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Finding Your Flow State

Why you can fully actualize your potential in art, music, sports, writing by finding your flow state.

By Ben WPublished 5 years ago 5 min read
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What’s one thing that all professional athletes, musicians, artists, writers, and anyone devoted to their craft have in common? They have all achieved a ‘flow state’, which is difficult to relate to unless you are fully immersed in terms of what you are pursuing, and you truly enjoy what you are doing. The flow state is elusive for most people, because they either haven’t found their passion in life, or haven’t put the time in yet to get better through consistent practice or play. The flow state is a higher state of being, because for a point in time, your concentration is matched with your intensity, producing a beautiful result.

When you can put other thoughts or other concerns out of your mind to focus on your craft, regardless of what it is, you are utilizing your full potential and will be able to achieve a better result for yourself. To outside observers, the flow state looks nearly impossible to accomplish, but when you are devoted to art, to music, to sports, or to writing, the final result is nearly guaranteed, because you have put blood, sweat, and tears in to produce something meaningful.

To me, the flow state is the most optimal state of mind that you can be in, because it requires you to be at your best, and to perform at the highest level. It requires being in a state of movement, and using your body in some way to produce an action. You are putting your energy, your concentration, and your focus into a singular goal, and it’s inspiring to those people who get to benefit in some way from what you were able to produce. It’s better to be a doer than to be an observer, but it can inspire others to find their flow state when you see them in theirs, and to do it extremely well.

For example, I was at a popular Jazz club in Mexico City recently, and the headliner was a talented Danish guitarist along with a group of local musicians backing him up on the saxophone, the drums, and the Jazz bass. Every one of them was talented at what they do, and they were in sync, generating a group kind of ‘flow state’ that is even more powerful. The thing with a good Jazz group is that you start to yourself get into the ‘flow’ of enjoying the music, and moving your body to the rhythm as well.

As someone who played trumpet for 11 years straight, and enjoyed the feeling of togetherness and comradery that playing in a Jazz Ensemble can bring, it is impressive to see a group working well together, and nailing their parts to achieve their flow state together. To play a musical instrument proficiently on your own is tough enough, but to work together with different musicians to produce a catchy tune without making any mistakes is as near to a modern-day miracle as you can get.

Musicians thrive off the energy and the drive of others, as well as professional athletes and even politicians. It is much harder to achieve a flow state on your own in the solitude of one’s house, especially if your craft requires some sort of public attention. Writers and artists tend to be more introverted on average, and don’t need the attention of others to achieve an individual flow state. However, there’s something to be said for achieving a group flow state when you’re cheering on a ruthless dunk from a professional basketball player, or listening intently in an arena to a Presidential candidate’s stump speech.

People want to believe in the achievements of others, and I know that we prefer to lift each other up, rather than to tear each other down. While it’s beneficial to take part in watching other people reach and show off their flow state, you should be trying to find yours every day. You will get much more satisfaction out of life when you are in that mode where you are merging with your craft, whether that’s art, music, writing, sports, etc. While it’s fun to cheer others on, and take part in their joy, you should always be trying to create a little bit of your own.

Intense concentration and effort is not easy to achieve, but it is extremely rewarding to put your worries and anxieties aside to focus on a singular goal that you want to achieve. It may take hours, days, weeks, months, and even years to get to where you want to be, but there is joy to be found in putting away all distractions, and devoting yourself to a craft that you enjoy and are able to put serious time into. Our individual potential will not be able to be achieved unless we are able to reach a flow state relating to a kind of creative or intuitive pursuit.

Do your best to try different activities out, and see what you like. If you find an activity or an interest you enjoy, continue to add more time to it, and you should start to see results. Don’t start to look for monetary rewards or personal fame to keep you going with this pursuit, but you should be doing it for yourself primarily, and for your desire to reach that state of flow where you can fully immerse yourself in the activity, whatever it may be.

You should find happiness and joy in what you do, and become the best that you can be at it. If you can enjoy the activity, you’ll eventually find your ‘flow’ with it and be able to do it effortlessly. While you will have a lot of frustration and stress while practicing and doing the activity, if you like it and find it worthwhile, you won’t mind the downsides when the upsides can produce such an intense ‘flow’ where you are in the zone, and are able to produce a beautiful result that others will appreciate. Being able to inspire others to reach their own ‘flow state’ creates its own ripple effect, allowing our society to become more creative, intuitive, and productive as a result.

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About the Creator

Ben W

Ben helps students from around the world to improve their English language skills. Ben enjoys traveling around the world, developing his writing abilities, and reading good books.

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