What Activities Make us Happy? How to Reach a Flow State

This video is part of a large public self development experiment that I'm doing on myself to improve reading retention and video presentation. Click here to learn more:- • My Self Development Ex...
Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi has spent three decades of his life trying to figure out what activities bring human the most satisfaction, enjoyment and happiness...
His conclusion?
We enjoy ourselves the most when we reach a state called Flow. Otherwise known as "Focused attention".
What is flow?
When we engage in activities such that it consumes our entire attention, every part of our consciousness is working in harmony. Our thoughts, feeling and actions are all working in alignment, and our attention is focused. This is a flow state.
In this video I talk about how we can design our lives so that we can more regularly get into a state of flow for a happier and more enjoyable existence.
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[@MatthewHernandez91]

Awesome video, literally hits the nail on the head with regards to happiness and ironically has helped me understand why I enjoy certain things as opposed to just thinking, because I like it lol 👍

[@pulkitjain9604]

Great Video About Flow Book, Subbed.

[@GrantEllman]

Awesome channel subbed

[@odyssa685]

I find it slightly difficult to say when i am in a state of flow. Is this something that you recognise right away? Or do you say 'Okay i'm going to do this and i bet I'll get on a state of flow'. It's only after an activity that i can say I was on a state of flow, especially when I allow myself to say that my output is something relatively good and useful. For example, after climbing a wall that is beyond my skill level (6b and up), I know at that moment that I am trying very hard and my full concentration is only on the next thing that I can grab (a foot hold or a hand hold). After getting back on the ground, I can say 'Wow, that was something new/different/awesome' = FLOW. I agree that happiness comes from getting a strong sense of alignment. On a daily basis, I need to remind myself to act according to my life principles which is grounded on what I think is the best and truest version of myself. Looking forward to the next video!

[@WarriorHabits]

I think you're right - when you're in a state of flow, you don't recognize it at the point that it's happening. The entire bandwidth of your concentration is consumed in the activity itself, so you don't have any "space" for the self consciousness that would be required to recognize that you're in Flow. In fact, you could argue that if you're consciously thinking about whether or not you're in flow, then you're not, by definition.

[@BartMamzer]

Very interesting video. Those 4 steps to achieve flow are pretty much a recipe for a really good video game. The best games are relying on flow state a lot. The question is - does the flow state bring you happiness in this case? I'm not sure. I played a lot of video games, and some of them can suck you in for hours. I'm not entirely sure if it's a way to be happy though. I feel like it's hard to be happy by consuming, it seems to me like creating stuff brings you a lot more happiness (through satisfaction).

[@WarriorHabits]

The work that Mihalyi did was mainly around "in the moment" enjoyment, whereas I think you're talking more about happiness in the context of living a purposeful and meaningful life. I think you're absolutely right, you can derive a lot of happiness by being a "creator", providing something of value, helping others and having some sense of direction rather than just aimlessly going through life. In fact, Mihalyi touches on this in the closing chapter where he talks about stringing flow experiences into something that gives your life direction and meaning. He mentions that life has no purpose, but that doesn't mean that you can't give it purpose. "What makes some people able to develop a coherent purpose, while others struggle through an empty or meaningless life? The strategy consists in extracting from the order achieved by past generations patterns that will help avoid disorder in one's own mind."

[@BartMamzer]

I've been wondering for a long time if vegging out is necessary. I sometimes feel very tired mentally, like I have no energy left to do anything. I feel like the only thing I can do then is rest (mentally) - turn my mind off, so pretty much exactly what vegging out does. I wonder if it's possible to completely avoid it. Probably physical exercise could a be a good way to go. Any thoughts on that?

[@WarriorHabits]

Yeah that's a good point. I don't think it's practical to avoid periods of downtime, but rather we can make sure that the bulk of our existence isn't spent in this state of psychic entropy, which can often occur for most people during periods like this. It should also be said that one person could experience a flow state from "vegging" out while the next person could be in complete psychic entropy. The skill of focusing attention seems to be what's most important, rather than the nature of the activity itself. I find it quite unrealistic that I'll go through life always focused and in alignment, but the two main points I took from this book are:- 1) I should fill my life with lots of activities, skills, sports and other things that I'm intrigued by and allow me to focus and 2) I should be more present, practice meditation and pay more attention to how I interpret the world around me to try and build up the skill of focusing my attention, even in less than ideal circumstances

[@BartMamzer]

Adding to "It should also be said that one person could experience a flow state from "vegging" out while the next person could be in complete psychic entropy." I would even say that the same person could feel differently about the same activity.