Flow activities can help decrease negative thinking and feeling
Stress for Success
October 2, 2007

When you’re not actively focusing on something do your thoughts easily drift to what’s wrong in your life? Shad Helmstetter, author of “What to Say When You Talk to Yourself”, reports that the average person experiences 80% negative self-talk! Now that’s stress!

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of "Finding Flow", says that when your attention isn’t focused on goals your mind wanders and settles on the negative. This leads to distracting yourself through passive leisure activities like TV, drugs, etc.

Operating in flow prohibits distracting thoughts and negative feelings because your attention is so focused on accomplishing something. Minor aches and pains also drift to the background of your awareness.

Csikscentimihalyi says to create goals on which to focus. “… goals shape and determine the kind of person you become. Without them it's difficult to develop a coherent self.”

To balance your moods, strive for "flow" through clearly defined goals that require stretching your skills to overcome a challenge that’s almost manageable; not too easy nor difficult. When in flow you're motivated and focused on the activity which becomes effortless, even when the goal is difficult to achieve. You can lose track of time. To be in flow also requires that you receive valid and immediate feedback on how well you're doing. So in dealing with an upset customer your feedback is how quickly (or not!) he calms down.

Don’t assume that leisure produces most of your flow experiences; especially if you spend your leisure time passively, without goals and without stretching your skills. This only fuels stressful thinking.

As I stated last week, Csikszentmihalyi has found that most of our flow comes from work. Some jobs don’t offer much opportunity for flow, however, because:
· the work is meaningless
· it provides no variety or challenge
· it's too stressful especially when there’s many interpersonal problems

To create more flow on the job your challenge is to put more meaning into your work. Don’t wait for your boss to do it for you. Figure it out yourself:
· Add value to any task by knowing how it impacts the entire operation. E.g., Filing paperwork seems meaningless unless you understand that it facilitates your coworkers’ quick access to information so they can improve customer service.
· Accept that the way things are being done is not necessarily the only way. Look for new and better ways to improve the outcome.
· Match your skills to each challenge. For example, a toll booth worker decided to make her job more interesting and challenging by setting a goal to get 25% of her customers to smile at her as they tossed their money at her. After she achieved that, she increased her goal to 50%. When this no longer motivated her she’d look for other ways to improve.

So take charge of your moods and thoughts by focusing on your task at hand, whether pleasant or unpleasant, leisure or professional. Set and achieve goals that challenge your skills and notice your unpleasant moods start to fade.

Jacquelyn Ferguson, M. S., of InterAction Associates, is a trainer and a Stress Coach. E-mail her at www.jackieferguson.com with your questions or for information about her workshops on this and other topics and to invite her to speak to your organization.