Csikszentmihalyi

Csikszentmihalyi

In an interview with Wired magazine, Csíkszentmihályi described flow as "being completely involved in an activity for its own sake.

The ego falls away.

Time flies.

Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz.

Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost."

Csikszentmihályi characterized nine component states of achieving flow including "

- challenge-skill balance,

- merging of action and awareness,

- clarity of goals,

- immediate and unambiguous feedback,

- concentration on the task at hand,

- paradox of control,

- transformation of time,

- loss of self-consciousness,

- and autotelic experience".

To achieve a flow state, a balance must be struck between the challenge of the task and the skill of the performer. If the task is too easy or too difficult, flow cannot occur. Both skill level and challenge level must be matched and high; if skill and challenge are low and matched, then apathy results.

The autotelic personality is one in which a person performs acts because they are intrinsically rewarding, rather than to achieve external goals.

Csikszentmihalyi describes the autotelic personality as a trait possessed by individuals who can learn to enjoy situations that most other people would find miserable.

Research has shown that aspects associated with the autotelic personality include curiosity, persistence, and humility.

— Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi