Experiencing Flow: Life Beyond Boredom and Anxiety

By Susan A. Jackson

Have you ever been so absorbed in what you were doing that time seemed to disappear?

Focused, energised, fully engaged. You lose track of time. Self-doubt quiets down. The task itself becomes rewarding.

This is flow - the optimal state between boredom and anxiety - where high challenge meets high skill and experience becomes deeply absorbing.

In Experiencing Flow, psychologist Susan A. Jackson, PhD, draws on four decades of research, applied practice, and direct collaboration with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the founder of flow, to explain what flow really is, why it matters, and how to make it more likely in sport, work, creative pursuits, and everyday life.

Experiencing Flow is a grounded, practical guide to the conditions, habits, and mental skills that help flow emerge more often, and help life feel richer when it does.

Through stories, research, interviews, and reflection exercises, Jackson shows how flow grows when:

Challenge and skill are well matched, and both extending the individualGoals are clearFeedback is immediateAttention is fully engaged in the taskThe experience becomes rewarding in itself

Inside this book, you'll discover how to:

Understand the core dimensions of the flow experienceCreate conditions that make flow more likely in work, sport, creative arts, and daily lifeMove from anxiety towards flow through acceptance and psychological flexibilityLift yourself out of boredom through challenge, growth, and a mastery mindsetUse mindfulness practices such as breath awareness, meditation, and body-based attention to support deeper presence and steadier focusPursue high performance in ways that also deepen enjoyment, meaning, and engagement

Bringing together science, lived experience, and examples from elite athletes, climbers, performers, and professionals, Experiencing Flow offers more than a definition of flow. It offers a way to understand what makes life feel engaging, meaningful, and worth returning to.

At its heart, this book makes a simple but powerful argument:

A good life is not measured by outcomes, but by the quality of the experiences that make it up.

Whether you want to perform better, focus more deeply, or simply feel more alive in your work and daily life, Experiencing Flow is a thoughtful and practical guide to a more engaged way of living.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1950336824
• ISBN13: 9781950336821
• Release Date: June 2024
• Publisher: Authors on Mission, New York
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"