How to Coach Yourself and Others Essential Knowledge For Coaching | Page 92

In 1997, Csíkszentmihályi published the graph to the right. This
graph depicts the relationship between the perceived challenges
of a task and one's perceived skills. This graph illustrates one
further aspect of flow: it can only occur when the activity at hand
is a higher-than-average challenge (above the center point) and
requires above-average skills (to the right of the center point).
The center of this graph (where the sectors meet) represents
one's average levels of challenge and skill. The further from the
center an experience is, the greater the intensity of that state of
being (whether it is flow or anxiety or boredom or relaxation).
The autotelic personality
Csíkszentmihályi hypothesized that people with several very
specific personality traits may be better able to achieve flow
more often than the average person. These personality traits
include curiosity, persistence, low self-centeredness, and a high
rate of performing activities for intrinsic reasons only. People
with most of these personality traits are said to have an autotelic
personality.
It has not yet been documented whether people with an autotelic
personality are truly more likely to achieve a flow state. One
researcher (Abuhamdeh, 2000) did find that people with an
autotelic personality have a greater preference for "high-actionopportunity, high-skills situations that stimulate them and
encourage growth" than those without an autotelic personality.
It is in such high-challenge, high-skills situations that people are
most likely to enter the flow state.
Group flow
Csíkszentmihályi suggests several ways a group can work
together so that each individual member achieves flow. The
characteristics of such a group include:

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