Flow

As I was suggested on Twitter I looked into something related to gamification the flow theory, and I found it simply fascinating.
According to its theorist, the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, flow its a state in which people “are completely absorbed in an activity, especially an activity which involves their creative abilities. During this ‘optimal experience’ they feel “strong, alert, in effortless control, unselfconscious, and at the peak of their abilities.”

To clearly explain it Csikszentmihalyi created a scheme, based on two parametres: skills and challenge, where the state of flow is reached once they are both at an high level.

Here is probably one of his most famous talks where he explains the concept of flow and the scheme above reported.

What I really like about this concept, it’s that besides explaining a state which undoubtedly it’s related to a person productivity, explains probably the very sense of happiness and fulfilment which a person can have.

“The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times… The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi