This is a YouTube video titled "How To Get Into Flow State and Perform at Your VERY BEST Whenever YOU WANT!" featuring Rich Schefren discussing strategies to achieve flow state, motivation techniques, and how to optimize performance. The content is a monologue or presentation by Rich Schefren, recorded in May 2021, focusing on personal productivity and motivation.
All right, so let's start with this. We're going to talk about flow, but I find that this actually is critical to being in flow. I've read tons of books on flow, so I definitely have a bunch to share. My motivation strategy, like, it's important that as an entrepreneur, right? Or as someone that works for themselves, that you're very clear about what maximizes your motivation. This is what maximizes my motivation, right? So when I am procrastinating or when I'm thinking about a project, I try to make sure that my projects that I'm going to work on, like, fulfill as many of these as possible. Because I know that when a project is a big opportunity, right, like, that's the first one, I'm more prone to take it more seriously and be more engaged in it. Is there an external. Real deadlines. Deadlines drive action that doesn't only work for prospects and customers. That works on ourselves, Right. Am I motivated? Is it right for me?
Right.
And are the stakes high? I've certainly been in dangerous situations in my life, but the one that I felt most alive in was when Kim bought me a sparring session with a UFC fighter. I never felt more alive, you know, Like, I never felt more in the present moment in that sparring session with that fighter. The feeling was so amazing, so present. And I find that the higher the stakes generally, the easier it is for me to focus. Okay. Would I be letting people down, especially people that are important to me that seems to be, like, extremely critical. Those things help me get maximally motivated.
Right?
So what is it for you? Because if you know what motivates you, like, what characteristics of projects does a project need to have in order to get the maximum out of you? Then you can engineer it into your projects.
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Now that I know that this is my motivation strategy, I can actually ensure that I'm looking at projects from this perspective. You have to recognize that you're not just going to drop into flow, right? Like, that generally doesn't happen. You have to first direct some attention towards the actual task at hand. And it's only through that task that you can actually start to build some momentum. So you're going to need some amount of time. You're no longer afraid of failure. You're no longer concerned about imposter syndrome. You are in the zone. You are completely focused on the task at hand. And when you're completely focused on the task at hand, you lose that sense of self, right? Because kind of unaware of what's going on around you. And in you, if that makes sense. And I would imagine that most of us have had that experience, right? Like when you get into that zone where there is a clear outcome, you're motivated, right. You're focused. These all are that excitatory state that I can put into what it is I'm working on. Feedback. Feedback is critical when it comes to flow, right. You need a way of monitoring your activity and whether or not it's work to determine if your actions at work are moving closer to your objective. You must give yourself feedback throughout the day. If you have no way of judging your performance, it's very difficult, then you're actually hindering flow because you have no way of knowing or rewarding or being happy for yourself when you accomplish stuff. This is one of the reasons why I generally script my day in the morning. And in order for today to be a great day, what has to occur. I took the time in the morning to define what the win would be, because oftentimes I'm an asshole to myself, where if I don't define what the win is right in the morning, I will change the rules. At the end of the day, the challenge needs to be just right.
Right.
Too much of a challenge causes anxiety. Too little of a challenge causes boredom when looking for that sweet spot. And that often comes down to, like, how you chunk activities. So if you're playing chess, you should play chess against players who are rated just 4% better than you. If you play against a weaker player, you'll win too easily and be bored. If you play against a grandmaster, you'll consistently be crushed and find the experience frustrating and hopeless. But if you can compete against people that are slightly better in any area will get better. And you know you can win if you dig deep, dedicate your attention to the task at hand, and experience flow. If you adjust the difficulty of work tasks to be slightly harder than what you can do comfortably, you can also find flow.
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So take something that's too easy for you. Figure out a way to make it a little bit more of a challenge into the racing a clock or something to that effect where you're making the task harder. And by making the task harder, you find oftentimes that it's easier to get into flow because now there is a challenge, right?
Right.
So if you adjust the difficulty of word tasks to be slightly harder than what you can do comfortably, you might find flow. If you can comfortably write a thousand words in 25 minutes, push yourself to do a thousand words in 24 minutes or 23 minutes or 22 minutes.
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Most enjoyable activities are not natural. They demand an effort that initially one is reluctant to make. But once the interaction starts to provide feedback to the person's skills, it usually begins to be intrinsically rewarding. Thank you for joining me today. And thank you to all of you who joined me today. Every Tuesday and Thursday, Tuesday from 2 to 4, Thursdays from 6 to 8.
