read yesterday’s post first :)
Being a better typist makes you move faster, but maybe you really need a clearer vision of where you need to go?
Flow state
Ah, the mythical “flow state”. People love to talk about flow state: “ugh I wish I could spend more time in flow state”, and similar sentiments.
For those who are unaware, flow state is when you get a really big productivity boost from being completely in the zone while completing a task. All of a sudden you become one with your input device of choice: a keyboard, a pen, a chisel. It all becomes easier: 2 hours reduces into 10 minutes, but you somehow get 5 hours worth of work done. For people living busy lives – up against a never-ending wall of requirements – this elusive concept is very appealing. I will also admit that, yes: flow state is quite nice.
The problem is that flow state is like achieving Nirvana: if you think about it too much it goes away. It’s hard to really pin down, and you never know when you’re going to be mercilessly torn away from it.
I was talking to a stranger in a café about flow state (he brought it up, not me). He thought of it within very complex ritualised boundaries. There are supposedly certain times counted from when you wake up – based on your circadian rhythm – from which you can trick your brain into entering a flow state, where under specific circumstances you’ll naturally retreat into your own mind and unlock your full potential.
By contrast, my best guess at maximising flow state is strikingly simple:
“You just need to cut down on context switching”
What is context switching?
There is a common theme in modern tech-y writing where writers overcomplicate simple ideas by giving them pompous names.
Context Switching --> “Thinking about something else”
This applies in the large: being asked when you’d be free for a meeting.
It also applies in the small: getting a funny notification on your phone.
I think it can also apply in the micro: the very process of thinking about how to do something can cause a small distraction. Normally this isn’t the sort of thing that I stress about too much – micro-optimisations tend to be the enemy of macro-doing-things – but in this case these tangents change your goal from “implement this function” to “insert a line below the current one and hit tab until it lines up”.
Getting thrown out of it
The way I see it is that being in flow state is akin to walking a tightrope. You need to prepare beforehand so that you will be resilient against cross-winds trying to blow you over. This is hard because you can’t just deal with them at the time: you must become “the type of person who doesn’t get affected by cross-winds”.
One way of looking at this is that you have a few “distraction points” to spare before you are conclusively out of flow state. Thankfully there are a couple of points which can help stop you from spending them so readily.
Become deeply embedded in your tools
Really understanding how your tools work, in and out, is an important part of this. You need the common tasks to become automatic, they need to be abstracted away.
Recently I’ve been learning some of the core components of Visual Studio Code, in case I need to do development on a machine which isn’t mine. I saw a senior developer double-click on a tab, causing it to stay in the tab bar rather than disappearing when you open another file. When I brought it up he was surprised: he didn’t even notice himself clicking it.
This deep coupling lets your brain stay single-track on the task at hand. When I’m
commenting out code I don’t go to the start of a line, type //, move to the start of the
next line and repeat as necessary. I type the command which comments out a paragraph in my text
editor: gcip.
In this context, a paragraph is several lines of code, delimited on each side by empty lines.
Know thy enemy
Having a deep connection with the task you’re undertaking is a key component for slipping into flow state. Tools which complement you is one part of this, but also knowing what you are setting out to do. Having the required steps ingrained in you, knowing all the pre-requisites are in place, and being able to visualise the end goal. Now, instead of having to think about the step you’re on, you just keep pushing forward.
This attitude toward problem solving helps – at least in my experience – with reducing context switching and increasing time spent in flow state.
In the end, have fun and be yourself
Paradoxically, to maximise on flow state you really can’t be worrying too much about this sort of stuff. Just get involved, delve in, find the joy in what you do.
And for your own sake, practice your typing!