Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention

by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi

are often arrogant and egocentric, but they are also insecure and can benefit from approval.

In one of the most high-powered research institutes in the country, where many a Nobel Prize was won, there used to be an associate director whose main job was to pay a daily visit to each scientist’s lab and marvel at his or her latest accomplishments—even though he often had little idea what they were. This practice was based on the strong belief that a pat on the back does wonders for creative productivity, and apparently not without cause.

Alan Kay, whose inventions were central to the development of personal computers, claims semi-seriously that the firm he worked for lost tens of millions of dollars by refusing to install a $14,000 shower in a corner of his office, because most of his new ideas came while showering.

Even though personal creativity may not lead to fame and fortune, it can do something that from the individual’s point of view is even more important: make day-to-day experiences more vivid, more enjoyable, more rewarding. When we live creatively, boredom is banished and every moment holds the promise of a fresh discovery. Whether or not these discoveries enrich the world beyond our personal lives, living creatively links us with the process of evolution.

I am assuming that each person has, potentially, all the psychic energy he or she needs to lead a creative life. However, there are four major sets of obstacles that prevent many from expressing this potential. Some of us are exhausted by too many demands, and so have trouble getting hold of and activating our psychic energy in the first place. Or we get easily distracted and have trouble learning how to protect and channel whatever energy we have. The next problem is laziness, or lacking discipline for controlling the flow of energy. And finally, the last obstacle is not knowing what to do with the energy one has. How to avoid these obstacles and liberate the creative energy we all have is what I review in this chapter.

But the fact is that there are real limits to how many things a person can attend to at the same time, and when survival needs require all of one’s attention, none is left over for being creative. But often the obstacles are internal. In a person concerned with protecting his or her self, practically all the attention is invested in monitoring threats to the ego.

Another limitation on the free use of mental energy is an excessive investment of attention in selfish goals. Of course, we all must first and foremost take care of our own needs. But for some people the concept of “need” is inflated to the point that it becomes an obsession that devours every waking moment. When everything a person sees, thinks, or does must serve self-interest, there is no attention left over to learn about anything else. It is difficult to approach the world creatively when one is hungry or shivering from cold, because then all of one’s mental energy is focused on securing the necessities one lacks. And it is equally difficult when a person is rich and famous

but devotes all of his or her energies to getting more money and fame. To free up creative energy we need to let go and divert some attention from the pursuit of the predictable goals that genes and memes have programmed in our minds and use it instead to explore the world around us on its own terms.

Creative individuals are childlike in that their curiosity remains fresh even at ninety years of age; they delight in the strange and the unknown. And because there is no end to the unknown, their delight also is endless.

Try to be surprised by something every day.

Life is nothing more than a stream of experiences—the more widely and deeply you swim in it, the richer your life will be.

Try to surprise at least one person every day.

Write down each day what surprised you and how you surprised others.

When something strikes a spark of interest, follow it.

The world is our business,

Entropy, the force behind the famous Second Law of Thermodynamics, applies not only to physical systems but to the functioning of the mind

as well. When there is nothing specific to do, our thoughts soon return to the most predictable state, which is randomness or confusion. We pay attention and concentrate when we must—when dressing, driving the car, staying awake at work. But when there is no external force demanding that we concentrate, the mind begins to lose focus. It falls to the lowest energetic state, where the least amount of effort is required. When this happens, a sort of mental chaos takes over. Unpleasant thoughts flash into awareness, forgotten regrets resurface, and we become depressed. Then we turn on the TV set, read listlessly the advertising supplement of the newspaper, have pointless conversations—anything to keep our thoughts on an even keel and avoid becoming frightened by what is happening in the mind. Taking refuge in passive entertainment keeps chaos temporarily at bay, but the attention it absorbs gets wasted. On the other hand, when we learn to enjoy using our latent creative energy so that it generates its own

internal force to keep concentration focused, we not only avoid depression but also increase the complexity of our capacities to relate to the world. How can we do this? How can we relearn to enjoy curiosity so that the pursuit ...

Wake up in the morning with a specific goal to look forward to.

Eventually most of the day should consist of tasks you look forward to, until you feel that getting up in the morning is a privilege, not a chore.

If you do anything well, it becomes enjoyable.

