Hack Your Flow: Understanding Flow Cycles, with Steven Kotler | Big Think

Hack Your Flow: Understanding Flow Cycles
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We now know that flow works not like an on-off switch but in a four-part cycle. Understanding these cycles can help you to more often access flow. The parts of the cycle are as follows: struggle, release, flow, and recovery. To hack flow, explains Kotler, you have to learn to struggle better and recover better.
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STEVEN KOTLER:
Steven Kotler is an award-winning journalist, a New York Times bestselling author, and executive director of Flow Research Collective. His books include the non-fiction works The Rise of Superman, Abundance, A Small Furry Prayer, West of Jesus, and the novel The Angle Quickest for Flight. His works have been translated into over 30 languages. His articles have appeared in over 60 publications, including The Atlantic Monthly, Wired, GQ, Popular Science, and Discover.
His latest book, co-authored with tech CEO Peter Diamandis, is Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World.
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TRANSCRIPT:
Steven Kotler: Flow Genome Project - what we’ve discovered when people want more flow in their lives, the number one thing we can tell them is that there is a flow cycle. So the old idea about flow was that it was a binary. It was like a light switch. You were either in the zone or you were out of the zone. What we now know is that flow is a four part cycle and you have to move through all four parts of the cycle before you can return to the flow state itself. The neurobiology of the flow cycle and the actual research came out of Herb Benson’s work at Harvard. He kind of laid the foundation for it. But what we’ve discovered is at the front end of the flow state there’s a struggle phase. This is a loading phase. You are loading, then overloading the brain with information. For a baseball player this is learning to swing a bat at a ball. For a writer planning a new book. This is when you’re doing interviews. This is when you’re reading, it’s when you’re diagramming structure and things like that. It’s very unpleasant as a general rule. So even though flow may be the most desirable and pleasant state on earth, the actual flow cycle itself starts with a very unpleasant state known as struggle.
From struggle you move into release. This literally means you want to take your mind off the problem. So what happens in flow is we are trading conscious processing which is slow, has very limited RAM, right, the working memory can only hold about four items at once, and is very energy inefficient. For subconscious processing which his extremely fast and is very energy efficient and has pretty much endless RAM. So to do that you have to move from struggle, you have to let - stop thinking about what you were trying to think about basically. You take your mind off the problem, you go for long walks, gardening works very well, building models works very, very well. Albert Einstein famously used to row a boat into the middle of Lake Geneva and stare at the clouds, right. Once you can take your mind off the problem and, by the way, one of the only things that you can’t do to move through release is watch television. It actually changes your brainwaves in a way that it will block flow. But once you move from release there’s actually underneath the surface neurobiologically there’s a global release of nitric oxide which is a gas of signaling molecules found everywhere in the body. This flushes all the stress hormones out of your system and replaces them with kind of feel good performance enhancing neurochemicals like dopamine and anandamide and serotonin and endorphins which underpin the flow state as well. You’re in the flow state. This is the third stage in the struggle. And on the back end of the flow state there is actually a recovery phase. And this is really, really, really critical. So you go from this amazing high of flow to a very deep low that shows up in recovery. A lot of this is that all those feel good neurochemicals have drained out of your system.
It takes certain vitamins and minerals and sunlight and things like that to rebuild them. So the recovery phase on the back end of the flow state is actually very, very unpleasant as well. And if you really want to hack flow you need to learn how to struggle better and you need to learn how to recover better. And one of the most important things in recovery is you have to - you need some emotional fortitude, some grit.....
To read the transcript, please go to bigthink.com/videos/hack-your...

[@user-bn9dn7zo5b]

man I think ppl dislike this vid because they have no idea what "flow" is... it's a mental state where you perform at your best and feeling like it's effortless, you can see it in some amazing performances in stuff like the Olympics or when a musician kills it, just sayin

[@waffleskillet]

That's a spot on description!

