Within this experience, we discover three of the more curious and basic properties of flow: the profound mental clarity provided by the state (note the calm, rational nature of the mental argument); the emotional detachment that tends to accompany this clarity (Hamilton watched his own mind debate itself from a removed position); and a hint of its automatic nature—how one right decision always leads to the next right decision. Within the zone, all of these elements are standard fare, turning up in thousands upon
