Maximizing Flow State: The Importance of Meaning and Purpose in Work
Cultivating Flow
When you begin to replace distractions from television, social media and the opinions of others with doing things that bring meaning to you, you’ll be in your flow. Are you wondering whether you’re doing the right things for yourself to cultivate your flow?
When it comes down to it, you just really want to be at ease knowing that the work that you are doing is purpose-filled and you’re living a meaningful life full of positive contributions towards yourself and humanity.
Meaning is more than just intention. Meaning is something that you derive, that you share with others, it’s something that you are in charge of creating for yourself. When you have meaning, you flourish throughout life.
Over time, ancient philosophers, scientists and theorists have come up with many definitions of what it means to live with meaning. Current research in modern psychology supports a comprehensive understanding of meaning developed by University of Connecticut researchers, George and Park:
Comprehension - the degree to which people perceive a sense of coherence (SOC) and understanding about their lives. This is compromised of three main components: comprehensibility, manageability and meaningfulness.
Purpose - the extent to which people experience life as being motivated by their goals, values and beliefs.
Mattering - the degree to which individuals feel that their lives are of value and significance to the world (George and Park, 2014).
One way to satisfy this three component theory to not only bring more meaning in life but to increase your well-being, creativity and productivity is by engaging in activities and work that keep you engaged in a manner whereby your focus and attention do not get broken for another task. Also, time becomes non-existent.
DO WHAT YOU LOVE
That’s right - do what you love. This allows you to cultivate flow. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a positive psychology researcher interviewed 8,000 people all around the world: artists, athletes, musicians, nuns etc. He wanted to know what people experienced when they achieved optimal levels of performance. He also wanted to know what influenced their positive