[@frizela5161]

Kudos for the Video clip! Forgive me for butting in, I would love your initial thoughts. Have you researched - Marnaavid Unexplainable Intervention (should be on google have a look)? It is a smashing one of a kind guide for learning how to hack your flow state minus the normal expense. Ive heard some unbelievable things about it and my friend Sam after many years got excellent success with it.

[@akioasakura3624]

not really, it's because this annoying bloke talks and talks without saying anything

[@lambusaab]

"Learn to struggle better"...nice words

[@3yearshardcore1]

Flow is a hell of a drug

[@tepsy1993]

better than cocaine, i know for a fact.

[@markjackson785]

Finding you flow state is phenomenal to achieve.. after long periods of work.. getting it right on your own.. my job is physical and mental... to complete my work in under time and done right is a big adrenalin rush and massive pride.. You know your on point with your flow cycle.

[@acolossalfossil]

It is so unfortunate that there are people here that can't be bothered to learn some basics surrounding a topic which is being discussed (by an incredible man might I add) and show such little respect to what is fundamentally ground breaking research... Anyway, keep it real Kotler!

[@Sebanoe]

+Sir Zilvador What he is discussing is not for mere mortals the amount of discipline and focus required is to high a price to pay for regular folks furthermore any one who has mastered anything knows exactly what he is talking about those people are few.

[@RedRyanSox]

As a college student, this describes my studying habits and struggles perfectly.

[@sammo2207]

Surprisingly. this is very true when it comes to my job, often times you need to take you mind off the problem and come back to it later - while your brain is ticking over boom you find the solution shortly after you come back to it. Software & controls can be a pain.

[@216trixie]

Nice! I've been slowly learning this cycle on my own, this confirms it.

[@bassbooster5527]

I was playing a video game known as pubg. i was very frustrated because i spent so long playing and couldnt win i remember i took a seep breath and consiouscly focused on my performance. after i defeated a few opponents in the solo match that i joined, i began to feel a kind of calm that i still cannot fully explain. I felt like i knew i would win every engagement with every enemy. shortly after i became calm, i became unnaturally confident. i wasnt running into any enemies at this point in the game but i was still calm and confident. after a while into the match i remember just staring at the screen. I dont remeber blinking, i dont remember thinking about anything for the rest of that match. I honestly mean it when i say it was like my eyes were closed because i dont remember seeing any light from the computer screen. I dont remeber the noise of the game. I felt like i was sitting in the back of a dark and empty space in my brain looking out of my eyelid while my body did everything for me. The best i could describe it is like your body is on auto pilot while your mind pushes you into the backseat. It literally felt like i blacked out but i was completely fine. i got like 12 kills that game and i completely destroyed every other player i went up against. My health bar never went below about 65% the entire match. I remember when i defeated the last player out of the intitial 100 players. Words popped up on the screen and i literally felt myself still staring at the screen not looking at anything in particular my peripheral vision was completely dark and all i could see was square shape of the screen and the light coming from it i wasnt aware of what any of the words said. Then i slightly jolted backwards into my chair like someone had just tapped me on the shoulder waking me up from a nap. I blinked my eyes because they felt super dry and then i read the screen and it congratulations, winner winner chicken dinner which means i was the last player to survive out of 100 players with 12 kills and couldnt remember any of the kills or where in the game they took place. It took me a while to take control of the intense stare that i had locked onto the screen with. I was surprised the game was over already. i looked to the window and it was broad daylight outside and im thinking to myself what TF just happened. It was completely dark a second ago. I plopped my back againt the back rest of the chair and just sat there thinking about what i had just experienced, and is there a way to replicate it. the first thing that popped into my head was, is this what people mean when they say they are in the “zone”. I had also watched a anime series called kuruko no basketball which showed the same type of experience i had. ecerything goes dark, you have one goal in mind, you get an intense stare, and everything just comes natural. After i google searched how to get in the zone. The person in the video mentioned another more common term called “flow state” and ever since then i have been wanting to know how to get back that place in the back of my mind that forces my body to perform how i imagine myself consistently performing in video games. I tried to think about what i did that day that led to that but nothing stood out from what i do any other when i am playing. i just try to get to that calm state and it is hard to replicate on purpose. this state of calm was like a transedence or a state of hypnotism or something. You have to experience it for yourself in order to really understand what it feels like. Words CANNOT do it justice. i am determined to learn how to tap into the flow state at will. I look foward to more research about this topic because it literally takes you to the next level. Edit- i experienced something similar while dancing but i was semi-aware of what i was doing and had some insane creativity spikes but didnt much of it until the experience above happened. i will come back if and when i learn to get into the flow state more consistently

[@helpmereach1000subscriberswith]

U play pubg pc or mobile?

