Flow

An easy flow trick is to set a 48-minute timer; commit to single-tasking for the entire duration. 48 minutes is long enough to get something done, and short enough that you can brute force through distractions (not checking email, RSS, HN, etc).<p>You'll likely continue past the 48 minutes, if you hit a good flow state, or you can take a deliberate 12 minute break and go for an hourly cycle.<p>Simple Windows timer: <a href="http://www.orzeszek.org/blog/2009/08/21/simple-countdown-timer-for-windows/" rel="nofollow">http://www.orzeszek.org/blog/2009/08/21/simple-countdown-tim...</a><p>And Mac dashboard widget: <a href="http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/calculate_convert/minutes.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.apple.com/downloads/dashboard/calculate_convert/m...</a>

I highly recommend the book "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Mihaly is well respected professor of psychology and management at Claremont University. I don't say this lightly - there is no other book that has had a greater, positive impact on my overall life. Enjoy!

"Game designers, particularly video and computer games, benefit from integration of flow principles into gameplay design."<p>Gamers will get into zones, similar to athletes, where their reaction times become ultra quick and reflexes are super sharp. Game designers sometimes try to bake these directly into the game, and it's arguable whether or not it's beneficial. For example, many people complain about the killstreak rewards in Modern Warfare 2; once you get going, you're pretty much indestructible.

As a programmer, I love "Flow." I only experience it once in a while though, I'd love to have it, if even for a small period, on a daily basis.<p>I do notice that if I'm in like barns and noble programming (just to get out of the house) I am flow'n.<p>And the article's inclusion of what is considered flow in hip hop doesnt really relate, but I see how they are trying to include it.<p>A great example of flow is when Dave Chapelle did standup for 4 or so hours straight.

That graph looks wrong: According to it if you have low-middle skill and enter the difficulty level that creates anxiety, a person of less skill would only feel worry.

I heard this term used by another programmer recently, and didn't realize it was referring to a specific psychological concept. Awesome.

Neat! I didn't know that what I call "The Zone" had been formalized.

Excellent book, made a huge change in my life.