How to enjoy your work more!
Can we shape work to be more engaging? One way is to enable 'Flow'. First, here's what the concept means:
Now, think of an activity that puts you in flow. Common examples are playing video games, cooking, running, stage performance, playing a musical instrument etc.
The experience of Flow often has the following characteristics:
Active: you fight video game villains, run, stir the pot. It's not passive.
Rapid Feedback: You know if you are progressing to the desired goal (game points go up / the food is cooking / people are applauding)
Needs Constant Attention: e.g. you can't take your eyes off the screen for there are obstacles coming at you repeatedly.
"Where did time go?" When the activity ends, you feel a little exhausted but exhilarated. You felt a little stretched but felt you could exhibit your mastery. And you didn't notice the clock tick by.
Overall, this is such an engaging experience, that you crave more of it. We wish "work" had more of these experiences.
In contrast, flow is absent if a task is so difficult it produces anxiety or withdrawal, or is so easy that it's un-engaging. Clearly, there is a Goldilocks zone on the Flow Treadmill.
So how to make work more flow-ful?
Is flow lacking in your work? Diagnose what's missing and see how you could shape your world to improve its chances of appearing. Try these five ideas:
Label your experience: are you feeling unchallenged, apathetic, anxious, or out-gunned? Identifying this state on the Flow map can help you figure out what should change.
Get tactical feedback during the activity: this is not the kind of feedback you get from your supervisor in your next 1-1 meeting. This has to be goal-oriented and more immediate.
Deliberately mix work and flow: e.g. If writing puts you in flow, can you do more of that at work?
Add flow as a reward: Not all of us can integrate video games at work. Instead, use Pomodoro-style task scheduling to play a short game as a reward during the breaks that you rightfully earn.
Reduce interruptions: Focus is a key element in achieving flow. But what if other activities puncture it? Find a way to go off the interruption grid and let flow do its magic.
We think it's worth deliberately making work 'flow'. So try these out!