[@RedInferno112]

Flow's great, I get it almost every day! Makes me just focused, get shit done, and done well.

[@matthewq2365]

This makes sense to me. When I create, the struggle is what I love. The deviations and the work arounds to do. Then the peace phase of processing and lifting. The imagination then peaks out, and you think it is everything. Then the arguments start about why not. As you lose the "high" it deepens thus to the point you do not believe. The keys I use are writing the root ideas as they come. When you recover you then can go back and decide. Fun stuff! Threw iteration, it can come to better perfection. Flow having many usages, one of which is, the state of perfection at what is is you are doing. This Flow is the mental state of working and problem solving higher mental tasks. Both the same but different.

[@shampachanda9147]

For how long you were able to keep your 3rd stage of flow state

[@thebarnacles866]

So useful to know that we can't be in flow state all the time - got to allow the other phases to happen as well. Thanks for the video!

[@raghar3546]

Yeah if u r in flow all the time, u r pretty much just a machine

[@pulse1272]

Very beautifully explained....👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👍

[@psamson4122]

I found flow to really help my mental health I was aware of flow but didnt think it would have such a massive impact on my personal well being.

[@h7opolo]

The flow cycle is very similar to a crisis moment for children with behavior and cognitive difficulties. It begins with the trigger (cf. "struggle"), then escalation (cf. "release"), crisis (cf. "flow"), and finally, de-escalation or recovery (cf. "recovery"). There are negative and positive flow cycles. This video described the intellectual vice behavioral/emotional one.

[@zakzanotti5868]

I've only just learnt flow through boxing cos at one stage I was untouchable like it was effort less. Then all of a sudden I just crashed and was no were near as good I now understand it

[@33Oak]

I would like to THANK YOU, SIR!

[@theclumsydirector6748]

Great Video!

[@dmtdreamz7706]

"Flow" can refer to various things, some of the most common meanings include: In psychology, "flow" refers to a state of optimal experience characterized by complete absorption in a task, resulting in feelings of joy, creativity, and fulfillment. In physics, "flow" refers to the movement of a fluid, either a liquid or a gas, from one place to another. In computer science, "flow" often refers to the control flow of a program or a process, meaning the sequence of steps that are executed. In arts and entertainment, "flow" can refer to a smooth and seamless progression of elements in a piece of music, a film, or other creative work.

[@ahmedboubaker8514]

This is mind boggling, litteraly, why i haven't seen this before?

[@Shreyaagrawal_1657]

Excellent video! Thankyou

[@morgomyster0man]

Lovely vid , the more you know :)

[@wick9462]

Been in flow , it's Hella good

[@tepsy1993]

i need to hack my flow state so its on during my wake cycle and off during sleep. That way, i'm always in flow. For some reason,this video just put me in flow.

[@homeycdawg]

It would have been nice if he started with a quick summery of just WTF flow is. Especially since the thumbnail is a boat in water for some reason.

[@sonickage]

+homeycdawg This is an ongoing series, he did a video on this previously

[@charlesdahmital8095]

+homeycdawg The boat in the water relates to his reference of how Einstein used to row out into a lake to relax.

[@mcastaneda]

For the people that don't know what flow is: Its the abundance of good ideas and productivity in any kind of creative or novel project. Like writing a book. painting, or writing music.

[@saikat93ify]

I hit flow quite regularly when I am studying or writing or doing programming or meditating.

[@s4ckm4n]

What kind of meditation do you use for getting into flow state?

