If golf isn't your thing, then get roped in. I will be your belay. Get ready to scale the side of that boulder. You've been practicing rock climbing indoors, and now you are ready to put your skills to the test outdoors. You chalk up and move methodically up the face of the rock. Like the golfer, your attention is completely focused on the task at hand. You don't notice anybody or anything. All you care about is reaching the top.
It is difficult to simulate exactly what it feels like to be "in the zone" because what works for each person is different. Some may experience it while programming a computer, whereas others might find it while painting. Even though the activities that get people in the zone are highly varied (e.g., sports vs. coding vs. art), there are many similarities in the experience itself. That experience is what many call Flow.
In the Zone
Why do we do what we do? Many of our daily activities are born out of duty or obligation. For example, we have to finish a presentation for our boss, or we have to buy groceries for the family. But some activities we do merely for the sake of doing them. In other words, the activity is so pleasurable that we do it for its own sake. These types of activities are the most conducive for getting into the zone, or what is also known as a flow state.
A flow state is facilitated and characterized by doing a task where:
- There is a high likelihood of success
- The environment is conducive to focus and concentration
- There is a clear set of goals
- There is immediate feedback
- The task is all encompassing (i.e., daily concerns fall to the side)
- The experience is enjoyable and done for its own sake
- There is a lack of self-awareness
- Time passes unnoticed
Some of the characteristics have to do with the sense of "self" while engaged in the activity. The concept of self is a little slippery, but we will define it as "thinking about yourself" — a meta-reflection of sorts. When engaged in flow, you stop thinking about yourself and any of the other thoughts and concerns that you have. Flow is probably enjoyable because you are focused on something other than your problems.
It's also the case that you don't notice (or miss) the passage of time when you are in a state of flow. You start the activity, get in the zone, and then are shocked when you look at the clock and notice that a few hours felt like a couple of minutes. In addition to the passage of time, the surrounding environment, including things and people, fade into the background and aren't noticed. If external stimuli (e.g., time, self, others) aren't part of the task, then they fall outside the realm of attention and awareness.
Finally, the other flow characteristics have to do with the task and the person. The goals are easily defined, as is the feedback. While rock climbing, you know if you've made a mistake (or are about to). The environment itself is set up so that you can completely focus.
How do I get into flow?
Because flow is a pleasurable experience, many of us spend at least some of our free time trying to get into the zone. But how can we maximize our chances of achieving flow? The answer to that question is best expressed in Csikszentmihalyi's (pronounced: CHEEK- sent-mÉ™-HY-ee) book, Flow [1]. In it, he includes this helpful illustration:
The highest probability of finding flow is when there is a tight coupling between a person's skill (represented on the x-axis) and the difficulty or challenge of the task (represented on the y-axis). If the person has a high amount of skill, but engaged in a task that is not at all challenging, then she will be bored. Conversely, if the person has a low amount of skill, but takes on a task that is too challenging, then that person will experience anxiety and frustration. The balance between a person's skill level and the difficulty of the task creates a flow channel. The flow channel is dynamic in the sense that it changes as a person becomes more proficient.
The STEM Connection
Although rare, some of the best educational experiences happen when a student is able to experience flow while learning. How, then, can we apply the eight characteristics of flow to the classroom? First, we need to engineer a setting where the student is not distracted by irrelevant stimuli (that's hard to do, I know). We should also design a set of educational activities where there is a high likelihood of success based on the student's level of skill. Perhaps we could allow the student to select the level of difficulty for herself. In so doing, the student is given a chance to test the calibration of her metacognitive skills.
In addition, the educational activity should have a clear goal with immediate feedback. Computer tutors are a natural fit because many are designed with the principle of providing immediate feedback [2]. Finally, the flow channel indicates that a student's proficiency at a particular task is going to: a.) be initially different, and b.) change over time. An added challenge to educators is to create learning experiences that accommodate a diverse and dynamically changing student population. Again, a computerized tutoring system is an ideal candidate if it can estimate a given student's level of expertise and tailor the training accordingly [3].
It's my hope that every sphere of life —work, home, or school — presents opportunities for us to get in the zone (and stay there as long as possible).
Share and Enjoy!
Dr. Bob
For More Information
[1] Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. New York: HarperCollins Publishers.[2] Corbett, A. T., & Anderson, J. R. (2001, March). Locus of feedback control in computer-based tutoring: Impact on learning rate, achievement and attitudes. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems (pp. 245-252). ACM.
[3] Vanlehn, K. (2006). The behavior of tutoring systems. International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education, 16(3), 227-265.
