Getting into a Flow State: The 4 Ways to Enter The Zone

It’s no secret that getting into a flow state when you work can help you be much more productive than usual. But what is a secret, or at least what seems to be, is how to actually do it.

The reality is that there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to getting into a flow state. Everyone’s different, which means we’ll all have different strategies that work for us.

However, in this article we’ll look at four different ways that you can give you the best chance of getting into a flow state when you’re working!

What is a Flow State?

The idea of a “flow” was first put forward by Mihály Csíkszentmihály, a Hungarian-American psychologist who’s known for being one of the co-founders of the whole field of positive psychology. He described flow as being “completely involved in an activity for its own sake.”

Fast forward to now, the concept of “flow states” is being used by people all over the world to help them “get into the zone” and work without distraction. Simply put, a flow state is the experience of being completely absorbed by an activity or task. It’s common for people in a flow state to lose track of time, and clear their mind of anything other than the thing they’re doing.

If you’ve not previously heard of flow state, there’s still a good chance that you’ve experienced it. Have you ever been working on something, and felt like the world melted away? Have you been so engrossed in a task that you forgot about everything else going on in your life? If you answered yes to those, there’s a high likelihood you were experiencing a flow state.

So, knowing what a flow state is and how effective it can be, it comes as no surprise that people are using it to be more productive in their working lives.

Getting into a Flow State

As we said at the beginning of this article, there’s no clear-cut way of achieving a flow state. Everyone is different, which means we all have different ways of working, and different stimuli that we respond to. What may work for me may not work for you, and vice versa.

But with that being said, there are some tried-and-tested methods that have helped many people achieve a flow state almost on demand. Let’s explore these four flow-state-inducing techniques:

1. Work on a Single Task

I used to be firmly in the multitasking camp. But the reality is that when your attention is stretched thin across many different tasks, you’ll end up doing all of them poorly – and that’s if you achieve anything at all.

So the first thing you should do is change up how you work. Instead of trying to work on many different tasks at once, instead focus on one thing. This is creatively known as Single Tasking, and is honestly a game changer.

If you struggle to make time to focus on only one task, you could benefit from time blocking, which you can learn more about here.

2. Make Your Work Challenging

“Inducing flow is about the balance between the level of skill and the size of the challenge at hand.”
– Jeanne Nakamura, positive psychologist and flow researcher.

We all enjoy working on something that’s firmly within our area of expertise. However, when this happens, we often have the potential to fall into autopilot. When this happens, our minds aren’t focusing on the task at hand, which can lead us to give in to distractions.

A helpful method for getting into a flow state is working on something that’s challenging. There’s an idea in psychology that if you want to progress your skills, you should be working just outside of your area of expertise. Think about it as having one foot in and one foot out of your comfort zone.

This balance between what we know and what’s new to us is exciting, and often gets us invested enough to fully engross ourselves. Even as I sit here writing this article, there are things I need to research and learn before teaching to you. There are things I knew before sitting down to write this, and things that I’m learning as I go. This makes getting into a flow state much easier.

3. Switch Your Phone Off

Distractions are the mortal enemy of getting into a flow state. The very definition of flow state includes working without distraction, so you want to limit this happening as much as possible.

So, when trying to get into a flow state with your work, I highly recommend switching your phone off, turning off email notifications, and working in a space without distractions. Some people thrive in places like busy cafes, but if you want to get into a flow, working in locations with noise or other stimuli should be avoided.

4. Create a Flow Ritual

I don’t mean that you should spend an hour meditating before getting into a flow state. Instead, you should think about all the things that help you get into a flow state, and do those before you attempt it.

For example, for me, I tend to listen to the Brain Food playlist on Spotify, as the lyric-free music helps my brain to focus. Also, I turn off all notifications, and get myself a coffee. All of this culminates in a flow ritual that looks like this:

1. Put in AirPods and start my playlist.

2. Turn off phone and email notifications.

3. Pour myself a coffee.

4. Sit down and work.

It’ll take some experimentation, but the more you try to get into a flow, the more you’ll learn what works for you and what doesn’t. Once you’ve got a good grasp of what’s most effective in getting you into a flow state, you can then build it into a ritual or routine.

This video from Big Think with Steven Kotler is very helpful if you want to know more about creating a flow ritual.

Conclusion

Getting into a flow state looks different for everyone. For some, it can be working without distraction, and others it can be listening to music. But regardless of how you get into a flow state, there’s no doubt that you’ll see big results from doing so.

And there’s a good chance that you find yourself reading this article because you want to be more productive. To help you with this, I’ve made an infographic with productivity hacks to help you get more done!

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