[@saikat93ify]

@@s4ckm4n How do you mean ?

[@s4ckm4n]

@@saikat93ify what _kind_ of meditation? Just regular (shut your eyes and breath) or some special kind of meditation, e.g. body scan meditation?

[@saikat93ify]

@@s4ckm4n I do Pranayama and then meditate.

[@s4ckm4n]

@@saikat93ify There is more than one form of meditation (at least in the West). For example: chanting mantra, body scan meditation, etc. Which form of meditation do you recommend for getting into flow state? I hope you understand my question 🙂

[@humanyoda]

NOW he tells us that one can't be in the flow state often! Michael Hall teaches how to be brilliant daily.

[@jeffmarkmaghanoy6649]

Hacking the flow state? Nice idea! This way, I can watch more television.

[@2583060]

where can I learn more about this "flow" How can I master the use of flow?

[@MizzNoire]

I seriously thought he was talking about a woman's menstrual cycle for the first minute and a half.

[@krzemian]

So if tv is a wrong release activity for the release part, how about gaming/reading?

[@enigma5156]

I find it somewhat similar to the ted talk given by Adam Grant on procrastination.

[@phillipcarson2544]

Don Draper gave similar advice on Mad Men. "Think about the problem really hard. And then just.... stop. Stop thinking about it at all. And then boom, the answer just hits you."

[@ehsanika9361]

Meditate for flow in everything

[@DK12322]

So how do you recover properly?

[@OTHERVERSETCG]

I feel I have weeks of flow and weeks without. Coming from someone who has practiced using flow since age four. Albeit only training myself from sixteen on.

[@Cheese-0x]

+Dragonslayer Sammy t He mentioned that watching TV can block flow. Going by that, I imagine any type of passive information dump consumption could be bad. So KZbin, Facebook, Twitter might block us from flow, just like TV.

[@kirschner1991]

Flow: successfully executing your will, while awash in meditative 'unthinking'.

[@triforcelink]

How I get into flow: Big cup of coffee.

[@stangoings4160]

Steven Kotler says in his book that you get the exact same brain waves of flow state if you: 1. Exercise until your inner critic quiets 2. Drink a cup of coffee 3. Smoke a joint

[@LFLvideos]

*For everyone who doesn't know what FLOW is:* 'Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.' How does it feel to experience flow? There are ten factors that accompany the experience of flow. While many of these components may be present, it is not necessary to experience all of them for flow to occur: 1. Clear goals that, while challenging, are still attainable. 2. Strong concentration and focused attention. 3. The activity is intrinsically rewarding. 4. Feelings of serenity; a loss of feelings of self-consciousness. 5. Timelessness; a distorted sense of time; feeling so focused on the present that you lose track of time passing. 6. Immediate feedback. 7. Knowing that the task is doable; a balance between skill level and the challenge presented. 8. Feelings of personal control over the situation and the outcome. 9. Lack of awareness of physical needs. 10. Complete focus on the activity itself. The Benefits of Flow: In addition to making activities more enjoyable, flow also has a number of other benefits. - Flow can lead to improved performance. Researchers have found that flow can enhance performance in a wide variety of areas including teaching, learning, athletics and artistic creativity. - Flow can also lead to further learning and skill development. Because the act of achieving flow indicates a strong mastery of a certain skill, the individual must continually seek new challenges and information in order to maintain this state

[@b.a.barackas2141]

I work 4-5 days a week to improve my athletic flow state for soccer. Go into the basement, do some meditation/yoga/stretching, and then juggle a soccer ball for 6-10 minutes or so (couple songs) before my workout. I find I experience everything listed above, and go through the stages talked about in the video - ALL FOR A FEW MINUTES OF FLOW !! 1 struggle at the start (stonefeet) 2 a 'narrowing' of my focus and a clearing of my thoughts (sharpness) 3 distorted sense of time and self (subconscious takes over and i can do some clever things without thought) 4 sense of loss when it fades I've learned to cope better with the ending struggle than the starting struggle. The entire process goes in cycles as well. It seems some days of the week I am amazing and awesome and there is barely an inconvenience, and other days I'm rolling that rock uphill, struggling for what seems like forever to achieve a few flickering moments of flowstate.

