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Summary: Match tasks with skills for best use of time
Review: "Finding Flow" is an easy-read paperback subtitled "the psychology of engagement with everyday life". The thesis cut back to its core is that optimal experiences happen when you are highly challenged and have the skills to match, and that too many people spend their lives of quiet despiration being frustrated, anxious, apathetic or bored when the tasks that fill their day don't match up. Mihaly describes this state of "Flow" as a period of complete focus on the task, no distractions or irrelevant feelings, and a distorted sense of time. "In the harmonious focusing of physical and psychic energy, life finally comes into its own". You would hope that a book like this would be a pretty engaging read, or else it would have failed its stated purpose, and for the most part I was engaged while reading it. It tries to be a self-help book too, which I suppose is fair enough -- if you believe that this state of being is superior to being lazily happy sitting on the couch watching TV, then you might well want to preach its virtues.
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Summary: A psychology book that nails what makes for a good life
Review: "Finding Flow" is the popular presentation of the author's academic research into what he calls "flow" - the state of being absorbed in an activity; be it work, a hobby or a relationship - and how such experiences form the basis of a rich life. Csikszentmihalyi goes over the nature of what we experience and classifies them according to the level of challenge vs. the skill we can bear upon them. He then discusses how we feel when doing these different types of activities. The two core chapters cover work and leisure. Csikszentmihalyi shows how engagement with ones job and pursuing active hobbies provide more personal satisfaction than passive entertainment and mere lounging. It is this notion that will clash with many people's belief in what makes them happy; happiness being something that Csikszentmihalyi considers a fleeting emotion and different from true contentment. As has been noted by the philosopher A.C. Grayling, if we are after happiness alone, then we can just self-medicate. Other chapters examine how relationships are better if you engage in them, rather than merely meet material obligations to loved ones, and what kinds of personalities are better suited to achieving flow. There is a chapter, as well as some discussion throughout, on how to increase flow in your own life. This gives the book an additional self-help angle (which is what the back cover is trying to market it as.) The final chapter begins with some light philosophizing and quickly degenerates into an off-topic discussion of religion, lacking a thesis and coming across as the ramblings of a stoned first-year college student. This is unfortunate in that it mars an otherwise very strong treatment of what constitutes a good life.
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Summary: Interesting ideas and good practical advice
Review: "Finding Flow" is the popular presentation of the author's academic research into what he calls "flow" - the state of being absorbed in an activity; be it work, a hobby or a relationship - and how such experiences form the basis of a rich life. Csikszentmihalyi goes over the nature of what we experience and classifies them according to the level of challenge vs. the skill we can bear upon them. He then discusses how we feel when doing these different types of activities. The two core chapters cover work and leisure. Csikszentmihalyi shows how engagement with ones job and pursuing active hobbies provide more personal satisfaction than passive entertainment and mere lounging. It is this notion that will clash with many people's belief in what makes them happy; happiness being something that Csikszentmihalyi considers a fleeting emotion and different from true contentment. As has been noted by the philosopher A.C. Grayling, if we are after happiness alone, then we can just self-medicate. Other chapters examine how relationships are better if you engage in them, rather than merely meet material obligations to loved ones, and what kinds of personalities are better suited to achieving flow. There is a chapter, as well as some discussion throughout, on how to increase flow in your own life. This gives the book an additional self-help angle (which is what the back cover is trying to market it as.) The final chapter begins with some light philosophizing and quickly degenerates into an off-topic discussion of religion, lacking a thesis and coming across as the ramblings of a stoned first-year college student. This is unfortunate in that it mars an otherwise very strong treatment of what constitutes a good life.
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Summary: What is a good life?
Review: 'What is a good life?', is basically the question addressed by this book. Well, isn't a good life just about being happy? Ok, but that is not the complete answer. For how do we become and stay happy? Not by watching TV, eating, or relaxing all day! In small doses these things are good and improve your daily life, but the effects are not additive. In other words: a point of diminishing returns is quickly reached. Also you don't become happy by having to do nothing. Csikszentmihalyi's research shows that both intrinsic motivation (wanting to do something) and extrinsic motivation (having to do something) are preferable to not having any kind of goal to focus your attention. Csikszentmihalyi argues that a life filled with 'flow activities' is more worth living than one spent consuming passive entertainment. He says, the point is to be happy while doing things that stretch your goals and skills that help you grow and fulfil your potential. In other words: the content of your experiences over a lifetime determines the quality of your life. Then what exactly ìs 'flow'? Is it just some vague new New Age concept? Not at all! It is precisely defined and well-researched. The experience if flow is the sense of effortless action we feel in moments that we see as the best in our lives. In order to have flow experiences you need clear goals/demands, immediate and relevant feedback and a balance between your skills and the demands. Then your attention becomes ordered and fully invested. Because of the total demand on you psychic energy you become completely focused, your self-consciousness disappears, as does your sense of time, yet you feel strong and competent. When in flow, you are not exactly happy, because you are not focused on your inner states (that would take away your attention from the task at hand). But looking back you are happy. Having flow experiences leads to growth and learning and improving your life becomes a question of making flow as much as possible a constant part of your everyday experience. Csikszentmihalyi describes how you can find flow in several important life domains. One domain is work. Often we short-sightedly spend a lot of energy to take the easy way and cut corners, trying to do as little as possible in our jobs. If we would spend the same amount of energy trying to accomplish more we would probably enjoy our work more and be more successful as well. To improve your work you can try to take the whole context of your job into account. Doing this you can better understand your contribution to the whole and understand and value your role more. This enables you to invest more energy and withdraw more meaning from your work. Further, to use flow at work you can try to establish a situation in which your job (an other people's jobs) provides clear goals, unambiguous feedback, a sense of control, few distractions and challenges that match your skills. Just as much as in work you can create flow in your family and other relationships according to Csikszentmihalyi. He says it is particularly important to give attention to building harmony between participant's goals and to find ways to balance the meaningfulness of the rewards you get from work and relationships. This book is definitely worth reading. Csikszentmihalyi's answer to the question 'What is a good life?' is practical and convincing.
