Your primary flow activity can train focus for work

Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

1. 6:20

   back up. So there is what, it's known as the primary flow activity. This is whatever you've done since you were a little kid that you just lose yourself in. You're just totally freaking immersed in. And it's in a certain level, which triggers you're most susceptible to a little bit it at is probably genetic, a little bit more is early childhood environment. So for me, it's skiing, right? That's my primary flow activity, meaning like 90% of the time I go skiing, I'm going to get into a flow state. Or it's group flow, the shared collective version of a flow state. Interpersonal flow is two people who get in a great conversation and an hour goes by and didn't notice. It's interpersonal flow. I told you earlier that I work with the same editor and have for 25 years. And group flow is really like, we're really good at this. We're working together for

2. 7:06

   25 years, we know exactly sort of how to work with each other. And so invariably, a couple times a week, I'm getting into group flow doing that. My wife, it's walking her dogs in the back country. My best friend is playing the guitar. Everybody's got their thing. And usually what happens as we become adults is what do you do? Oh, you have responsibility. You got a family, got a job, put down childish things and you stop. Your primary flow activity goes away. And it's literally the single worst thing you could do for the following three reasons.

3. 7:35

   First is that this should be obvious, but flow is a focusing skill. Meditation is a focusing skill. They're different. They're different kinds of focusing. You're doing different things in the brain, related, but different. But just like mindfulness is trainable, flow is trainable. It's a focusing skill. So if I go skiing on Sunday and I'm in flow and I go to work on Tuesday, I'm going to have an easier time getting into flow on Tuesday is the first thing to know there.

4. 7:58

   The second thing is, for reasons that we can get into as we go along, anxiety will block flow in most of us, right? A little bit is good. A little bit sort of primes the brain for focus and attention and alertness and learning. Too much will block flow. And primary flow activity resets your nervous system, so it'll calm you down. So primary flow activity on Sunday, go to work on Tuesday and counter like a work problem and your threshold, your anxiety is a little bit lower.

5. 8:31

   If you're burned out, if you're dealing with burnout, my lab did some work on this, but Karina Pfeiffer's lab really is the one that proved this. But flow overrides burnout. It'll overwrite PTSD, burnout. We do work now. We're doing a lot of work. Work with veterans on PTSD, addiction, depression, because flow is neuroprotective against those things and can sort of pave over some of them. But if you're really burnt out, doubling down your primary flow activity is sort of the only way back.

6. 9:02

   But what's cool is the research shows that like two to four hours a week is about what it takes on your primary flow activity. the first place to start if you're training flow is actually the thing that you've done your whole life that you've probably stopped doing. And I will set you back there first. Because if you get into flow in one thing, it's easier. It's easier in another thing. And the easiest thing to get into flow in is your primary. Yeah, it's your primary flow activity because it's what you're like, you're naturally inclined to do that. The most common flow state on earth, by the way, reading. Oh, reading is the most common flow state on earth. What are some common flow triggers?