The more activities that we do with excellence and style, the more of life becomes intrinsically rewarding.

The conditions that make flow possible suggest how to transform everyday activities so that they are more enjoyable. Having clear goals and expectations for whatever we do, paying attention to the consequences of our actions, adjusting skills to the opportunities for action in the environment, concentrating on the task at hand without distractions—these are the simple rules that can make the difference between an unpleasant and an enjoyable experience.

It is easier to start with the most mundane activities all of us have to take care of. How can you get more enjoyment from brushing your teeth? Taking a shower? Dressing? Eating breakfast? Getting to work? Take the simplest of these routines and experiment with engineering its flow potential. How do you apply flow conditions to loading the dishwasher? If you take this question seriously and try to answer by testing various alternatives, you will be surprised at how much fun brushing teeth can be. It will never be as enjoyable as skiing or playing in a string quartet, but it might beat watching most television programs.

To keep enjoying something, you need to increase its complexity.

But generally it is more satisfying to become involved in activities that are inexhaustible—music, poetry, carpentry, computers, gardening, philosophy, or deep personal relationships.

Habits of Strength After creative energy is awakened, it is necessary to protect it. We must erect barriers against distractions, dig channels so that energy can flow more freely, find ways to escape outside temptations and interruptions. If we do not, entropy is sure to break down the concentration that the pursuit of an interest requires. Then thought returns to its baseline state—the vague, unfocused, constantly distracted condition of the normal

mind.

At first many people were mildly shocked that the great Alfred Einstein always wore the same old sweater and baggy trousers. Why was he being so weird? Of course, Einstein wasn’t trying to upset anybody. He was just cutting down on the daily effort involved in deciding what clothes to wear, so that his mind could focus on matters that to him were more important.

They require you to decide whether at this point it is better to be open or to be focused.

Before you have discovered an overriding interest in a particular domain, it makes sense to be open to as much of the world as possible. After you have developed an abiding interest, however, it may make more sense to save as much energy as you can to invest in that one domain.

A few more words may be needed here concerning the concept of “control” as applied to attention. It should be realized that one way of controlling is to relinquish control. People who

meditate expand their being by letting go of focused thought. This way they aim to achieve a spiritual union with the energy behind the world of appearances, the force that drives the universe. But this way of giving up control is itself directed, controlled by the mind. It is very different from just sitting and gossiping, passively consuming entertainment, or letting the mind wander without purpose. What can you do to build up habits that will make it possible to control attention so that it can be open and receptive, or focused and directed, depending on what your overall goals require?

Take charge of your schedule.

every hour saved from drudgery and routine is an hour added to

creativity.

Make time for reflection and relaxation.

But constant busyness is not a good prescription for creativity. It is important to schedule times in the day, the week, and the year just to take stock of your life and review what you have accomplished and what remains to be done.

These are times when you should not expect any task to be done, any decision to be reached. You should just indulge in the luxury of reflection for its own sake. Whether you intend it or not, new ideas and conclusions will emerge in your

consciousness anyway—and the less you try to direct the process the more creativ...

It may be best to combine these periods of reflection with some other task that requires a certain amount of attention, but not all of it. Preferably this should involve some physical or kinesthetic component. Typical activities that facilitate subconscious creative processes are...

Neither constant stress nor monotony is a very good context for creativity. You should alternate stress with periods of relaxation. But remember that the best relaxation is not doing nothing. It usually involves doing something very different from your usual tasks. Some of the most demanding activities like rock climbing, skiing, or skydiving are relaxing to people who have desk jobs because they p...

But creative individuals usually sleep longer and claim that if they cut down on sleeptime the originality of their ideas suffers.

And don’t feel guilty if you sleep a few hours more than is considered normal. What you lose in waking time will probably be made up in terms of the quality of experience while you are awake.

Shape your space.

Cherished objects remind us of our goals, make us feel more confident, and focus our attention. Trophies, diplomas, favorite books, and family pictures on the office desk are all reminders of who you are, what you have accomplished, and therefore what you are likely to achieve.

Find out what you like and what you hate about life.

The first thing is to keep a careful record of what you did each day and how you felt about it.

It is possible, after a week, to have a good idea of how you spend your

time and how you feel about various activities.