A look at Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engaging with Everyday Life by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Part 2 FLOW AT WORK

by Jennifer Boddaert

Chapter 7 through 9 consist of the other 45% of this book and explore “Changing the Patterns of Life”, “The Autotelic Personality” and “The Love of Fate.” Here we will look at Chapter 7 and how we can reframe our work to better serve us.

“Because for most of us a job is such a central part of life, it is essential that this activity be as enjoyable and rewarding as possible.”

According to Csikszentmihalyi, Generally there are three main reasons that jobs are resented:

1. The job is pointless-it does no good to anyone, and in fact it may be harmful.

2. The work is boring and routine; it provides no variety or challenge.

3. They are often stressful

He states also that “Contrary to popular opinion, concerns for more money and security are usually not as important as these three in determining whether one will be satisfied with one's job or not.”

So it stands to reason that either, we work with our workplace to be able to find meaning, interest and ease with our work, OR if this isn’t possible with this particular job, to find one where these things can be found.

Csikszentmihalyi attempts to encourage us to find value in our current work by using our “psychic energy” to derive meaning and interest beyond the job description by caring for the job.

I would argue here that sometimes it’s about caring less for the job that one can actually find more interest and meaning in a job, because both demands and the stress of work can often hinder this aspect of work.When one steps back and tries not to take things too seriously, one has a chance to prioritize. It takes time to think and reflect in order to know how to prioritize work and to see how it can be mastered. This ‘psychic energy’ is sometimes not available when there are too many demands for immediate needs presented. Csikszentmihalyi states this too in recognizing that: “But the meaning we derive from a job does not come free. As these examples show, one must do some thinking and caring beyond what the job description calls for. And this in turn requires additional attention, which, as has been said again and again, is the most precious resource we have.” He somewhat ignores the idea that not all of us have the same amount of energy available to us, implying that it is often not the case that life has too many demands for us to take time to refocus our energies… that instead it is simply in our nature to use our time unwisely. Though, he does recognize later in the book that we are all different and about 50% determined by our genetics.

Regardless he does agree with me that paradoxically "caring less" can be beneficial for helping one to "care more" because one sacrifices their own agenda for a greater good and it thus shifts our energies to attend to things a bit differently:

"Most of us have learned to save up our attention to cope with the immediate demands of living, and have little of it left over to be interested in the nature of the universe, our place in the cosmos, or in anything else that will not register as a gain on our ledger of immediate goals. Yet without disinterested interest life is uninteresting. There is no room in it for wonder, novelty, surprise, for transcending the limits imposed by our fears and prejudices."

If we do so choose to try to realign our thinking to better manage workload, Csikszentmihalyi states :

“It involves paying close attention to each step involved in the job, and then asking: Is this step necessary? Who needs it? If it is really necessary, can it be done better, faster, more efficiently? What additional steps could make my contribution more valuable?”

Which is a good thing to do, but he idealistically then says; “If one spent the same amount of attention trying to find ways to accomplish more on the job, one would enjoy working more-and probably be more successful at it, too.”

Csikszentmihalyi also attempts to tackle stress with the same philosophy: to gain some kind of control. While I firmly approve that creating a plan first is worth the additional time to be able to manage workflow, It doesn’t account for several other factors that induce stress such as: unrealistic expectations for managing workflow or for meeting deadlines by superiors, an un-accommodating or unsupportive leadership, an unsupportive culture/environment, or immediate demands that unexpectedly yet, undoubtedly, may fall into your lap that throw a wrench in everyone’s plans. Not everyone is naturally inclined towards trying to do less work, in fact many people with University degrees have had to learn to prioritize and organize workflow in order to achieve their degree.

Here are some of my thoughts: We often stay at a workplace longer then we should, not just because we care, but out of fear. It is important to take a look at where your fear lies and deal with that first, and then to realize that at some point you can’t keep taking the blame for everything when you are doing your best at your work. There is a time where one needs to accept that for some reason the workplace is not functioning optimally, and it is not all on account of you: In this case creating your own goals to work within no longer matters, as your leadership won’t recognize them even if you had all the heart in the world for your clients. This recognition is pertinent if you wish to either advance in your career, or even to sustain a career if your leadership seems to not be supportive with you.

Csikszentmihalyi does recognize this in the book saying “when there is reason to think that we are appreciated, job satisfaction is usually high; whereas the greatest source of stress in the workplace is the feeling that no one is interested in supporting our goals.” He then insists that not all workplaces are run with leadership that have only selfish egotistical goals or the bottom line at hand; “aggressive selfishness is not the only path to success. In fact in most stable and well-run companies, leaders try to promote subordinates who don't invest all their psychic energy in self-advancement, but use some of it to advance corporate goals.”

This kind of misses the point slightly where corporate goals are expected to be altruistic, in fact ‘corporate goals’ are often used as reason for displacement and not in fact for Humanistic concerns such as building others up to achieve such as the adage “goes: ‘‘When you succeed, we succeed”. This is often stated, but not actually practiced.

Another solution which he throws in is to craft your own career, but he recognizes that not everyone can do this either:

“ Most creative persons don't follow a career laid out for them, but invent their job as they go along. Artists invent their own style of painting, composers their own musical styles. Creative scientists develop new fields of science, and make it possible for their successors to have careers in them.”

Overall Csikszentmihalyi doesn’t provide many answers. Do not be dismayed though: While it can be difficult to find Flow in work, it is possible, and very likely. Keep looking for where you can best shine and come back for Part 3 where we continue to look at what Csikszentmihalyi says about Flow in Relationships and the Autotelic Personality and some final thoughts.

“Keith was trying to impress his superiors in order to get promoted. He worked seventy hours and more a week even when he knew it was not necessary, neglecting his family and his own personal growth in the process. To increase his competitive advantage Keith hoarded all the credit he could for his accomplishments, even if it meant making colleagues and subordinates look bad. But despite all his efforts, he kept being passed over for important promotions.

Finally Keith resigned himself to having reached the ceiling of his career, and decided to find his rewards wards elsewhere. He spent more time with the family, took up a hobby, became involved in community activities. Because cause he was no longer struggling so hard, his behavior on the job became more relaxed, less selfish, more objective. In fact, he began to act more like a leader whose personal agenda takes second place to the well-being of the company. Now the general manager was finally impressed. This is the kind of person we need at the helm. Keith was promoted soon after he had let go of his ambition. His case is by no means rare: To be trusted in a position of leadership, it helps to advance other people's goals as well as one's own.”