Many of you are already familiar with Csikszentmihalyi’s work on ‘Flow’. His research found that when there is a perfect balance between the challenge involved in the task and the skill of the person carrying out the task, a ‘flow state’ can be accessed.  In this state time seems to ‘disappear’ and the task becomes effortless. Higher levels of flow (mastery) are experienced when a person completes a high challenge task with expertise in this area; for example sports, or in some cases even when working!

When carrying out a task where the level of challenge exceeds the level of skill of the ‘participant’ then a state of stress is experienced - anything from mild anxiety to overwhelm. Many people associate the excessively high levels of challenge to external factors such as tight timescales or new tasks. 

Here’s the twist though – our experience and research has shown that many of the excess challenges are actually created by internal pressures that we create ourselves. For example if when completing a project for our boss we are also trying to prove the manager wrong on a previous judgement of us - we are effectively doubling the pressure of the task. Another example would be completing a task while thinking about a recent mistake that we have made. As we think of the previous mistake and what we should have done instead, as well as doing the task, we are in effect completing two tasks simultaneously.

We’ve also applied this research in our recent work with professional footballers. Even elite players seemed to lose focus following mistakes – they focus on the mistake whilst playing in the here and now. This was clear in my recent work with a Championship player and former Under 21 international (for those of you not into football, this basically makes him pretty good!). His passing was uncharacteristically inaccurate. The previous ‘bad’ pass continued to play on his mind as he played the next pass. As he was focussing on that action, he was also mentally trying to correct the previous one; in effect the player was mentally playing two passes at the same – and even the best players can’t do that!

This can explain much of the pressure created by ourselves and how overwhelm becomes self-perpetuating. It is important therefore when coaching and supporting others that we encourage them to focus purely on the current task and ignore any other factors that my be contributing to the feeling of overwhelm. For example if they are completing a project for their line manager, they should focus purely on the tasks required by the project and trust that by doing this effectively it will create the right impression with the manager. Similarly in sport, focus purely on the task in hand (pass, tackle, shot) and trust that this will lead to the appropriate results.

This Week’s Call To Action…

• Revisit (or find out about) Csikszentmihalyi’s work on ‘Flow’.
• Think of a recent task that sent you into ‘overwhelm’. Consider the factors that created the feeling of stress or pressure. As you reflect, which of these were external factors and which were internal?

The next time you are faced with a similar situation focus simply on the immediate task (trusting that by doing this any other internal issues will look after themselves). Notice the positive results of this renewed focus.

Also see ‘The Complete Guide To Sport Motivation’ Ken Hodge ISBN 0-7136-7465-2

This week’s FriendlyBrain Tip comes to you from Richard Nugent of Kaizen Training. Kaizen Training Limited is a well-established consulting and training firm based in the UK and offering its services to the global business community. Training for Excellence is a leading-edge Train the Trainer company based in the U.S. and providing training programs internationally. For more information, contact us at info@wetrain.biz