A brilliant work taking the author's concept of FLOW and applying it specifically to work and business. The approach may have been taken previously ... though never so well or so clearly. There are practical, concrete matters addressed as well as the overall psychology of FLOW. It quickly becomes clear why some employees stagnate in their work, even though they may be highly skilled. There is much that business owners, managers and leaders can take away to enhance their own lives, the lives of their employees and of society on the whole. And the not-so-surprising outcome of these endeavors is greater success for individuals and for the business.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is the Hungarian-born writer of the bestseller Flow. This professor of Psychology and Education at the University of Chicago has been studying this concept of Flow for many years and has written several interesting books, among which Flow (1990) and Finding Flow (1997). Now he has written a new book: Good Business. It turns out to be just the book I hoped he would write: a book about Flow and work.

=WORK CAN CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR WELL-BEING!=
Although many people view work primarily negatively, it can actually contribute importantly to your well-being, more so than gaining more and more possessions. And because work is so important, it is vital that managers and employees create conditions in which good work can happen. But what is good work? It is enjoying doing your best while at the same time contributing to something beyond yourself. Csikszentmihalyi explains how this can be achieved through two processes: 1) experiencing flow and 2) growth toward complexity. What precisely do these two things mean?

1. Experiencing Flow
In situations of flow, tasks demand the full involvement of the person. In these situations there is a perfect balance between the challenge of the task and the skills of the person. The so-called 'flow channel' represents optimal experience, where both challenges and skills lie above the average level. More challenge than skill leads to arousal, anxiety, or worry. More skill than challenge leads to control, relaxation, or boredom. Flow depends on eight conditions: 1) goals are clear, 2) feedback is immediate, 3) a balance between opportunity and capacity, 4) concentration deepens, 5) the present is what matters, 6) control is no problem, 7) the sense of time is altered, 8) the loss of ego.

2. Growth Toward Complexity
People flourish when in their activities there is a trajectory of growth that results in the development of increasing emotional, cognitive and social complexity. With complexity two processes happen at once: a) DIFFERENTIATION: realizing that we are unique individuals, responsible for our own survival and well being, b) INTEGRATION: the realization that however unique we are, we are also part of a larger whole.

Conclusion: Regularly experiencing flow plus growing toward complexity are the ingredients of good work. But what about the 'happy' part? How can it be that pleasurable activities, products and relaxation are less important for happiness than the hard work of flow and complexity?

=PLEASURE VERSUS ENJOYMENT =
Csikszentmihalyi contrasts pleasure with enjoyment. He explains pleasure is nice but also conservative and leading to equilibrium while enjoyment is like happiness in action leading to greater skills. Enjoyment leads to a "triumph over the forces of entropy" and is like building psychological capital. Too bad that our materialistic and marketing-dominated culture emphasizes the importance of pleasure over enjoyment, since enjoyment is far more likely to lead to long term happiness!

=WHAT CAN MANAGERS AND EMPLOYEES DO? =
Managers and employees can do quite a lot to advance conditions of flow and complexity. The book does not provide a simple list but the reader will probably get many ideas.
As a manager I could take the eight conditions of flow and the two aspects of complexity and use them to rethink work and the way I interact with my employees. Doing that I would recognize I need to (among other things) create attractive working conditions (with clear goals, feedback, etc), provide a good degree of control to stimulate the development of employees and build an organization with a long term purpose people can relate to. Another I could do is start a one-on-one or group dialogue with employees about these flow and complexity principles in order to improve work.

Employees also can do a lot. As an employee I could do certain things to improve my objective work conditions. I could ask for clearer goals, and more specific and timely feedback. I could negotiate with my manager to get more autonomy and more flexibility in time schedules. Further, I could change the way I look at and what I expect from work. If I indeed believe that the hard work of flow and complexity indeed improves the quality of my life ...... I could resist the temptation to cut corners (doing my work with as little effort as possible) and instead pay attention more closely to the complexity of my tasks. In terms of my career development I could think about what kind of products I really believe in and what kind of company I truly would like to be part of.

