Logistics note:  Including this week, we anticipate completing this re-read in 4 weeks. Are there recommendations for the next book in the Re-read series?

Chapter 8, of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s book Flow, titled Enjoying Solitude and Other People, discusses the impact of people on optimal experience and flow. The author grounds the chapter by reminding us that the quality of life depends on how we experience work and relationships with others. Chapter 7 wrestled with the work portion of the equation and Chapter 8 the people part. The two are highly intertwined.

In “Teams in a New Era: Some Considerations and Implications,” Lauren E. Benishek and  Elizabeth H. Lazzara state, “Teams have been a ubiquitous structure for conducting work and business for most of human history.” Given the centrality of teams to delivering complex solutions most organizations require to generate value, understanding the impact of people on flow is not an esoteric topic. In the workplace, teams provide space for social interaction which is important for humans. Even a brief perusal of history shows very few people adopt the life of a hermit to pursue their life’s work. Those that do rarely publish works equivalent to the Principia Mathematica. Certainly, some individuals isolate themselves for periods to perform “deep work.” Examples include Jesus, Thoreau, and Newport. I recently read a blog entry from the author of Deep Work, Cal Newport, who had rented a house with a detached “writing shed.” The intent was not permanent isolation but avoidance of collaboration tools and social media so that he could concentrate. In most other aspects of his life, interaction with people is important. The impact on flow of the dichotomy between working alone and working in a team troubles me given in today’s remote working environments (or hybrid). Team members need more than just surface connections to achieve flow. Can the necessary deep connections between team members form when interactions are predominantly via computer screens? Even when hybrid scenarios are invoked, are once-a-week face-to-face gatherings sufficient to generate the needed bonds? The answer lies in Mihaly’s advice that all relationships require work.

The second topic in this chapter that caught my attention was the problem of loneliness. From the perspective of flow the problem is less about being alone than the ability to keep your mind ordered while alone. The interaction of outside and inside forces orders our minds. I mentally picture a column of mercury in a barometer as an analogy. The atmosphere generates pressure to push the mercury from the bulb into the tube while gravity pulls down on it. External pressures include social goals, stimulation, and feedback. These keep our attention (which is the internal ordering energy) focused. Without both forces, the author states thoughts become “chaotic resulting in states of psychic entropy.” To combat this issue Csikszentmihalyi suggests filling “free time” with activities that require concentration, increase skills, and lead to the development of the self. Sitting on the couch watching television, drinking Captain Morgan Rum all the while playing Candy Crush doesn’t meet the bar for growth activities. Too structured?  

A third area to consider begins when the author quotes Cicero, “We are slaves of the law so that we may be free,” to remind us that we need structure in our relationships. In any group or team, there is a reorientation and establishment of a set of constraints that must be accepted by the team (or any group of two or more people). This discipline and structure are necessary for order and flow. This drives into a conversation of goals. Common goals are an important part of the structure of any team but even though they are often discussed they rarely really exist. Most “teams” in the workplace are at best groups of semirelated people. They have no common visionary goals to guide relationships. Succinctly, real teams REQUIRE the combination of visionary goals (long term) and tactical goals (short term) to provide the framework for establishing flow. Note: This is true for teams at work and teams outside the workplace.

Flow in relationships requires the same conditions identified in Chapter Four, The Conditions of Flow. All states of flow whether in art, work, or relationships require the same conditions to achieve an optimal experience. Establishing the right conditions should be the goal rather than chasing a single type of event.  

As I read this chapter for the second time, I noticed that it is easy to overlook the need for structure and discipline in establishing and maintaining relationships that generate flow. It is far easier to feel like they just happen rather than occur as an outcome of thought and effort. Reflecting on many decades of relationships, it is easy to compare the relationships maintained in a structured and disciplined manner and those that reflect a random walk. The former tend to be richer and more long-lasting.  Ordering our individual lives is a prerequisite to making the world less chaotic. The author ends the chapter with the quote, ”Those who try to make life better for everyone without having first learned to control their own lives first usually end up making things worse all around.” 

Buy a copy and read along – https://amzn.to/4b5kPmb 

Week 1: Preface and Logistics – https://bit.ly/3WLjFHU 

Week 2: Happiness – https://bit.ly/4dUSpNg 

Week 3: Consciousness – https://bit.ly/4bEu3pN 

Week 4: Enjoyment and The Quality of Life – https://bit.ly/4eeknDQ 

Week 5: The Conditions Of Flow 

Week 6: The Body In Flow

Week 7: The Flow Of Thought

Week 8: Work As Flow