Visualize a ballerina immersed in her dance. Fluidly moving with each rhythm, becoming one with the dance itself. What do you think she is feeling in those moments? Is she happy, or sad, or overthinking? If the dance looks effortless, she is probably feeling nothing. For that matter, it would be the same for Michael Jordan playing basketball, or Ayrton Senna driving his F1 car.

We all know this state. Being immersed in a task so deep that we forget the sense of time, self, and everything around us. All thoughts disappear and we become one with your work. This is what being present feels like. You may even call this feeling bliss, peace, or ecstasy.

But when one desires “happiness” in life, do they even think of achieving this state of immersion that we discussed above? In fact, a better question would be, “Have people been searching for happiness in the wrong places?”

Wars & Wishes

Growing up during World War 2 and having lost both his elder brothers to the war, young Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi grew up in a society full of sadness. But amid all this, occasionally he used to come across people who seemed “happy.” It was as if these people were untouched by the perils of war, and this fascinated Mihaly. Soon, he set on the quest for happiness. Whenever he came across someone who could stay well even after World War 2, he dug deeper into their lives to find the secret to happiness.

Time passed but Mihaly was still clueless. But then one day, as he had some free time, Mihaly luckily attended a seemingly unrelated talk on the psychology of UFO sightings. This talk was delivered by the famous psychologist Carl Jung, and it was here that Mihaly realized that psychology was the missing piece in his quest so far. As a result, he emigrated to the US to study psychology and finally conducted studies on happiness, involving thousands of people, and soon found the answer. And his finding?

Mihaly concluded that people are happiest when they are in a state of flow — a state of complete absorption with the activity at hand. In flow, people are so involved in an activity that nothing else matters. It is similar to what people call “being in the zone” or “in the groove.” This is a feeling everyone has at times, characterized by great engagement, and using your skills at their limits. Here, all temporal concerns, like time, food, ego-self, etc., fade away and it is just you and your work.

We will explore more about flow and happiness later, but let us first look at some practical lessons, so you can start practicing immediately.

The Flow Matrix

If you have been to the Level 2 missions of the Tree of Life already, you might be thinking if flow is the same as deep work. The answer is no. Deep work is about performing an activity in a distraction-free state. On the other hand, flow is getting so immersed in the work that all the distractions fade away. Another way to put it is that flow is the ultimate form of deep work. The best deep work session is one that induces flow.

Are there any other ways to reach flow? Yes! Lucky for us, Mihaly condensed his findings into a model, called the “flow matrix,” which describes the different Mental States in terms of Challenge Level vs Skill Level. And we can use it to invent our own ways of reaching flow.

If you notice the matrix, whenever both challenge and required skill are at “High,” you enter flow. What does it mean? Since it is a relative scale, the challenge and skill must be “High” from your perspective. For example, if you are used to running at a speed of 10 kmph for a 5 km distance, then going hard could mean running at 11 kmph for 5 km, or at 10 kmph for 5.5 km. Basically, you can tweak them as you wish, just make sure that the task stretches you to your limits.

And the caution? That is in the matrix as well. Flow requires a balance between your skills and the challenge level: if the challenge is too demanding compared to your skills, you will become disheartened and can experience negative emotions such as “Anxiety.” Conversely, if a task is too easy, it can disinterest you. For flow, your skills should be just the right level to manage the situational demands.

But What About Happiness?

Happiness is simpler than just doing a demanding task. Yes, simpler! Happiness is always with us, but it will require more missions to unlearn the things that keep us from seeing it. For now, let us focus on one factor only: flow.

Mihaly’s finally concluded, “The happiest people are not the ones who achieve the most. They are the ones who spend more time than others in a state of flow.​” He continues, “In order to achieve this optimal experience, we have to focus on increasing the time we spend on activities that bring us to this state of flow, rather than allowing ourselves to get caught up in activities that offer immediate pleasure.”

With this, reflect upon your own life. How often do you feel flow? Did time pass without realizing when you were learning a new skill that interested you, like sketching, signing, driving, or even coding, especially for the first time? Things may have been tough, but that is what kept you hooked. This is the reason why no one plays easy games. What is the fun if something is not hard?

Do not seek happiness. Seek flow, and happiness will follow.