![]() ![]() I highly recommend exploring these if time permits.Many business leaders hesitate when you ask them to share their biggest mistake. I’ve included a list of the material referenced in this article, as well as a few more thought-provoking pieces. I do give myself time to browse my go-to apps, but I’m doing this on my terms and setting limits. I’m also contemplating the question: by not limiting our access to notifications (which ultimately leads to getting lost in the endless scroll), are we slowly robbing our brain of the chemicals required to maintain focus and feel happy?įor now, I’ve decided to continue limiting my exposure to these habit-forming products. I haven’t reached flow state yet, but I’ll continue to work on this and run new experiments. I felt less anxious overall and found time for activities I haven’t focused on for years. So, what is my takeaway from this experiment? By limiting my exposure to intrusive habit-forming products, I learned that I could focus on tasks for more extended periods. I felt more attentive to the needs of my family.I felt a general sense of well-being that I haven’t felt in years.I was much more focused on daily tasks.After one month of limited exposure to notifications, I discovered that: I ran this experiment for one month and had some surprising results. For all other products that I still used daily (excluding the products mentioned above), I would check them once a day but at a time of my choosing. The only exception I made was for notifications that enabled direct communication with my family and colleagues (Slack, email, and messenger). The criteria I set were to limit my exposure to Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram for one month and turn off all notifications. To run this experiment, I had to set some criteria. My hypothesis if I limit my exposure to notifications and the best habit-forming products for one month, I can increase focus and reach flow state. I then asked myself, are these habit-forming products robbing our brains of the crucial chemicals required to maintain focus and reach flow? Like most people, I also fall victim to the distraction of notifications many times throughout my day and spend much unintended time stuck in the endless scroll. Habit-forming products also trigger some of the same chemicals released during flow state however, the triggers, in this case, come in the form of notifications and the endless scroll. My takeaway from this content was that these habit-forming products could be directly contributing to my lack of focus and attention to important tasks and my inability to reach flow state. ![]() Eyal provides advice on how companies can create habit-forming products while also exploring the moral issues associated with these behaviors. This topic also inspired me to read the book Hooked by Nir Eyal. In his talk, Harris explains how the most effective habit-forming products are all competing for our attention and prey on our psychology to develop new, addictive habits, sometimes in unethical ways. But why is it so difficult to free yourself from distractions? I wanted to dig deeper into this question and try to better understand why I haven’t reached this state again for many years.Ĭoincidentally, I came across a powerful Ted Talk from 2017 titled “How a handful of tech companies control billions of minds every day” by Tristan Harris. However, the biggest challenge I’ve faced trying to achieve this state again is being free of distractions for an extended period. Some of these criteria are easy to replicate. After which, a significant amount of time has passed that I was mostly unaware of, and I have completed a substantial amount of work. The conditions surrounding this typically include a challenging task that I’m passionate about, being fully immersed in the challenge, and being free from distractions for an extended period. I’ve experienced what I can only describe as a flow state a few times in my life. When we enter flow states, our brains release the five crucial chemicals that both make us feel good and augment our performance”.Īlthough Kotler’s book focuses on peak performance athletes, I believe anyone developing products can also achieve flow state if they are passionate about the work they’re doing. In his book The Rise of Superman, Steven Kotler describes flow state as “When in flow, our brains undergo a process called transient hypofrontality, during which parts of our prefrontal cortex (the part of our brain responsible for complex thought) shuts down.” He states, “flow is often experienced as something deeply spiritual, and these experiences themselves are tied to our neurochemistry. Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes flow state as “A feeling where, under the right conditions, you become fully immersed in whatever you are doing.” I’ve always been fascinated by the concept of flow state. ![]()
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