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Summary: Living
Review: In concise language, Csikszentmihalyi expresses ways to find happiness by engaging actively in life. Through positive interactions with friends and family or through active leisure activities, he hints at the myriad ways we can achieve happiness in our daily lives. While he sometimes veers into platitudes to keep the book accessible, Csikszentmihalyi nonetheless creates an insightful and intelligent analysis for those who want to get more out of life. "Finding Flow" is a challenge to its readers to activate.
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Summary: His Name's The Hardest Thing
Review: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (MC from now on) is a Psychologist based at the University of Chicago who has extensively studied what makes people happy and fulfilled. Through his Experience Sampling Method (ESM), MC asks his subjects at random times (through a beeper) to record what they're doing, how they feel about it, whether they feel happy and so on. Through these studies he has come up with the concept of 'flow'. 'Flow' is when we are at our most fulfilled and it is usually at times when we are using our skills to the maximum and at the same time being challenged - its that simple.
Not having read MCs other books the whole flow thing is new to me but by the end of the book I was starting to get the idea. MC also offers some ways you can spend more time in 'flow' activities. It has the faults of many self help books - mainly constant repetition and those hard to believe anecdotes from 'real life' but there's a practicality about this book that saves it. It's also mercifully short, which means you'll get through it quickly and I don't think MCs erratic conversational style would survive a longer publication. I can't agree with the criticism of MC lacking scientific rigour. Being a scientist I don't think he made claims that went beyond his research which is all referenced should you like to follow it up and it's obvious when he is offering opinion ahead scientific analysis.
While I wasn't totally inspired the concept of 'flow' has stuck with me and I'd recommend you at least find out what 'flow' is about.
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Summary: helpful, interesting
Review: The author is a respected professional psychologist, so his contribution to the pop self-help genre should be interesting. In fact, it's sort of an explanation for the reason he finds psychology interesting and important: he's trying to discover how to live a meaningful, rewarding life. In this book, he abandons the caution of academic psychology to pursue wisdom; naturally that leaves it with philosophical weaknesses but much greater relevance for life. Csikszentmihalyi's main idea is that if you really try to do something with your time, you'll enjoy life more. It's a pep-talk for doing something rather than nothing. There are a number of very interesting insights in the book, but this is its main point. I've only read a few other self-help books. Although "Finding Flow" isn't bad, I strongly recommend "The Road Less Traveled" by M. Scott Peck ahead of it.
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Summary: How to experience more enjoyment in life.
Review: This is a simpler, more practical book than Csikszentmihalyi's other popular work on the subject (Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience). He explains how you can apply the insights from his teams' experiments at the University of Chicago. They've been studying enjoyment for over thirty years -- what it is and how people create it. They are not studying simple pleasure, but real, enjoyable absorption in a task. Csikszentmihalyi originally studied artists and noticed it wasn't the end-product most good painters were after, it was the process of painting. He was surprised to see painters finish a painting and immediately set up another canvas to continue painting -- without even looking at the masterpiece they had just created. This intrigued him and so he has spent his lifetime exploring this interesting and enjoyable state he calls "flow", and he knows something about how we can have more of it in our lives. I'm the author of the book, Self-Help Stuff That Works, and I'm an expert on what is effective. Csikszentmihalyi's work is in that category. You can apply his insights and truly experience more enjoyable flow in your life.
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Summary: I'll bet this guy does not have young children
Review: This is an excellent book for so many reasons..let me share with you just one..the whole book is obviously a flow experience for the author, delving into so many subjects, trying to give so much to the educated reader, in short "walking his talk"! ...probably one of the best books ever written, even better than Seligman's "Authentic Happiness".
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Summary: Optimal Experience
Review: This is not pop psychology. This is a well written work that helps us understand the psychology of optimal experience. Dr. Csiksentmihalyi challenges us to seek out activities that require skill and commitment. He provides us with the scientific evidence of why this is important to our happiness.
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