Staying in flow by pedaling the bicycle

In “The Pursuit of Happyness” protagonist Chris (Will Smith) spends a year being homeless with his young son while struggling to build a career as a stockbroker. He grapples with heartbreaking setbacks as he tries to maintain a professional persona under the stresses of homelessness. The climax of the movie occurs when he is offered a permanent place in the company and his struggles on the street are over. He calls this brief moment “happiness”.

I love this story, and it hurts too. Chris embodies a heartbreakingly desperate, yet wholehearted, commitment to staying in flow. Chris’ story is tied to many themes, including his race and the issue of privilege in our culture, and I don’t want to glorify his situation, which is personally felt for many. I want to learn from his disciplined focus on doing what is needed to move forward towards his goal.

A complete focusing of attention

According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, flow requires “a complete focusing of attention on the task at hand.” He says that one reason flow facilitates happiness is that “the clearly structured demands of the activity impose order, and exclude the interference of disorder in consciousness.” (“Flow”, Csikszentmihalyi, pg. 58)

I think of it as “pedaling the bicycle”. When there is commitment to pedaling the bicycle, there is no room for either happiness or unhappiness. Focusing on pedaling the bike helps me transcend my difficulties.

The urgency of flow

One way I know I am out of flow is when I am worried about outcomes. If I find myself needing to check my email or social media to check whether I’ve received positive news, I know that I am not in flow.

The down-side of being out of flow is that I am probably in a place of self-doubt or worry. Victor Frankl wrote “Success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue…as the unintended side-effect of one’s personal dedication to a course greater than oneself.” (Ibid, pg. 2) If I am pursuing a positive response from someone, then I am not focused on being of service. In flow, the positive response comes unbidden when I least expect it as a result of my commitment to the result.

The greatest obstacle to maintaining positive synchronicities in life is taking your foot off the pedals to look back and see how far you’ve come, or see how far you have to go. 

If you are in a bike race, turning around to see how far in front you are can cost you the critical concentration needed to stay ahead. I’m not saying we need to approach life as a race. Yet urgency is an important element of flow. Even when our personal lives are comfortable, we live amidst a swirl of urgent global problems which need addressing. 

Allowing urgency to inform our actions even when the outer circumstances do not seem to require it is one element of living in flow. Synchronicity can pop up anywhere, and our lives can be richer than we predict. Living with urgency simply increases the level at which you are playing the game. It is not required, but it is effective.

Practice riding the bike

To see what this feels like in your own life, you can write down a recent opportunity that excites you.

List the things you’ve done already to take advantage of the opportunity, either directly or indirectly. For instance, if the goal is to make better friends with a particular individual at work, you might develop a practice of asking new people for help that you haven’t engaged with before. Reaching out to new people (in general) is meaningfully aligned with the goal of making a friend (with this specific person).

Now write down the next milestone for this opportunity. Is there a particular event or deadline that relates to this goal? For instance, is there a company picnic coming up at which you will spend social time with your colleagues? Is there a team meeting at which you are going to need this individual to support your work?

Continue by identifying anything else you can do which is meaningfully aligned with your desired outcome, and keep pedaling the bicycle. Keep tracking the milestone, but don’t let it distract you. Stay focused on creative ways to commit to your goal without constantly checking whether you’ve been successful. See how long you can endure in the state of unknown!

Living in flow is about befriending the unknown. By tolerating the feeling of uncertainty and staying committed to the inner experience you want to have, you stay in flow and increase your momentum towards your desired experiences. This leads to a steady stream of synchronicities which support your effort. Just keep riding the bike.

The Living in Flow Course provides practices for integrating these insights into your daily grind. You can register today.