=CONCLUSION =
The book contains a great framework, is well written and contains good examples. The one I liked best is the anecdote about the brother of the author, Moricz. It was not until his eighties that Moricz took up the hobby of the collection and study of crystals. Moricz describes a flow experience he had when looking at one of his crystals.
"I was looking at this thing just yesterday," he said, smiling. "It was nine in the morning when I put it under the microscope. Outside it was sunny, just like today. I kept turning the rock around, looking at all the fissures, the intrusions, the dozen or more different crystal formations inside and around...then I looked up, and thought that a storm must be coming, because it had gotten so dark...the I realized that it was not overcast, but the sun had been setting - it was past seven in the evening."

I think this is a wonderful book. I would, however, have liked the book even more if it had been still a bit more practical. Still, I recommend this book highly for anyone searching for ways to improve work and careers. I think Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (who seems to be a great example of his own theory) has something to offer of great value for them.

Coert Visser, m-cc.nl

As usual, Mihaly is insightful in articulating the true elements of happiness, this time in the context of work and modern business. He applies over a quarter of a century of solid research into "flow," this time indicating how leaders can use these ideas in the workplace. Heartily recommended!

Have you wondered what it is like to be an adolescent? Day in and day out? Dealing with the daily details of life at home and at school? Are you a parent, teacher, or other adult who wants to learn about what goes on inside the adolescents you interact with?

This book describes a great approach to answering these questions using an innovative research protocol. Adolescents were asked to carry beepers throughout the day, and when they were beeped, they wrote down their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors at random moments throughout the day. They obtained many interesting results that gives insight into the daily lives of adolescents, whether at school, at home, or with friends.

In general, they found that adolescents exhibited more extremes of emotions than adults, as well as more self-consciousness and embarrassment. Although this conclusion would not surprise most people, the strength of the findings really comes through in the text. Reading the accumulated data gives a broad range of experiences from numerous individuals, and gives insight into how individual adolescents respond in various situations.

It's a fascinating read, and I really felt that I could get into the skin of these adolescents and get a sense of their daily thoughts and emotions. The diversity of adolescents covered in these studies may be limited, but what is presented is quite good.

I was assigned this book for a graduate education class on adolescent development. We referred to this book often during class discussions, even though it was one of several books we read. I highly recommend the book for parents and educators alike.

Take steps towards enhancing the quality of your life - explore FlowNet and exchange ideas and experiences associated with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's Flow theory @ http://www.flownetwork.com

This is one of the most intense and empirical studies of how people relate to television (not focusing on television's content), nothing judgmental here folks, the data is presented in text and charts. We get to see the surveys, the responses, we are informed of the study methods used...

Various psychological traits are measured before, during, and after television viewing in the subjects homes. Things like concentration, cheerfulness, challenge, memory, and other traits are measured at various times using a self-reporting mechanism. The merits and faults of the methods used to study the subjects are also discussed. The book is intense.

I'm sorry I can't encapsulate it better than this. The authors (Mihaly and Robert) do an extremely admirable job of presenting the information in a readable and complete format.

Again, it should be stressed that this study was empirical. No judgements are made. Content of television was not part of the study, content of the subject's psyches was.

A landmark work.

Take steps towards enhancing the quality of your life - explore FlowNet and exchange ideas and experiences associated with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's Flow theory @ http://www.flownetwork.com

Take steps towards enhancing the quality of your life - explore FlowNet and exchange ideas and experiences associated with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's Flow theory @ http://www.flownetwork.com

There are those who believe that, if they are not their kids they are not their concern. Just how wrong, even potentially destructive, a mindset is underscored by the data presented in becoming ADULT: How Teenagers Prepare for the World of Work. This book is of immeasurable value to all but most highly recommended for parents and those even remotely involved in the educational process.

