I love coffee shops! That is where I do my best thinking… specifically, Black Dog coffeehouse in Lenexa. A bit off of my normal, beaten path, it’s just the perfect hideaway to get the “juices” flowing.
My second choice would be a good walk through trails or any place with an abundance of nature – the trees and creek types are my favorite.
There has been much written and researched on the concepts of “creative thinking” and just how we humans enter a state of “flow.” A place in our minds where we can really feel the ideas rolling.
Susan K. Perry, PhD and Social psychologist, speaks about the “busy mind: fragmented, unfocused, distracted, too many things on your mind.” Sound familiar? The opposite of which is “THE” FLOW that I am characterizing. According to Perry, “FLOW: loose, relaxed and focused.” My guess is that many of us need to be able to get into this “FLOW” state more often in order to bring our best work.
Experts say that we can indeed achieve this state by facilitating certain conditions that optimize our thinking, offer a quality of awareness and creative expression. Here are 5 ideas that may help you achieve “FLOW” and produce your best work. (RE: Myrko Thum)
- Direct your Focus ACTIVELY – Direct it to what you want to achieve… Take the focus OFF of the not so good. (This includes environmentally setting yourself up to succeed, minimizing interruptions)
- Choose your most important task – Concentrate fully on the one thing that is most important at the moment
- Focus all of your attention with intensity as your task. (Again, no interruptions, cell phone out of the way, etc.)
- Do it for a set amount of time – 30+ minutes. Flow cannot happen in an instant.
- Stay with the task until it is finished. This will help you to feel accomplished and desire to get back into the “FLOW” or “ZONE” for the next task at hand.
The bottom line is that training your mind to develop a sharp metal focus is a key skill for success and self improvement and peak performance.
Go all in and OPTIMIZE THIS WEEK!