How to EASILY get into a Flow State (sport & athletes)

in 1964 a psychologist by the name of abraham maslow came up with the term peak experience there are several characteristics of these experiences but what's important is that a number of them come together at once to allow someone to feel a euphoric sense of bliss during an activity for some this was creating art playing music or even having sex and for others it was when engaging in sport such as losing yourself in sprint finish so that you forget the sting caused by pools of lactic acid drowning your muscles or feeling as though time stops and you can easily return your opponent 70 mile per hour forehand but something didn't quite add up maslow claimed people facing these experience felt a sense of optimal happiness and fulfillment during them if that was the case then why were people not smiling as they struck a ball played that chord or put brush to canvas people may have felt those emotions after the event but during it they often felt nothing they were completely absorbed in the activity and became one with it other psychologists sought to understand this and a hungarian by the name of mihai cheek semihigh came to describe this sense of being in the zone as a state of flow and for the past 40 years research into this concept has grown exponentially and it might just be the most important concept for any athlete wanting to fulfill their potential and ultimately win championships so let's explore how you can enter a sporting flow state so flow state is commonly best described as being in the zone and for this to occur you need certain conditions to align you need to match up the challenge of whatever it is that you're trying to do with your existing skill levels if your skill is too high and the challenge is too low then you get bored and if your skill is too low and the challenge too high then you get frustrated or anxious so that's why we commonly know flo as being in the zone because you are literally in a zone of where the challenge and your skill level match up and being in this zone as an athlete forces you to be fully engaged with the activity this increased engagement and concentration obviously then leads you to being able to put in that peak performance and flow states are important for a number of other reasons and one key one is that it provides the optimal conditions for skill development in popular culture we've always assumed that to improve our learning we need to unlock 100 of our brains capabilities just like in the movie limitless where bradley cooper takes a drug that does just that and he becomes literally limitless in what he can do if he puts his mind to it but the truth is when in flow levels of activation in the brain slow down and shut off in many areas you undergo what's called transient hypofrontality and it's this which means that you lose all sense of time and space and allows complete absorption in the activity and being in this flow state then also leads to hyper awareness of fine details so you're making almost subconscious adjustments in fractions of a second to improve things like form and timing and these become internalized so that eventually with enough practice they're automatic ultimately from being able to spend large portions of training and practice inflow then maximizes your chances of replicating this in a real competitive event or match those times you see your favorite stars almost instantly lock in and become hot and so the big question is what can you do to start entering that flow state more are there certain conditions to be met or certain tricks or hacks to call upon and the good news is that flow states are trainable and there are a number of practical things that you can do to maximize your chance of entering that both in competitions and also in practice so first it's important to think deeply about what allows you to enter that flow state in the first place and it's not often about adding things but sometimes rather taking away things and specifically distractions so to successfully block out distractions and create a sense of zen-like calm that's needed to enter that flow state you should look to develop a pre-flow routine and for me this is comprised of the three m's music movement and mindfulness it's not a coincidence top athletes shoot pregame shots or get off the team bus with their headphones on for many this acts as a mental dial to start tuning out other noise it doesn't matter what you listen to but it's always a good idea to have a specific playlist of songs to build a sense of routine and familiarity next for movement it's good to have a set warm-up routine movement and exercise itself boosts your dopamine levels which among many other things enhances our level of concentration steph curry has a wide range of pregame rituals which include a hall sprint and taking a shot from the edge of the player's tunnel these movements of the body tie together to move the mind into an optimal state to then lock in for the big game and finally it's great to just engage in a few short minutes of mindfulness this could be a few minutes of meditation or even just 10 deep breaths in and out as much as you may be pumped up for what lies ahead it's important to maintain an overall sense of control and these acts of mindfulness are what help you ground yourself in a way that leads you primed and ready to more smoothly enter that state of flow now when it comes to your actual match game or race the surest way of entering that flow state is to ensure that you've put the necessary hours in of practice if you haven't practiced for an entire week then you're probably going to start throwing up bricks or you just can't get the motion cycle of your legs moving the right way but aside from this other things that help flow occur is to have a clear focus or goal and these can change moment to moment whether it's getting a shot up dispossessing an opponent player or just making sure that you get your rhythm of strides in order the cleaner that focus is the easier it's going to be to lock in and get into that flow state and the next thing is to make sure you push yourself ever so slightly outside your comfort zone going back to the conditions for flow states remember they happen when there is an alignment between your skill level and the challenge before you this is hard to gauge and look there will be some failures or mistakes but those who frequently put in pbs or get hot it's because they're always pushing themselves that little extra bit further and the last thing really goes back to some of those original ideas that maslow had about peak experiences remember he said these are things that make people feel an optimal level of happiness and fulfillment so you have to be doing something you really love and enjoy something you find deeply intriguing and something you do purely for fun even outside of competitive settings you sometimes hear sports commentators say he or she is playing just like a little kid out there and when you were a kid you would play football tennis basketball whatever until the sun went down or you would literally get called by your parents to come home for dinner and all those hours of play ended up just feeling like minutes because you just got completely absorbed in them so flow is only going to come if you're doing something that you really actually enjoy and love yes things get serious and more important the higher the level you compete at but deep down is still the same sport you did as a kid because it was fun keep that in mind and you'll reduce the anxiety or stress of performing that itself often prevents you from finding that sense of calm that enables flow and if you do find yourself feeling overly stressed or anxious during sport or other big performances then watch this next video here to learn how to stay calm under pressure

Channel: Sam Martin - Peak Performance

Views: 528,411

Keywords: how to get into a flow state, flow states in sport, flow state for athletes, flow state for basketball, the science of flow states, flow states, mihaly csikszentmihalyi flow, flow state ted talk, steven kotler, steven kotler flow state, how to reach flow state, how to get into flow, flow state explained, flow state psychology, how to get in the zone, getting in the zone, how to concentrate for longer, how to workout for longer, how to study for longer, mental performance

Id: ieO_bz41es8

Length: 6min 57sec (417 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 27 2021