Flow State

Flow state refers to a feeling of deep focus and complete immersion in an activity, where everything clicks, and distractions fade away. Someone in a flow state may become so absorbed in what they are doing that they lose track of time and stop worrying about how they are performing. The term is often used casually to describe being "in the zone," whether someone is playing a sport, making music, writing, gaming, working, or doing something else that demands focused attention.

Hungarian-American psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi developed the concept of flow and introduced it in his 1975 book Beyond Boredom and Anxiety. His 1990 book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience helped bring the concept to a much wider audience, and the term has since become common in psychology, sports, education, business, gaming, and everyday conversation. Today, athletes, artists, students, gamers, professionals, and social media users might all talk about getting into a flow state when they hit that satisfying sweet spot where skill and challenge seem to line up.