There’s a famous book called Flow that’s all about intrinsic motivation — how some activities captivate us and we lose track of time in our absorption. It’s in my personal hall of fame as a book that shaped my worldview, although I last read it many years ago. It’s probably time for a re-read.
Right now I’m reading the precursor to that book: Beyond Boredom And Anxiety. It’s by the same author, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, but he’s younger and he’s describing the studies that will later lay the foundation for the perspective set forth in Flow.
The gist is that we’re happiest when what we’re doing isn’t too hard, and isn’t too easy. If an endeavor requires our full concentration to succeed, but success is possible, it’s likely to give us pleasure. Losing yourself and your peripheral sense of the world or your own identity and insecurities in order to track a hard problem is a sensation we all want more of.
So THAT’s why doing needlepoint while attending a dull civic meeting was more satisfying than either activity would have been separately. Neither listening nor stitching took my full attention, but allocating my concentration between them didn’t leave my brain any room for rumination, self-doubt, or the usual monkey thoughts that diminish experiences.
