I don’t think I’ve ever seen an endorsement of the flow state that came with non-flimsy evidence that it increases productivity or performance in any pursuit, and many endorsers take the mere fact that the state feels really good to be that evidence.
>you’re in relentless, undisturbed pursuit
This suggest that you are confusing drive/motivation with the flow state. I have tons of personal experience of days spent in the flow state, but lacking motivation to do anything that would actually move my life forward.
You know how if you spend 5 days in a row mostly just eating and watching Youtube videos, it starts to become hard to motivate yourself to do anything? Well, the quick explanation of that effect is that watching the Youtube videos is too much pleasure for too long with the result that the anticipation of additional pleasure (from sources other than Youtube videos) no longer has its usual motivating effect. The flow state can serve as the source of the “excess” pleasure that saps your motivation: I know because I wasted years of my life that way!
Just to make sure we’re referring to the same thing: a very salient feature of the flow state is that you lose track of time: suddenly you realize that 4 or 8 or 12 hours have gone by without your noticing. (Also, as soon as you enter the flow state, your level of mental tension, i.e., physiological arousal, decreases drastically—at least if you are chronically tense, but I don’t lead with this feature because a lot of people can’t even tell how tense they are.) In contrast, if you take some Modafinil or some mixed amphetamine salts or some Ritalin (and your brain is not adapted to any of those things) (not that I recommend any of those things unless you’ve tried many other ways to increase drive and motivation) you will tend to have a lot of drive and motivation at least for a few hours, but you probably won’t lose track of time.
I don’t particularly care about the “feels good” part, I care a lot more about the “extended period of time focused on an important task without distractions” part.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen an endorsement of the flow state that came with non-flimsy evidence that it increases productivity or performance in any pursuit, and many endorsers take the mere fact that the state feels really good to be that evidence.
>you’re in relentless, undisturbed pursuit
This suggest that you are confusing drive/motivation with the flow state. I have tons of personal experience of days spent in the flow state, but lacking motivation to do anything that would actually move my life forward.
You know how if you spend 5 days in a row mostly just eating and watching Youtube videos, it starts to become hard to motivate yourself to do anything? Well, the quick explanation of that effect is that watching the Youtube videos is too much pleasure for too long with the result that the anticipation of additional pleasure (from sources other than Youtube videos) no longer has its usual motivating effect. The flow state can serve as the source of the “excess” pleasure that saps your motivation: I know because I wasted years of my life that way!
Just to make sure we’re referring to the same thing: a very salient feature of the flow state is that you lose track of time: suddenly you realize that 4 or 8 or 12 hours have gone by without your noticing. (Also, as soon as you enter the flow state, your level of mental tension, i.e., physiological arousal, decreases drastically—at least if you are chronically tense, but I don’t lead with this feature because a lot of people can’t even tell how tense they are.) In contrast, if you take some Modafinil or some mixed amphetamine salts or some Ritalin (and your brain is not adapted to any of those things) (not that I recommend any of those things unless you’ve tried many other ways to increase drive and motivation) you will tend to have a lot of drive and motivation at least for a few hours, but you probably won’t lose track of time.
I don’t particularly care about the “feels good” part, I care a lot more about the “extended period of time focused on an important task without distractions” part.