Beyond Boredom and Anxiety

by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi

Now in a special 25th anniversary edition and filled with brilliant wisdom and insights, Beyond Boredom and Anxiety offers a timeless introduction to the concept of flow and the scientific basis behind it-all through the work of one of the field's great scientists, Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi. Through real-life examples, discover how enjoyable activities provide a common experience-a satisfying, often exhilarating, feeling of creative accomplishment and heightened functioning-and under what conditions 'serious' work can also provide this intrinsic enjoyment.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Business, Personal Development, Health, Neuroscience, Productivity

Hardcover

First published September 1, 1975

About the author

A Hungarian psychology professor, who emigrated to the United States at the age of 22. Now at Claremont Graduate University, he is the former head of the department of psychology at the University of Chicago and of the department of sociology and anthropology at Lake Forest College.

He is noted for both his work in the study of happiness and creativity and also for his notoriously difficult name, in terms of pronunciation for non-native speakers of the Hungarian language, but is best known as the architect of the notion of flow and for his years of research and writing on the topic. He is the author of many books and over 120 articles or book chapters. Martin Seligman, former president of the American Psychological Association, described Csikszentmihalyi as the world's leading researcher on positive psychology.

Csikszentmihalyi once said "Repression is not the way to virtue. When people restrain themselves out of fear, their lives are by necessity diminished. Only through freely chosen discipline can life be enjoyed and still kept within the bounds of reason." His works are influential and are widely cited.

Reviews

[Cameron Schnurer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok I’m gonna make one of these reviews like my letterboxd ones, I hope it’ll make me organize my thoughts on this lol

I found this watching a jenna stoeber yt video, who I had just discovered but they were tackling the concept of idle/podcast games, surrounding their history, stigmatization, and the place they held in our world

I didn’t really agree with them lol, I was a victim of these for a lot of my childhood and still have to fight the urge not to download Archero 2, but ok I’m getting side tracked. They refenced a book/article, that detailed this may fall under a “microflow” state, that keeps our brain occupied in between seeking out true, fulfilling flow states.

But what really piqued was that they said this book was foundational in the design of video games. What does a 1975 research article have anything to do with the ideology of modern video games?? So I set out to read this (also because I’ve been obsessed with the idea of boredom recently)

And I’m ngl, it started out an uphill battle. It begins with the question of identifying and characterizing a “flow state”, this idealized condition where the world and self seem to dissolve around you and all that’s left is this meditative, thoughtless action.

It’s a universal concept (looking at you kuroko no basket), and although I appreciated the scientific standard it was putting itself on, the first like 2 parts, ie 150 or so pages I felt like a technical perspective on common sense surrounding flow states. I did really love the interviews snippets of these states, especially from the rock climbers.

Part 3. I do wanna say research wise this isn’t too sound. It felt something close to a university study where all the participants were college students tryign to get money or psych credits.

This type of stuff is exactly what I want to read more about. The conclusions from just the flow and flow deprivation studies completely made me recontextualize my whole perception of individual vs social activities. It kind of reaffirmed my thoughts on how task oriented med school is given how i seem to thrive in school when im deprivated lmao.

But wow. The final chapter is perfect. One, for actually contextualizing why all of these studies were done in the first place

But again. Wow. It is a pure manifesto on incorporation of flow. It calls to end the distinction between work and play, increase the distinction between the opiate called “pleasure” and true enjoyment, and to completely restructure our environments and learned perceptions.

It’s painful in how much it speaks to the growing dissatisfactions of modern life for something written over half a century ago, but I feel like it simultaneously acts as a stepping stone to rebuilding a fulfilling life and perspective.

Great read lol

[Ken · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read and heard quite a bit about flow theory and was excited to read this book, but I found it pretty dry. I had assumed it was aimed at a larger audience, however, after reading it, it appears to be geared more toward academics and researchers.
I have to question some of the conclusions and methodology as well. for example, the section on microflow reports research with a sample size of 20 college students providing self - reports. Surely more rigerous research is required to draw any meaningful conclusions.
There are plenty of glowing reviews here, so perhaps this book was just a bit over my head as a 'layperson'. I still plan to try to read Flow, as I find flow theory very interesting and would like to understand it better.

[Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

It provides good insights into what life is really about and for. We do things for the Autotelic experiences per se, and we let life flow simply as the end goal. When we start to comment and reflect on what we have done or question the ultimate meaning underscoring everything, we have stopped living the quintessence of flow. Too high a demand for task compared to the skillset possessed leads to anxiety while too low a demand for task compared to the skillset possessed leads to boredom. We fine-tune the demand and our knowledge/skills to stay in the range of flow. Since life is so prone to Anilism when we question too much but receive too little from the world of crass materialism and crony capitalism, we'd better just follow the flow and so be it.

[AL · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this thinking it was a book but it turns out it treads a very fine line between a Research paper and a non-fiction book. It's the first and the original text to coin the term 'Flow' so it makes it unique. Definately not for the casual reader, it's for people who have some understanding of statistics and research.
A good take away point was that without flow or micro flow activities mental health suffers. The last chapter is where the gold is, the author makes good remarks on how people were conducting child upbringing in somewhat artificial environments and that would be detrimental in the long run, his prediction has come true.

[Onur Alten · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book as a small treat to myself within my extensive reading run for work, in order to make it more enjoyable. I could not have picked a more suitable book for this purpose.

[Steve Fenton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an important book that details studies into flow state, challenging the view that work and enjoyment are separate and what conditions are ideal for both.

[Roger Tavares · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is an application of the Flow Theory. If you don´t know it, i recommend you read others first.

[Doug · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the books I read while writing my master's thesis that I thoroughly enjoyed.