Have you ever been so absorbed in an activity that time just seemed to melt away? When you’re deeply focused on a challenging task that you have enough skill to complete and the activity is rewarding for its own sake, you can enter a state that psychologists call the "flow state".

This isn’t just a rare moment of inspiration; getting into the flow state is a skill you can train, and its benefits may be substantial. For example, there is evidence suggesting that experiencing flow is correlated with positive mood, job satisfaction, emotional well-being and performance at work, to name a few.

We’ve taken a dive into the science of the flow state, and given you evidence-based tips on how you can achieve it more regularly.

The flow state is a psychological state, first described by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi in the 1970s, during which you are fully engaged in an activity, you lose track of time, and you feel a sense of effortless control. He deemed it an “optimal experience”.

You’ve probably experienced it before; studies have found that it is achievable in a very wide array of contexts, such as playing sport, dancing, working on a creative project, or solving a challenging problem at work, and beyond.

We’re going to present nine components as a framework to walk you through what the science says you can do to achieve the flow state more often.

Some tasks are more prone to make you experience flow than others. Theory and empirical research indicate that you should focus on picking a task with the following components of flow:

1. Clear goals: You understand the task’s structure or instructions and know what you are trying to accomplish.

Clarity eliminates uncertainty,........

© Psychology Today