Peak States for Peak Performance (Part 1)

"Flow is what people feel when they enjoy what they are doing, when they don’t want to be doing anything else. What makes flow so intrinsically motivating? The evidence suggests a simple answer: in flow, the human organism is functioning at its fullest capacity. When this happens, the experience is its own reward."

-Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Have you ever felt or seen someone “in the zone?” Completely raptured in the present moment, where every movement seems effortless and seamless, and it was a flawless execution of the task at hand. The Greeks had a word for these moments, and it was called ecstasis.

Modern day scientists and psychologists use a different term to describe this elusive state, and that is “peak states of consciousness.” In this chapter we will be discussing a more specific category of peak state known as the “flow state.” Flow is the fire that allows us to perform at our fullest capacity in a given moment, and is described as “the ultimate state of consciousness where we feel and perform at our best.”

Getting into flow, or “being in the zone” can happen while playing sports, making music, creating art, skiing down a mountain, writing, giving a speech, or even in a group setting where we experience “group flow.” How do we know if we are in a flow state? The acronym S.T.E.R. describes it best.

S - Selflessness: We lose sense of ourselves, our analytical/overthinking brains shut down and we are solely focused on the task at hand, completely immersed in the present moment.

T - Timelessness: Our sense of time is warped. We are in the present, or what’s called the “deep now” where time passes by differently than our normal states of consciousness. One minute can feel like an hour or vice versa. 

E - Effortless: Every action seems to literally “flow.” We do not have to think about what we are doing, we just do it effortlessly. It is as if our minds and bodies are completely merged, smoothly executing the objective at hand. 

R - Richness: The experience is what is called autotelic, or deeply rewarding in itself. Something that we are intrinsically motivated to do again because it was such a rich experience and felt so great.

When psychologists say flow is autotelic, they mean it is something we are motivated to do just for the experience itself. After scientists started researching what's happening with our biology when we get into a deep flow state, they quickly realized why it feels so great. First, our bodies naturally release one of the most potent cocktails of “feel good chemicals” known to our biology (dopamine, serotonin, anandamide, norepinephrine, and endorphins to name a few). While we also experience transient hypofrontality (fancy way of saying we use 10% less of our brain) which quiets that voice that often criticizes, judges, or can get in the way with overthinking about what we are doing.

This means not only do we feel great in a deep flow state, but we are in the perfect mental state of being relaxed, but also laser-focused which sets us up for peak performance. 

So how do we perform at our best and cultivate more flow on demand?

The Flywheel of Peak Performance

Unfortunately a simple list of “the five things you can do to get in flow” does not exist. Instead it is the combination of practices that add up like compound interest over time. Just like we become peak performers by first crawling, walking, then running, the same goes for getting more flow in life. Let’s start first with reframing the way we look at peak performance in general.

Sometimes performance gets mistaken to resemble that of a linear graph, where productivity gets all the attention, and sole focus is on output. Yet this narrow focus on the metric of productivity doesn't take into account all of the other factors that affect peak performance.

Peak performance isn’t linear, instead it resembles a flywheel. A flywheel is made up of pegs that keep the wheel together, and by consistently tuning up the flywheel it will begin to spin at the fastest rate possible.

The pegs of the flywheel of peak performance are made up of the foundational practices that serve our biological and wellbeing needs. Since we are not robots, but instead work in cycles of doing and resting, we have to honor our biological necessities in order to perform at our best. That is why you will see so many of us performance coaches constantly talk about the importance of sleep, exercise, eating and hydrating properly, mindfulness, active recovery protocols, having goals, social support, and the importance of following your passion or curiosities.  

If were to simplify and combine these 7 practices with productivity, we have the 8 core pegs of the flywheel of peak performance: productivity, sleep, physical health (proper diet, hydration and exercise),  mental health (mindfulness and gratitude), active recovery protocols, clear goals and purpose, social support, and passion/curiosity.

When we add flow, it is akin to pouring gasoline on the flywheel, causing it to spin at an even faster rate. For example, getting into a deep flow state not only releases that potent cocktail of feel good chemicals during flow, but stays in our system for up to 24-48 hours later. This is one reason peak performers want to schedule more time to get into flow outside of work, just for the sake of experiencing flow (but we will get into that later).

If we want to get more flow, first it helps to know the four phases of the flow cycle we must go through. We will also start to understand why we need to prioritize the recovery focused pegs of the flywheel of performance. There are four critical stages of the flow cycle: struggle, release, flow, and recovery.

Struggle

Starting with struggle, we need something that drives our focus into the moment. Flow follows focus, and there are two things that we focus on the most: our goals and our fears. This is why something that is outside of our comfort zone or current skills or abilities is a great driver to get us into flow. That little bit of fear or anxiety dumps norepinephrine into our blood, and causes us to narrow our focus and meet the challenge at hand. 

This can best be depicted as the moment (if you have ever been surfing) when a giant wave is approaching and you sort of tense up with anxiety and excitement. You turn towards the wave and start paddling, and before you know it you enter the next phase, release.

Release

During the release phase we tend to get out of our heads and into our bodies. Our muscle memory mostly takes over, and our overly thinking part of the brain shuts down. This is the moment you start paddling on that surfboard and the habit ingrained in you takes over, allowing you to hop up on the board without even thinking about it.

Flow

The third phase is the actual flow phase, or when you are on top of the board riding the wave. You feel one with the wave, soaking up every microsecond, and move effortlessly. 

Recovery

Finally we have the recovery phase. As the flow state is taxing on our system, our bodies need a period of recovery after. It takes a lot of biological resources to be completely raptured in the present moment, so our minds and bodies need active recovery practices that energize us so we can do it all over again.

This is why recovery (ie: sleep, active recovery, physical health, and mental health) are critical pegs in the flywheel. The four stages of flow are non-negotiable, and if you want to maximize your potential of getting more flow, the four pegs of recovery are non-negotiable.