Apply FLOW at Work

	Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning

From the amazon.com review of Good Business by Coert Vissar:

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is the Hungarian-born writer of the bestseller Flow. This professor of Psychology and Education at the University of Chicago has been studying this concept of Flow for many years and has written several interesting books, among which Flow (1990) and Finding Flow (1997). Now he has written a new book: Good Business. It turns out to be just the book I hoped he would write: a book about Flow and work.

WORK CAN CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR WELL-BEING! Although many people view work primarily negatively, it can actually contribute importantly to your well-being, more so than gaining more and more possessions. And because work is so important, it is vital that managers and employees create conditions in which good work can happen. But what is good work? It is enjoying doing your best while at the same time contributing to something beyond yourself. Csikszentmihalyi explains how this can be achieved through two processes: 1) experiencing flow and 2) growth toward complexity. What precisely do these two things mean?

1. Experiencing Flow: In situations of flow, tasks demand the full involvement of the person. In these situations there is a perfect balance between the challenge of the task and the skills of the person. The so-called 'flow channel' represents optimal experience, where both challenges and skills lie above the average level. More challenge than skill leads to arousal, anxiety, or worry. More skill than challenge leads to control, relaxation, or boredom. Flow depends on eight conditions: 1) goals are clear, 2) feedback is immediate, 3) a balance between opportunity and capacity, 4) concentration deepens, 5) the present is what matters, 6) control is no problem, 7) the sense of time is altered, 8) the loss of ego.

2. Growth Toward Complexity: People flourish when in their activities there is a trajectory of growth that results in the development of increasing emotional, cognitive and social complexity. With complexity two processes happen at once: a) DIFFERENTIATION: realizing that we are unique individuals, responsible for our own survival and well being, b) INTEGRATION: the realization that however unique we are, we are also part of a larger whole. Conclusion: Regularly experiencing flow plus growing toward complexity are the ingredients of good work. But what about the 'happy' part? How can it be that pleasurable activities, products and relaxation are less important for happiness than the hard work of flow and complexity?