Imagine you’re sitting at your desk, your textbooks and folders assembled neatly around you. You’ve followed the schedule you made for yourself this week, but you’re stuck on one task. Unless you finish it, you can’t move on with your project, and the lack of concentration is frustrating you so much.
This probably wasn’t hard to imagine: it’s likely this has happened to you once before, if not multiple times. After leaving your phone and laptop in another room, you thought you’d be able to focus now. However, that’s not the only thing that dictates how easy it is to concentrate and “get into the zone.”
What is “being in the flow”?
The state of flow, colloquially referred to as being in the zone, is a psychological state in which productivity and focus are at their highest. One is often so immersed in their work that they forget their surroundings, channeling all their energy into the task at hand.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, a Hungarian-American psychologist, proposed a model to explain different states of the mind based on 2 criteria — a task’s challenge level and one’s skill set or confidence in their ability.
As shown, flow is in the upper right-hand corner, where the job is difficult enough to keep you engaged and you’re confident enough that you can accomplish it. Disproportionate ratios between the two factors can lead to boredom and apathy or stress and anxiety, which are both quite common in teens.
Now that you know about the benefits of being in a state of flow, you might be wondering how you would get there. Fortunately, it’s not as arbitrary of a mindset as it seems. There are quite a few tips you can use to ease yourself into the process.
#1 Set a Clear, Specific Goal
Without knowing what must be accomplished, your brain cannot stay focused on a task. Your first job is to divide large projects into smaller elements that you can tackle individually. For example, when writing an essay, divide it into pieces: create an outline, work on the thesis/introduction, separate each body paragraph, and finally write the conclusion. Making each part as specific as possible will eliminate the probability of distractions since you won’t need too many external materials as the task gets smaller. Additionally, planning a certain outcome for the end will give you the motivation to achieve it. It’s much easier to run a race when you can see the finish line — the same concept works here. Envision your aim before starting to work, and it will be much easier to get into the zone.
#2 Moderate Task Difficulty
When creating your goal, make sure it fits your skill level and isn’t beyond or beneath it. Easy tasks don’t engage you enough and can lead to boredom, allowing your mind to wander and pulling you farther from the flow state. However, difficult ones can discourage you from working and may cause unnecessary stress and anxiety. They also can require a lot of external aid and distractions, too. Staying in the top right section of Csikszentmihalyi’s model ensures this balance between ability level and task difficulty so you can pass into the flow state.
#3 Create a Mental Que
One of the most important methods to routinely get into the zone is to develop a signal that will tell your mind you’re ready to be productive. It can be anything from saying a sentence to a small action, such as performing a short workout. However, it’s imperative that you do the exact same thing every time. This works because of classical conditioning, a type of association in which your brain pairs stimuli together and anticipates the response to them. The connection formed between the cue and the state of flow becomes stronger each time to the point where little effort is needed after the cue is performed to get into the zone.
You may have noticed certain environments in which you’re more likely to get work done, and that’s great! Try to replicate these situations just as you would with the mental cues, as they can be just as useful to step into flow.
Getting into the zone is no easy task, and making this a new habit isn’t much simpler. But with practice, anyone can master the transition into flow and gain control over their concentration. And since not everything works for everyone, these tips are just to get you started on increasing your efficiency and productivity in all aspects of life — exploring this realm will allow you to find the best ways to improve your concentration and get in the zone.
tl;dr
Being in the zone, also known as a state of flow, is a mindset in which one is fully concentrated on their work without giving in to distractions. Although it seems very difficult to get into, with a few habitual practices, you can easily sustain long periods of concentration. Start by setting a specific goal to accomplish and give yourself ample time to do it. Make sure this aim is challenging enough to keep you engaged but not so challenging that you’re discouraged from doing it. After creating the goal, craft a signal that you will use each time you plan to get into the flow state. By combining these and adapting them to your circumstances, being productive and focused will soon become incredibly easy for anyone.