For years I grew the habit of working on (personal & work) things mostly in a chill state. I rarely could put everything else aside and get into a state of flow with a high level of concentration and focus for relatively long times to achieve deep work. It’s not to say that I never could, or that all my life I hadn’t done work in a similar state to that of the flow, but I just didn’t have enough awareness and grasp to identify this state and be able to use it in a day-to-day basis to my own advantage.

I did, of course, read many articles and people’s experiences on this. What eventually stuck with me was comparing those experiences with my own and finding the similarities. This means that when you enter this state, you leave everything else behind, getting a crystal clear focus at your disposal to tackle whatever task, forget the passing of time, and be isolated from fear, stress, and anxiety. This resonated with me of those times when I rarely was able to enter the state, although unintentionally. I think that by intention, it can be used as a tool.

After understanding and having a clear idea of its existence and how people are applying it to get things done, I observed that I too can use it. I kind of acquired a manual for getting into the state of flow. I knew what steps I should take and what needs I should cater to. And more importantly, one should know his weaknesses and flaws as well. Just following the manual may not be enough. Quite possibly your genes, personal traits, or habits could make it either difficult or, luckily, easier to do deep work in a deep focus mode. So it’s important also to have a good knowledge of yourself and make the necessary changes to adapt.

I have a bad anxiety stemming from fear of missing out on lots of things while I’m occupied with my things. As a result, this triggers impulses throughout the day to check social media that sometimes end up in exhaustion, even more anxiety, and a waste of mental energy. Knowing this of myself, I can try to do something to prevent it. Imagine a world where you had this, and didn’t realize it was a problem. That would be very sad.

When it comes to activating the flow state, it could be different for everyone depending on the profession, the nature of the tasks, the personal traits, and the goals. This means you might need to improvise and try out different routines to reach it. My professional job as a software developer and most of my other personal tasks entail sitting at a desk with a computer to do most of the actual work.

I want to define the two types of mind states in which I do my work on a day-to-day basis: the chill state, and the flow state.

The Chill State

This is the state where it’s easiest to do work in. It’s highly flexible when dealing with tasks that don’t require much deep thinking. It’s like running errands: you’re on auto-pilot, and what needs to be done is mostly already defined or just easy to navigate, and requires manual effort and low complexity. It won’t cost you much if you get distracted. You can multitask and change contexts as much as you want. You can work on a task, reply to your colleagues’ messages, check emails, get involved in some discussions, and watch a show or listen to music all at the same time without compromising on productivity.

The Flow State

This is the state where it’s more difficult to activate. It’s not as much flexible. it’s highly fragile because context changes and outside distractions can easily break it. It needs special requirements to activate and to keep running it. It’s purposed for highly complex problems and for things that require creativity and innovation. It allows you to use your full mental capacity.

How I activate the flow state

Eventually, I realized how much of my mental capacity was wasted by not having a solid framework in which I could use the correct state. I experimented with a few things to see what works and what does not. My personal version of activating the flow state consists of rules that I follow before and during the process. But it also has a long-term attribute which helps.

Mental preparation

Before getting into the actual rules, it helps to have a “bigger picture” perspective for your deep work sessions. I think doing deep work in this state does require its own fair share of motivation that can be connected to your long-term goals. However, depending completely on motivation is also not enough because it can be inconsistent and not always available or strong enough. It has its lows. But getting yourself reminded of the purpose of the work you want to get done can be useful. Ask yourself: “What do I want to achieve by doing this work?” Perhaps you can imagine what you will have achieved in a year if you stuck to deep work and made it a consistent part of your life.

Another important thing: if your task is too easy, you might not be able to bring out a strong focus and motivation. You might as well treat it as a mundane chore that just needs to get done. Only when there’s a slight element of difficulty or complexity can our attention be engaged. Compensate lack of motivation with discipline.

And when your task is way above your level and feels too difficult, you might experience frustration. Once you are blocked, and cannot get unblocked, the flow is then just too weak to continue. Then that’s a situation to deal with in different ways. One suggestion is to break down that blocker problem into smaller manageable chunks and tackle each of them in the flow.

Take care of physical essentials

It’s impossible to do a meaningful amount of work if you haven’t slept enough last night. And, even if you could, you would have sacrificed your health for it. It’s not sustainable in the long run. You can’t achieve your goals if you can’t show up because of mental and physical illnesses. Make sure

Besides sleep, staying hydrated and having good healthy meals are as important. Stay away from sugary foods, take regular breaks, move your body, go out for walks or runs, and have a workout plan. Strong and healthy bodies produce the best.

Create time-blocks

There are different techniques that you can try but the main idea of it is that you have a long working session followed by a short break. For example, this could be a 30-minute block with a 5 or 10-minute break at the end. Using time-tracking software can be helpful. Alternatively, it could be as simple as “I will finish task X and then take a break”. Try out what length works best for you. Take breaks and freshen up after each session.

Mute everything

I think the most important of all is muting everything in all of the devices. For me personally, getting a message notification in the middle of a task can make me lose focus immediately. I could control when to reply to it, but my mind will force me to at least read the message and check what it’s about, and possibly think “I might as well reply to it now”. By muting, I leave out the possibility of seeing a notification when it arrives. Muting is crucial.

Luckily, I live in a place that rarely has noises from neighbors or from the street. But if that’s the case, noise-canceling headphones with non-distracting music can be great. Nothing from the outside world that you have control over should distract you during this time.

Set the environment

These are some of the (in addition to the main points above) things I do before and during the work sessions that help set a productive environment:

Talking to myself through whatever I’m working on (rubber-ducking)
Keep my browser tabs clean to avoid distractions (new windows or tab-grouping)
Face my phone’s screen down and put it far from my reach to avoid checking it impulsively
Keep my desk tidy and organized
Play random music with a volume that’s just barely audible (avoid music you’ve memorized) (I can suggest radio.garden)
Prepare drinks (coffee, tea, water) before the start of a session

How do you know you’ve entered the flow?

Once you’ve mentally prepared, are in good physical shape, muted the distractions, and set a nice working environment, and have just started to take on a task. How do you even know you’ve entered the flow?

I think the most conclusive sign is the combination of two points: 1) a high level of concentration that gives you the feeling of a mental capacity being used to its fullest and 2) a state of neglect for the perception of time. During this, the universe consists only of you and the subject of your crystal clear focus and intense clarity. You find it easier to focus on a problem, come up with a solution, and produce results because all else distractions are blocked and you have committed yourself solely to the target.

Final notes

I want to acknowledge some things. If this writing was written by someone else and I somehow came across it two years ago, I’d probably go “Eh, just do your work. What’s with all the shenanigans?” For some, this might be the exact response. I understand that some people are able to focus all their attention on a topic and do deep work without resorting to this special manual.

However, I can imagine how many more people are struggling with it and may be thinking it’s an unalterable trait of them and just have to get along. I think that mindfully thinking and understanding these states and following some kind of a manual such as this one, will in the long-term make it a natural part of how you do your work. Writing this helped me organize my thoughts and ideas around the whole issue and allowed me to get an even clearer image of it than I had at the beginning. Hoping this will have similar effects on anyone reading.