Having taken into account every variable conceivable, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and his team have translated five years of research pertaining to how young adults prepare for the future, into useful knowledge. They provide an understanding of how adolescents develop their attitudes, interests, skills, and expectations that ultimately enable them to move forward to successful and rewarding adult lives. The book reinforces the adolescent's need for guidance and support, not only from their families and schools, but the community at large. It is made clear that helping young people to establish goals is not nearly enough; they require extended opportunities to increase the skills necessary to meet their future adult career needs. Most importantly, becoming ADULT offers a means to an end. It serves not only as a tool for more effectively assisting adolescents to make the transitions from childhood to adulthood, or school to a productive adult career, such self-affirming guidance will help them to create meaning and satisfaction in their everyday life.

In light of their significance to the future of society, the habits and values of young people should be guided with the intent of attaining the most positive outcome for both. The authors do not profess to have all of the answers, but they do offer a sound foundation to build upon.

Take steps towards enhancing the quality of your life - explore FlowNet and exchange ideas and experiences associated with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's Flow theory @ http://www.flownetwork.com

Like all C's work, this book is stimulating and easy to read, in parts inspiring, in parts depressing. C says that no one can be Creative with a capital C, unless he masters all that went before him in his field. Accordingly, children, no matter how original, cannot, by definition be creative. A paradoxical and, I guess, creative observation.. C is especially intriguing when he discusses creativity as the result of interaction between the individual, the field, and the domain. Creativity is not a private enterprise but occurs only when an individual, who has mastered his subject matter is acknowleged by the gatekeepers of his field of endeavor or if, like Freud or the Wright brothers, creates his own field. The social aspect of creativity is nowhere better discussed. Unfortunately, C articulates no clear thesis, and with the exception of long quotes from notably creative people, the last third of his book degenerates into platitude and truism

An absolutely incredible book! Mr. Mihaly has compiled an amazing work on creativity, profiles of creative people, how creativity comes about (or doesn't) in certain people or domains, as well as common characteristics of successful creative people.

As the saying goes, if a tree falls in the woods, and nobody is around to hear it, does it really make a noise? If a person is brilliantly smart or creative but they do not make the right connections, or the opportunities are not there in a particular domain for contributions to be made, does it really matter? Will the person achieve anywhere near their potential? Probably not.

This book is no road map to achieve success or fulfillment in ones life or career. It does however illustrate many factors (that if in place) may help immensely in reaching ones goals. When embarking on, or pursuing a new career this is a must read for insight as to what environmental factors may facilitate success and achievement in a chosen creative pursuit.

"Creativity" provided an outstanding analysis of how Creativity occurs, and how creative individuals have influenced their respective fields and domains of knowledge and arts through the analysis of over ninety creative individuals of note. This book provides an outline of the process that is useful to any person who is attempting to enhance organizational or personal creativity, and details the components of Creativity (which can influence the overall culture) and creativity (for an individual.) I read my copy twice, and found certain topics so useful, I violated my own rule of never marking in a book. This book is now heavily annotated and underlined, and has been shared with friends. Following is a very brief summary.

The components of creativity include domains, fields, and persons. A domain is defined as, "a set of symbolic rules and procedures," such as mathematics. A field "includes all the individuals who act as gatekeepers to the domain." This can be summarized as, "Creativity occurs when a person, using the symbols of a given domain such as music, engineering, business, or mathematics, has a new idea or sees a new pattern, and when this novelty is selected by the appropriate field for inclusion into the relevant domain."

The book presents an analysis of the impact of creativity by taking a systems approach with the following major components: Creative individuals, through understanding of their field, hard work, and inspiration can produce novel work. This work may or may not impact the overall field and domain, depending upon a variety of interrelated factors. For instance, a talented but relatively unknown painter in a rural area may have less chance of recognition by the field than the same painter living in Manhattan, in proximity to galleries and noted critics. Recognition and acceptance by the field is necessary for contribution to the field and domain. (such as physics, or art).

