How to Coach Yourself and Others Essential Knowledge For Coaching | Seite 87

4.5 SURFING THE FLOW SPIRAL
Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person in an
activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full
involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed
by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the positive psychology concept has
been widely referenced across a variety of fields.
According to Csíkszentmihályi, flow is completely focused
motivation. It is a single-minded immersion and represents
perhaps the ultimate in harnessing the emotions in the service of
performing and learning. In flow, the emotions are not just
contained and channeled, but positive, energized, and aligned
with the task at hand. To be caught in the ennui of depression or
the agitation of anxiety is to be barred from flow. The hallmark of
flow is a feeling of spontaneous joy, even rapture, while
performing a task,. although flow is also described (below) as a
deep focus on nothing but the activity – not even oneself or one's
emotions.
Colloquial terms for this or similar mental states include: to be
on the ball, in the moment, present, in the zone, wired in, in the
groove, or owning.
Components of flow
Csíkszentmihályi identifies the following ten factors as
accompanying an experience of flow
1. Clear goals (expectations and rules are discernible and goals
are attainable and align appropriately with one's skill set and
abilities). Moreover, the challenge level and skill level should
both be high.
2. Concentrating, a high degree of concentration on a limited
field of attention (a person engaged in the activity will have
the opportunity to focus and to delve deeply into it).

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