Being in a state of flow

[00:00:00] You're listening to the Daily Five, an experimental podcast by Aurooba, where I talk about something for five minutes. So let's get to it, shall we? All right, so last episode, we talked about the things that can help us get into a state of flow. Those things were removing all distractions, both visual and auditory.

[00:00:30] Emptying your mind so you can approach your work with clarity and working at your biological peak time, the time when you're able to focus best and have the energy most conducive to deep work. On Friday, I was in the flow and it was great. It wasn't actually work related, but in fact, related to the other podcast I have with a host.

[00:00:59] W e record on Fridays and I have to say that this Friday, I felt the clearest I have felt in a while, and there were a few reasons for that. One, after I had finished work, I took about a half hour break to eat something and clear my head. I went for a very short walk, got some air, and stretched to my legs. When I came back, I was clear and focused and was able to focus on our topic and give my attention to the episode we were recording.

[00:01:31] After we finished recording, we debriefed hung out a little, and then I had a late lunch with my spouse, called my mom, and just generally did some chores and things around the house. Then I settled down to edit the episode because it was my turn to do so. For about five hours, I sat in my family room with my laptop and my headphones, and I worked just on the episode.

[00:01:58] I edited the transcription, edited the video, added chapters, created a custom YouTube thumbnail, wrote the episode description, hunted down all the links for the show notes, created not one, but two different excerpts that we could share on social media to promote the episode, and then of course, scheduled everything on YouTube, in our podcasting platform, Transistor, and on social media.

[00:02:27] I took little breaks here and there, chatting with my spouse and doing some social media things, but for the most part, I was pretty focused and it felt awesome. The time literally flew by and it wasn't until I was finished and I stepped away from my computer, that I realized how much work I had just done and how tired, but satisfied I felt.

[00:02:56] One after another, I methodically checked off all the tasks I needed to finish up for the episode. And that's also another part of it: everything was broken down, I always knew what I had to do and I knew what I had to do next. I was sitting in our family room with my spouse gaming with his friend behind me and one of his shows playing on the TV in front of me, but my focus was narrowly on my laptop and I just felt really...quiet.

[00:03:26] Yeah, I think quiet is the right way to describe the feeling. When you're in that state of flow, even if you're dealing with a problem or encountering an issue, the work feels almost effortless, almost smooth. It's a little bit like in the movies when they show a character concentrating and all the sounds around them fade out and everything else becomes hazy except whatever they're focusing on.

[00:03:53] And although I spent a lot of time – I got the entire episode done from start to finish in basically one sitting, and it felt truly great to check it off and know that it's all taken care of. If I'm totally honest, It was the first time in a few weeks I felt like I had been able to do something really well, and it was a truly fantastic feeling.

[00:04:23] So here's to more days when we find ourselves in a state of flow and are less distracted by the trivial minutia our digital world constantly throws at us. I wish that for me and for you.

[00:04:45] Thanks for listening. Talk to you tomorrow.