Chapter 10, Making Of Meaning, culminates Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s Flow. Meaning provides a yardstick to evaluate the human condition and to consider what it means to be a human being in the context of our world. “Meaning” is a catalyst to provide energy and stimulate the intellectual vitality required for optimal experience. Without meaning it is difficult to find the rationale for tasks and cares that may feel mundane, but are necessary to reach a goal or as we pivot toward another.
Meaning is a reflection of both externalities and internalities. Every individual has a different perception based on their context and the world around them. The institutions in a society such as the government and church can strongly influence the meaning individuals create. But even the influence of institutions wax and wane. Other cultural phenomena such as the standing of work or family in a culture are influences. One point in the text that struck me was that the combination of external and internal pressure can lead to meaning reflecting internal or external pressures. Work-life balance is a form of this dichotomy. Cs… states, “Meaning needs to be more than just work or just a meaning outside of work.” In the end, meaning is a tool that brings order to the contents of the mind by integrating one’s actions into a unified flow experience.
I have spent a significant portion of my career working with people making things better (or at least changing trajectories). I learned from many, through their writings, lectures, and conversations that you need a reason to get up every morning and take action, but the meaning that propels you from between the sheets is insufficient in the long term. Action, even rational and purposeful action, has to be complemented and supported through reflection. Shewart identified the plan, do, check, act cycle. Scrum popularized the inspect and adapt cycle. Without feedback, action will drift away from the value of the original idea that a goal exemplifies. Missing the mark is more often the accumulated impact of a lack of a strong feedback loop. A final quote from the chapter puts a bow on the idea of making meaning (and continuously remaking meaning). “Action by itself is blind reflection impotent.”
Next week we complete our discussion of Flow with a few final thoughts and choose the next book in the Re-read series.
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
Week 9: Enjoying Solitude and Other People
Week 10: Cheating Chaos
