Can You Get Into Flow On Command? The Truth And Challenges Of This Question

I was speaking with someone yesterday about Flow States.

They asked me a great question - Can you get into Flow on command?

It would be extremely incredible if we could get into the state of mind when we feel our best and do our best work at any moment!

If we could get 5x productivity at the drop of a dime, how much could we actually get done?

But is this actually possible?

The Reality

Have you ever tried to get into Flow on command?

Or tried to get into the "zone"?

Forced yourself to get something done when you didn't really feel like it?

I know I have.

It feels impossible.

You want to start cranking out work.

You want it to feel smooth and painless, but it ends up the opposite.

It is full of pain, and struggle, and nothing gets done.

In fact, that is how I felt when I started writing this article.

Ideas didn't want to come into my mind.

The words weren't starting.

I couldn't even get a single word or even an idea of what I wanted to write.

What makes this worse is that I know how Flow States work, I have trained and been certified in how to find them!

But this is the reality of Flow States.

You can never "force" them, even when you fully understand how they work.

The answer to the question is no - you cannot get into Flow States on command.

HOWEVER, that doesn't mean there is no Hope.

In fact, I eventually did get into Flow writing this, but it's because I understand the Science of how it works.

The Science

Flow States always come as a part of a cycle.

You must go through the cycle to find Flow States, and understanding the cycle allows you to find Flow States more consistently with higher success.

You still can't do it on command, but your results can still be incredible.

See, the Flow Cycle is a 4-Part cycle.

All parts are required to get into Flow and to do it consistently.

This is the Cycle:

Struggle ➼ Release ➼ Flow ➼ Recovery

If you miss any of these, you won't be able to get into Flow States.

The easiest parts of the cycle are Release and Flow.

Release comes almost without thought and directly moves into Flow which feels like an effortless state when you get there.

However, the vast majority of people have difficulty with the other two parts - Struggle and Recovery.

With Struggle, you need to find a small zone between "Too Much" and "Too Little".

Too much struggle leads to overwhelm and Dis-Stress, while too little leads to boredom.

This zone, according to scientists, lies at around 4% more difficult than your current skill level.

This is called the "Challenge-Skill Balance".

Most people have difficulty finding this zone though for a few reasons.

One, we naturally avoid "difficult" things, it's a part of our physiology to conserve energy.

Flow States, even though they feel great, also consume a lot of energy (The technical term is Mg-ATP).

Then, if we can overcome that psychological hurdle, we run into the next hurdle which is not overdoing it.

Many people will completely overshoot the 4% and go to 10%, 50%, and sometimes even as high as 500% more difficult than their current skill levels.

By doing this, you lock yourself out of your ability to "Release".

You need it to be a small challenge, just a little more.

Then there is the final challenge here - the 4% is actually a moving target.

What could be 4% today might only be 2% tomorrow, so you will need to amp it up tomorrow.

Or perhaps you have been extremely stressed out all day, so what was 4% yesterday could actually be 50% today.

This moving target makes it challenging to continually find that zone you are looking for.

You need to fine-tune your senses to understand how you are feeling on any given day to adjust the balance depending on a wide variety of factors.

The more you fine-tune this, the easier it becomes to make adjustments to get into Flow more consistently.

It's never a "perfect" understanding, but it can become more reliable over time.

To some, it may "seem" like you get into Flow on command, but it isn't true.

I can get into deep Flow States nearly every day.

It isn't on command, but it definitely is far more consistent than most people.

Now the other challenge most people face is the last stage of the cycle - the Recovery Stage.

As I mentioned, Flow States require a LOT of energy (Mg-ATP).

Every time you find a Flow State, you need to refill your energy storage.

If you don't, it simply becomes impossible to find Flow States because you don't have enough energy to get into them.

However, recovery involves many factors, most of which people don't really understand, including many of the top scientists in the field.

It includes things like sleep, nutrition, stress management, working on your nervous system, emotional management, and more.

The better you recover, the more frequently you can get into Flow States.

Why It Is Important To Understand Flow

This is why focusing on recovery is so important in Peak Performance.

In Flow States, you become 5x more productive than when you are not in them.

So what takes an average person 5 days, you could do in 1 day with Flow States.

Do this enough, it adds up quickly.

This becomes even exponentially more impactful when you figure out how to do this with your team.

Not only could you accomplish significantly more than other people, but you end up feeling better because you actually recover!

Most people "slog" through life, feeling miserable every moment of it, but it shouldn't be that way!

Understanding how to work with our Psychophysiology, instead of against us, can help us accomplish seemingly miraculous things all while feeling amazing.