Flow can be defined as that moment when an footballer is about to take a last minute free kick or penalty, everything fades and time feels like it has slowed down. His mind is sorely focused on the ball and nothing else. Flow is that state of mind were one is entirely focused on achieving a single purpose or target. He feels in control and there's clear feedback of success or failure. Mihaly goes deeper in this concept and gives a model were one can achieve flow even during the most tedious of jobs. Flow is not only for olympians and formula 1 drivers, everyday activities like cooking, eating, walking and singing can bring flow if one applies the flow model to them. This model includes setting clear targets for oneself, concentrating clearly on the task at hand, loosing your self completely and there must be a clear feedback of either success or failure. The flow concept highly requires the participant to match skills and the challenges at hand. If skills are more than the challenges then it results in boredom and to overcome this, one must increase his targets in order to achieve flow. If the challenges are greater then the individual will suffer anxiety.
Mihaly emphasizes how the control of consciousness can drastically increase the quality of life. He mentions that mental disorder is the normal state of an uncontrolled state of mind and one must find an activity to maintain order in the mind. In the final chapters he encourages people to adapt a dissipative structure type of an attitude. In nature these are structures that can turn waste into order and life. The ability to turn bad situations into challenges to be prevailed can make life including the bad days to be enjoyable. This is a must-read that I would recommend to everyone. Its difficult to summarize this masterpiece and one can only grasp the full concept through reading all of it.
