write was off the table. So she recreated it in our house. She literally went to Starbucks and measured their round tables, bought 2 identical ones, bought a Starbucks sign, and found a 4 hour “Starbucks sounds” video on Youtube, and that’s where she wrote until she was safely able to go back to a real Starbucks.”
Genius. Absolute genius.
She deconstructed the elements that helped her get into a flow state for her writing. And recreated them in her home.
And you know what? She’s not the only one to have this idea, because I’ve done it too! (Although, I gotta say her commitment to accuracy way outweighed my own.)
I, like my client’s wife, have a particular location where I do my best writing, where it’s easiest to get into that elusive flow state.
For me, it’s an airplane. Seriously, when I’m in that tight, uncomfortable chair, with nothing else to do, no wifi, no nothing, I write more prolifically than any place else on earth.
I took a flight from San Francisco to Cabo last summer. It was only 2.5 hours, and I cranked out the first drafts for 4 entire articles.
It’s like magic. It works every time. Just like Starbucks for my client’s wife.
Now, why is the airplane such a productive place for me to write? I think it comes down to this:
No internet (Starlink, why, oh why, are you trying to ruin this for me??) The impulse to go check my email mid-sentence? It stops because my brain knows it won’t be fulfilled.
No cell service. No Facebook. No Instagram. No TikTok. No news. No endless scroll.
No other distractions. No linen closet to organize. No fridge to peruse. No laundry to put away. It’s just me and my laptop.
The loud-as-hell white noise of the engines. (Have you ever noticed that if you’re listening to headphones on an airplane you have to jack them up so loud just to hear over the din of the engines?) That sweet, sweet white noise helps with focus.
There’s a deadline. That flight will be landing…sooner than I think.
Now, as much as I’d like to travel constantly (seriously, traveling is one of my very favorite activities), I can’t. It’s expensive. It’s bad for the environment. And I’ve got responsibilities (aka kids) and a budget that keep me home most of the time.
So, I, too, got to thinking: How can I recreate this magical, uber-productive, airplane situation when I’m not, in fact, on an airplane?
And here’s what I’ve come up with:
Turn off wifi on my computer
Leave my phone in another room
Find a smallish work zone to park my butt (for me, it’s one specific seat on my couch)
Put on noise cancelling headphones, or listen to brown noise (i.e. just like my client’s wife’s Starbucks Youtube, I have an “8 hour brown noise” video I play, that my family makes fun of me for mercilessly. “Are you listening to SHHSHHSHHH?” they say, while laughing.)
Set a time limit. (Flights have duration. Starbucks has a closing time. And therefore so will my work block!)
I’ve used this set up many, many times now and, OMG, it works!
Now, writing might not be your thing, but I’m sure you have other things for which you’d love to be able to create a shortcut to focus-mode.
So try this:
Close your eyes and think about the most productive, flow-inducing, work environment you’ve ever be in.
Write down the elements of that environment.
Now, see if you can’t recreate that situation at home or at work.
And I hope you have activities in your life where getting into flow state is something that happens naturally, with no effort, like it does for me at the pottery studio.
But, for those times when you need to focus on something that doesn’t bring you quite as much joy, but you’d still like to make significant progress on, try this and let me know what you come up with!
And if you need help figuring out what works for you, here are 4 ways we can work together:
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