Flowing

In the midst of the madness of alumni weekend, I had an interesting conversation with my friend Diego about the harsh realities of graduating college and getting a "real job". Diego, my best friend's boyfriend, moved to California from Costa Rica and graduated college with a degree in mechanical engineering. Luckier than most, after graduation he was offered a full-time, paid internship. "Working 60 hours a week really put into perspective the kind of job I don't want to have", Diego explained. "I wake up, drive to work, work all day, drive home, go to sleep, and the cycle continues. Although the job is fine, and I enjoy some parts of it, I'm missing the old aspects of my life that made me truly happy."

Diego was experiencing a bittersweet feeling, as he had just discovered that the company he was interning at decided not to hire him. In a way he was bummed out, but I could see his face light up at the thought of being free for a couple months. "I saved up some money to get me by for awhile. All I want to do is surf all day, every day", he said smiling. As I sat there next to him, he suddenly went off on a tangent about his obsession with surfing. Growing up in Costa Rica, surfing was always a part of Diego's life. Most of my guy friends surf, but Diego is on a whole different level. When the waves are bad, most surfer's couldn't be bothered by paddling out because it's more annoying than fun. For Diego, he'd surf rain or shine, small waves or big waves, windy or calm, any day, any time... if he could. He explained to me how even when the waves are s**t, he gets the greatest satisfaction from being in the water. "I don't care if it's so small that no one else wants to go out, or if it's so huge that it's scary. I make the most of it, and I get the greatest satisfaction from doing well when it's challenging." I immediately thought of flow theory from class and could tell his obsessive love and passion for surfing was a result of achieving that state of flow.

Flow theory began by Hungarian psychology research Csikszentmihalyi as an explanation of human's experiencing a feeling of perfect balance and happiness while doing an activity. When the human mind enters a state of flow, they are doing an activity in which it's level of challenge is a perfect match for the individual's skills. The person "in flow" gains intense control and focus of the activity they're doing and loses a sense of time and reality around them. They become mentally locked into the activity, focused only on the current actions and proximal goals of the what they are doing, and losing any feeling of self-consiousness. While amongst the activity they become consumed with a feeling of content happiness, as they feel they are successfully taking control and capable of achieving their goal.

For Diego, entering this state of flow is what makes his life worthwhile. What's funny is that his girlfriend Jessica complains about how the second he has free time he goes straight to the beach, and stays in the water for 4 to 5 hours. "How does he not get bored or tired out there!?" She'll complain to me. Well, according to flow theory he's in the zone and a normal conception of time just doesn't exist. You may have a boyfriend or girlfriend who is the same way. How can he play video games for 6 hours straight??? How can she go on a 10 mile run??? We wonder how people can become consumed by an activity that to us sounds annoying or boring. Everyone has different interests, different skill levels and different perceptions of what's challenging. Because of this, entering a state of flow depends on the person and the activity.  From surfing, to playing a video game, to being on the soccer field, or even writing a paper, once your brain's attentional and reward neural networks become synchronized during a challenging task, we enter this amazing state of flow.

Westcott-Baker, A. Lecture: Synchronization Theory of Flow. 4/27/11.