Why this matters

To get important and often complicated work done –  you need to hit a state of flow – where you are completely absorbed by the task and actions are effortless, more fluid, and natural. This type of work or problem is often the sort that can cause us a lot of stress, as it can appear daunting.

There’s a problem – a LOT of facets of working life prevent us from hitting flow.

How this issue/ problem manifests and might affect you

Flow is a highly pleasurable and concentrated state of mind in which people are enormously productive.

To be unable to hit flow adversely deprives us of:

• A highly pleasurable experience
• The ability to be enormously productive

Both of these have a big impact on our energy

At the root of the problem are two things:

1. Distractions and a failure to manage them
2. A failure to plan and protect time where you are likely to hit flow

It’s a BIG problem:

“Studies show that as much as 70%-99% of office employees feel distracted, with an average employee experiencing as much as 56 disruptions per day.”

Source: https://clockify.me/blog/productivity/workplace-distractions/

“Distractions, in whatever form they take, pull you back into default mode, and the cognitive cost of regaining your focus is high. Some research shows it can take 10–18 minutes to get the same level of attention back,”

Amy Gallo, “What to Do When You’re Feeling Distracted at Work” HBR (2017)[2].

How to tackle the issue/ problem

Just to reiterate – this is a problem worth tackling

Source:  https://clockify.me/blog/productivity/workplace-distractions/ 

A practical application activity

1. Identify something important and challenging that you need to progress, e.g. ‘Write proposal for client A,’ or ‘Scope out project B.’
2. Block some time out in your calendar to work on it
3. Book a space where you can work uninterrupted
4. Consider if there is any preparation you need to do beforehand e.g. information you’ll need or input from others that will be helpful
5. Beforehand, ideally at least 48hrs, start creating a plan for how you’ll use the time – identify the steps you’ll take and maybe the high level sequence of tasks
6. Once in that space, turn off all digital notifications[1], e.g. put phone on silent , put email out of office on. What else could distract you? Have a plan for dealing with it, e.g. having a note pad to capture ideas, concerns or things to do that are unrelated to the task in hand
7. Write down your ideal outcome from this time, e.g. ‘I will have a draft proposal for client A that I feel proud of,’ or ‘I will have an initial scope for project B that feels well thought through and gives me confidence.’
8. Start working on the task
   • Notice when it starts to feel difficult and you want to distract yourself with something easier. Stay with it. Take a break, have a walk, but stay with the task
9. Once your time is up, take 5-mins to answer these questions:
   • How satisfied do you feel with the outputs? (1=low 10=high)
   • When did you hit ‘flow’ (absorbed and loosing track of time)?
   • How energised do you feel now? (1=low 10=high)

In closing

This concept of flow is very easy to understand. It requires a lot of skill and perseverance to implement it. The benefits undoubtedly make the effort worth the investment.

[1] According to research by clockify, the biggest, most common source of distraction is our mobile phone (56% of people cited it)

[2] “What to Do When You’re Feeling Distracted at Work” by Amy Gallo HBR December 20, 2017