The Benefits of Flow
In the field of Flow research, we have seen that Flow significantly increases creativity, productivity, problem-solving, decision-making and learning speed. At the University of Sydney, a study was conducted using transcranial magnetic stimulation to induce flow. In other words, the study used a weak magnetic pulse to knock out the pre-frontal cortex and create a 20-40-minute Flow state. Subjects were given the creative problem-solving task of connecting 9 dots with four lines, without lifting the pencil from the paper in under 10 minutes. Normally, less than 5 percent of the population can pull this off within’ 10 minutes. In the non-Flow induced group, nobody pulled it off, but in the Flow-induced group 40 percent connected the dots within’ 10 minutes. That’s EIGHT TIMES better than the norm (STEALING FIRE- In a recent University of Sydney study: Richard Chi and Allan Snyder, “Brain Stimulation Enables Solution to Inherently Difficult Problem,” Neuroscience Letters 515 (2012): 121–24).
Neuroscientists at DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), a facility responsible for developing emerging technologies for use in the military, took a different approach. Rather than artificially inducing Flow in their subjects, they instead used neurofeedback to prompt Flow. Since Flow has a characteristic brain activity signature, Neuroscientists were able to use neuroimagery (a visual form of neurofeedback AKA brain imagery) to SHOW soldiers their progression towards the Flow state, giving them instant feedback. The result was that soldiers SOLVED COMPLEX PROBLEMS and MASTERED new skills up to 490 PERCENT FASTER than normal (STEALING FIRE – When neuroscientists at DARPA and Advanced Brain Monitoring: ABM CEO Chris Berka gave a great TEDx talk about this research: http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/Whats-next-a-window-on-thebrai;TEDxSanDiego. Also, “9-Volt Nirvana,” Radiolab, June 2014, http://www.radiolab.org/story/9- volt-nirvana/; Sally Adee, “Zap Your Brain into the Zone,” New Scientist, February 1, 2012).
Similar findings have emerged in research on psychedelics. Academically inclined test subjects such as engineers, architects and mathematicians from places like Stanford and Hewlett-Packard were given LSD and Mescaline. Some were given 50 Micrograms LSD and some were given 100 milligrams of Mescaline, both these dosages are well below the level needed to produce psychedelic effects. However, all test-subjects still experienced a boost in creativity by as much as 200 percent and some of the subjects experienced breakthroughs on real-world problems that they had been struggling to solve! Those breakthrough inventions included: “A Design of a linear electron accelerator beam-steering device, a mathematical theorem regarding NOR-gate circuits, a new design for a vibratory microtome, a space probe designed to measure solar properties, and a new conceptual model of a photon”. Clearly psychedelics, when used responsibly, have the potential to induce Flow, or at least induce radically different ways of thinking that can benefit mankind. (STEALING FIRE – Several decades ago, James Fadiman: James Fadiman, The Psychedelic Explorer’s Guide: Safe, Therapeutic, and Sacred Journeys (Rochester, VT: Park Street Press, 2011), p. 133. ).
Companies in industries all over the world are “hacking Flow” in their brains and teaching each other how they can use Flow Arts to achieve this kind of efficiency and productivity. The Global Consultant Company “McKinsey” did a ten-year global study of companies and found that top executives – those who are hired to solve the hardest company problems – reported being up to 500 percent more productive in Flow. (STEALING FIRE – A 500 percent boost in productivity: Susie Cranston and Scott Keller, “Increasing the ‘Meaning Quotient’ of Work,” McKinsey Quarterly, January 2013).
So, to really get the point across, please allow us to repeat ourselves. “Flowing” is not simply object manipulation, nor is it simply juggling, or dancing, or any other physical activity in particular. One doesn’t simply “go Flow”. Rather, being in “Flow” is a result of the physical interactions that happen in our brains and is marked by our feelings of selflessness, timelessness, effortlessness and richness. Thus, 99.9% of the time, it is only after we have achieved Flow that we can say we were “Flowing”.
This raises the big question:
? Interesting.