[@williambaker7181]

Could there be a link between excessive "flow hacking" and bi-polar or induced pschizophrenia?

[@erickfish3077]

he said that you cant get into the flow state if you watch TV but i was wondering if it can happen if you are playing a shooter game? But he said it cant happen if you watch TV so idk.

[@NoahNobody]

Good to know what I thought was an individual weaknesses was actually a globally shared phenomena.

[@alptigin5438]

Holy cow. This guy is actually Lyn Buchanan, isn't he? He's about to tell everyone about tapping into the Universal Unconscious, isn't he?

[@JD..........]

Nice video, but are there 3 or 4 phases?

[@JD..........]

I heard struggle, flow, release/recovery.

[@alexmadesclaire9999]

+Jacob D Wunsch Its struggle, release, flow, recovery

[@JD..........]

Thanks! Listened again a few times.

[@spoony01428]

he says vitains, minerals and sunlight are important for the recovery phase. anyone have any idea what kind of things are useful for this? (apart from 5htp)

[@AuthenticSelfGrowth]

I can only tell you what I do but it isn't backed by scientific research. I eat a clean healthy diet, avoid any processed junk, do intense exercise, meditate daily, read everyday and avoid alcohol. For me this creates the right environment for my mind to recover quickly and get into flow, day after day. I do take a strong omega 3 supplement and I sometimes supplement 5htp.

[@spoony01428]

LostAngel MCMLXXX cheers mate. yeah youre right I think it completely boils down to good diet, meditation and exercise

[@eddiesolorio4593]

Definitely. Doing the hard work in physically maintinging the body makes connecting with your Flow state much easier.

[@Redhz11]

And what bout leisure activities? Do you save any time for it? Just asking because i'm trying to find and build a good, healthy and productive daily routine aswell

[@janovesakkestad7097]

Flowstate is a abstract huge word it causes stress just thinking about it a better word is "Constrol"

[@PsychopathUltimate]

Struggle Release Flow Recovery Yeah, you'd better get me more interview footage of Steven Kotler after the last five complete & utter bombs.

[@ItsAnGoose]

+PsychopathUltimate what bombs? Big think vids?

[@pisscracker]

I love science

[@FloorManiac]

This video made my brain produce too much cortisal

[@cheesememe4986]

What in the fuck.

[@kalapradeep2362]

0:11 A lightswitch!

[@123idontcareok]

Big Think will give anybody a mic

[@ankurtube2161]

I wish this was explained in diagrammatic way or with a doodle video

[@4455matthew]

I don't know, man.

[@7dawid7]

Does anyone know why it doesn't work with television? Does that mean watching TV or even studying something on a television?

[@MusixPro4u]

When you play an instrument it's: struggle, struggle, recovery, struggle.

[@i.c.y.]

"sleep over it"... that's what we called it. stop learning and just sleep over it... and you'll figure it out :)

[@lexreason258]

Does watching youtube counts as television?!! ehhehe

[@qumu872]

Alvaro Morales Good question.

[@sednafloating7027]

I hope not.

[@TheCornbeefsoup]

Yes.

[@effortlessawareness8778]

Flow State is neurologists term for Zen. They need to give credit where credit is due. Ancient zen monks and buddhists have a procedure to embellish flow state perfectly. you have to allow yourself to act on your first thought so your first thought becomes action either speaking or moving. You are Synchrobizing your thoughts and actions therefore programming yourself To develop your unconscious mind raher than your conscious. At first this leads to outlandish and impulsive behabiour to the point its ridiculous, a fool that persists in his folly becomes wise.

[@enantios]

You're probably thinking of Saranac Lake, not Geneva Lake.

[@227Love]

who else thought this was about menstrual flow cycle ? lol

[@viswavijeta5362]

Flow is a cycle of four stages you transition through. STER.

