The Pursuit of Flow
It’s common for high performing leaders to chase the high of flow state, those golden hours of deep focus and effortless execution. That optimal state of consciousness where we feel our best when we perform at our best.
Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes flow as a state where you’re so absorbed in what you’re doing that everything else fades. You’re fully in it, time disappears, and the work itself becomes the reward. It’s so engaging, people will keep going even when it’s hard, simply because they love the experience.
His research found that individuals who frequently experienced flow weren’t just more productive, they also reported greater satisfaction and meaning in their work. For high performers, that’s not just a nice-to-have, it’s a competitive edge.
Why Flow Matters for Performance
In a decade-long McKinsey study, senior executives reported a fivefold increase in productivity when they entered a state of flow, underscoring the immense performance benefits of this optimal mental state. And yet, most people spend less than 5% of their work time in flow states. Even a modest bump in flow-time say, increasing it by 20 percentage points could double overall productivity.
“Flow follows focus” — Steven Kotler
A Moment when it Clicked
Ever had a moment where everything clicked, where time disappeared and the work felt effortless or even exhilarating. You felt unstoppable? It was so good you wanted to bottle it. That’s the pull of flow state, addictive, immersive and unforgettable.
For me, one of those moments came when I repositioned my Department’s function to better align with the company’s next stage of growth. It wasn’t just a structural change, it shifted how the team saw themselves and their role in the business. What made it powerful were the triggers it activated.
Can Flow be Triggered?
Since then, I’ve been deeply curious whether flow could be intentionally created, not just experienced occasionally. Was there a way to access it more often? Every time I found it, my work shifted from ordinary to extraordinary and I loved both the outcome and how it made me feel. Turns out, there is.
Steven Kotler’s research confirms that flow isn’t random, it follows a cycle and is activated by specific psychological and environmental triggers. These include elements like clear goals, immediate feedback, a balance between challenge and skill, deep focus, and a sense of autonomy. In other words, flow state is a response to structure, to clarity and to purpose.
If you want more flow in your work or life, your job is to engineer the environment where those triggers fire naturally.
Hitting the Triggers
Kotler’s research, developed alongside the Flow Research Collective, has identified over 22 scientifically validated flow triggers, conditions that switch on the brain’s optimal performance systems. The more of these triggers you engage, the higher your chance of entering flow state.
Among these, perhaps the most essential is the challenge-skills balance, often called the “golden rule” of flow. According to Kotler and the Collective, flow follows focus, and our attention peaks when a task sits just beyond our current skill level. If the challenge is too easy, boredom takes over, if it’s too difficult, anxiety kicks in. But flow thrives in that narrow zone between the two – a stretch, not a snap.
Other key triggers include:
- Clear goals (we need to know what success looks like)
- Immediate feedback (so we can course-correct fast)
- Autonomy (control over how we work)
- Novelty and risk (just enough to keep things interesting)
- Deep focus (which starts with distraction management)
When I realigned my department, I unintentionally hit several of these at once. We had clarity, ownership, autonomy and a budget. The work suddenly felt more meaningful and more effortless.
This comes with a caveat and that there’s no one-size-fits-all formula, meaning that what triggers flow for one team or one leader might miss the mark entirely for another. Flow triggers are deeply personal and contextual. They can be psychological, social, or environmental. While you can’t force flow, you can create the environment for it to emerge.
Flow is a Cycle, Not a Constant
Kotler’s four stage model shows that flow isn’t static, it’s a cycle:
- Struggle – You work hard and push your brain to its limits.
- Relaxation – You take a real break to let your mind rest and your subconscious work.
- Flow – Inspiration strikes, and you perform at your best effortlessly.
- Consolidation – Your brain locks in the learning, but you might feel a temporary “down” afterward.
Knowing these stages helps you recognise where you are and what to do next to get into flow.
Many leaders give up in the struggle phase because it feels uncomfortable and frustrating. But according to Kotler’s, that discomfort is necessary. It’s the tension your brain needs before it can release and drop into deep focus. The relaxation phase is the reset by handing the problem over to your subconscious, where creative breakthroughs begin to take shape.
Once you’ve moved through flow, the consolidation phase takes over. It’s when your brain files away the learning, locks it into long term memory and prepares for the next round. It can feel like a slump but it’s actually a sign of integration.
By understanding the cycle, you stop chasing flow as a constant high and start treating it like a rhythm you can return to, activate and build around.
You Don’t Need Full Flow to Benefit
Even if you don’t reach a full flow state, simply making work more playful will help you learn faster and enjoy the process. Instead of relying on grit and willpower (which can burn you out), try to tap into curiosity and fun, it’s a much more sustainable way to stay motivated and get things done.
Another great outcome of this approach is that the sense of being a constant “doer” drops away. You stop feeling like you always have to push or force things and instead become fully absorbed in what you’re doing. This makes your work feel lighter and lets your best results happen more naturally.
“The master does nothing, yet leaves nothing undone”
— The Tao Te Ching
Reflect On This
- What would become possible in your business and your life, if operating in flow wasn’t rare, but routine? Imagine the compound impact of spending even 10% more time in that high-performance zone.
- Are you designing your days to invite flow, or are you accidentally designing for distraction, stress, and survival? If flow follows focus, what’s your current focus really feeding?