If you want to increase your productivity for business purposes, it’s important that you stimulate flow experiences. Flow is the mental state in which people are highly focused, energised and immersed in their work. The benefits of being in flow include increased creativity and performance. So how do you achieve this? Here are 3 tips:
1. Ensure that goals are clear
The first tip for getting into flow is knowing exactly what it is you’re trying to achieve. Decide on your goals and rules in advance, and then make sure that everyone else involved with the goal knows about them as well.
Don’t feel pressure or guilt about setting lofty targets for yourself—it’s perfectly fine if they’re challenging, but it’s also important that they can be achieved within a realistic timeframe.
2. Make sure there is an optimal challenge
Another important component of flow is the level of challenge. Flow is not about being bored or frustrated, but rather it is the optimal challenge that triggers your brain to be fully immersed in your work. When a person is challenged by what they are doing, their brain releases dopamine and norepinephrine—neurotransmitters that are linked to self-esteem, sense of accomplishment and motivation.
When you are matched with an appropriate challenge each day, it can help improve focus and concentration and increase performance at work. But if challenges become too easy or difficult for you, then you won’t reach flow state because you’re either no longer challenged or overwhelmed by the task at hand (or both).
3. Provide immediate feedback
The third tip for getting into flow is to provide immediate feedback. If you’re trying to learn a skill, then it’s important that your efforts are rewarded with clear information about how well you’re doing and what needs improvement. This allows you to adjust your behaviour instantly.
When we receive feedback right away, our brains are able to use this information immediately and make changes based on it. Without this response loop between input and output of actions taken on the task at hand, there would be no way for us to see how our actions affect our results in any given situation—which means we wouldn’t improve over time at all!
Summary
If you’re looking for ways to improve the flow for business purposes, make sure to follow these 3 tips:
- Provide clear goals. When you know what you’re trying to achieve, the whole process will flow more smoothly.
- Make sure the challenge is optimal. If a task is too easy or too difficult, it won’t provide sufficient stimulation for flow.
- Provide immediate feedback on progress and performance so that you can adapt your behaviour instantly in case that’s beneficial.
That would be it. I hope you enjoyed reading this article and that it will help you to increase your creativity and performance through more flow!