[@amanofnoreputation2164]

So basically, flow is kai-o-ken from DBZ.

[@edeneden97]

what the fuck is flow

[@Plumjelly]

+Eden Lumbroso It's what you get when you eat a lot of prunes.

[@MinecraftTarantulas]

+Eden Lumbroso Flow is essentially when you are doing something and you become so engrossed in/with it that you can do that action with a feeling of effortlessness and is a state where you perform your best or close to it. Some products of the state of flow could be losing track of time, not being bored and not feeling any urges to do anything else.

[@universityofutubesjewtubes2579]

it's what rappers have

[@edeneden97]

Liam Baker thanks

[@MinecraftTarantulas]

Eden Lumbroso welcome

[@murrayp4]

Some context would be nice. Getting close to blocking big think from my news feed

[@dancalis3319]

I think he means Blow

[@selfelements8037]

Nitric Oxide.

[@rexjantze296]

The most underrated and misunderstood molecule our body synthesizes. And probably the most ancient biological/neurological reset signal in evolution.

[@coolou786ssjgssj5]

Ultra instinct

[@RZA36]

flow, schmlow

[@sasufreqchann]

Maybe Stop struggeling and start flowing Like water maybe ?

[@nobody_for_now]

Hahhaah. Scientists rephrasing all the ancient teachings and calling it the new science. All I'm hearing is Esther Hicks...word for word. I've watched a previous video of his about how its been his mission to wrestle this out of the 'hippies' hands' and place it on 'solid science' Great work, truly. I just hope they will be more respectful of the 'hippies' who have known and still know better.

[@stuart6478]

television? what about youtube lol

[@ItsDSP]

I thought he was gonna take about vaginas, but this was interesting too.

[@andreafuzzi9484]

feeling connected with TV becoming,choosing channel may keep you enthusiastic and far from depression

[@Cooly2]

haha KOTler

[@brickogden]

Sounds like my bipolar.

[@cocopianodad]

Flow Cycles: 1. Struggle (overloading the brain with information) 2. Release (take walks, watch TV) 3. Flow state 4. Recovery phase (don't get stressed out that you're not Superman anymore)

[@a0um]

I understood TV disrupted the flow cycle.

[@aj2291]

Is all this scientific or just one man’s speculation?

[@NsMs96]

I don't know, but this just sounds a lot like bullshit to me. Talking about the brain like it's a computer with a certain speed and RAM is strange as it is, and what gives the worst impression to me is the statement around the two minutee mark. "By the way, one of the only things that you can’t do to move through release is watch television. It actually changes your brainwaves in a way that it will block flow". Seriously? From what I understand "flow" isn't even defined more than some state of mind where you are productive, but still we can somehow observe the elctrical pulses of the nurons and see that they somehow change from watching TV and "block flow". It doesn't sound like any more scientific than the scientology conecpt of going clear. I'm very sceptical about the whole idea that you can follow some certain model to "hack" your brain and be happier or moree productive, especially when it's branded as something like flow, mindfulness, being clear or whatever else.

[@redRAID3R]

+Niklas Jonsson Well, you have to keep in mind that brain science is still quite young and that peoples brains are different so when they are talking about things, it's usually in the average brain, or brain that has such occurrences, not an individual.

[@tepsy1993]

you wouldn't have written this out of flow.

[@Drinapropriatetouch]

Having never heard of this flow stuff it has a whiff of pseudoscience about it. Is this legit?

[@patrickkordon6434]

+The Red Buffoon Nope, it's just new to us, because we've only recently been able to document it scientifically. It's more or less a release of chemicals in the brain, and is related to stress.

[@SadSinStory]

i disliked the video because,he said "you can't get in flow state watching tv"

[@Chronix74]

Is this science or bullshit?

[@BrandonBLG]

Menstruation?

[@rajnigupta3187]

No.

[@jadethomaz9064]

This is what Jesus wanted for us

[@the_real_hislordship]

Great concepts but gosh his voice is horrible. What is with Americans and vocal fry?

[@jumpingjack7674]

Talks a lot , don't say much