The book has an excellent, though smaller, section on enhancing personal creativity. To those who seek to be more creative, a series of suggestions on how to implement these suggestions into everyday life is presented, with the note; "Even though personal creativity may not lead to fame and fortune, it can do something that from the individual's point of view is even more important: make day-to-day experiences more vivid, more enjoyable, more rewarding. When we live creatively, boredom is banished and every moment holds the promise of a fresh discovery."

The exercise of these elements of personal creativity can be delightful. Some of them are:

"Try to surprise at least one person every day."

"Try to be surprised by something every day."

"When something strikes a spark of interest, follow it."

"If you do anything well, it becomes enjoyable."

For the rest, you will just have to buy the book.

Having worked for America Online 6 years ago (right before that I worked at a restaurant by the murrah building in okc when it was blown up by mcveigh), I feel I have a pretty good perspective on this kind of stuff. Quoting Gasset "The mass crushes beneath it everything that is different, everything that is excellent, individual, qualified and select...anyone not like everybody runs the risk of being eliminated.."
The book in a sense tells about two types of people. Those who care about others, and those who care about themselves. Unfortunatly in a world where the competitive nature of man always leads to violence (be it physical, or of the subtle, mental sort) the bad will almost always win out. Having lost a number of friends (literally) due to the operant conditioned nature of life today, and through the media forcing kids to be "cool" to fit in (...)
Anyway, the issues presented in this book, which essentially are an argument against Skinner's promotion of "blank slate" minds that are to be conditioned through "experience", are good ones...however, if you truly understand that you can never, ever do enough to combat the hate and the evil that is so prevelant in the world today, you might want to not read this book...however, if you are aloof and like to buy products and watch movies that the critics agree are "explosive" and, if a sequal "twice as explosive as the first", you might find this book interesting...but probably a bit too academic, and will feel that it should be reserved for Intellectuals or whatever...(...), what do i know.

I was intrigued by the title of this book and really wanted to like it, but found myself struggling to stay focused while reading it.

The three contributing authors have impressive academic credentials and I suppose this work will be used in university classrooms throughout the country, but I think the people who really need to hear the message that technology, economics and ethics can (and should) co-exist will not be attracted to this format.

The authors define people who do good work as: "People who do good work, in our sense of the term, are clearly skilled in one or more professional realms. At the same time, rather than merely following money or fame alone, or choosing the path of least resistance when in conflict, they are thoughtful about their responsibilities and the implications of their work."

The authors spend a lot of time discussing Journalism and Genetics and how ethics and good work in these two arenas are under seige from a market-driven economy. They offer up solutions on how to restore good work to the world and they share their methods of studying good work and their interviewing protocols, but the subject matter is just too academic for the average worker who struggles with ethics v. economics.

Maybe the book will reach university professors...and they'll share it with their students...and they'll go out into the world and strive to do 'good work.'

Let's hope so.

I am a special education teacher and bought this book so I could better understand why some teachers refuse to give learning disabled a chance. I wanted to better understand how some teachers forget the commitment they have to the students they serve. Well, I wished I never read the book. I now understand why people are not commited to their jobs and why administrators asked teachers to "fake" paperwork. I felt lonely while reading this book, because I understand clearly that there are very few people willing to have ethics and excellence meet in their job performance. I am one of those few people and it is a lonely place. The book is a bit dry, much like a college text book. Read it slowly with a dictionary by your side.

First a word of warning... Writing in flow is not a book about writing by a writer. It is a book about writing by a psychologist. If you read this book thinking it's from a writers point of view you may be dissapointed. It reads a little like a thesis, the author Susan Perry can get a little academic and reading this book does require a bit of an attention span to wade through some dull spots.

BUT

Writing in Flow is a very good on the verge of great book. It follows groundbreaking work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. (Creativity : Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention) In writing in Flow Perry through interviews with 75 best-selling and award winning writers and poets to find out what is this flow thing? How does it work? how do you get there and how long are you there? The feedback from the writers is the real treat of this book. It's a real treat to hear how different writers deal with being blocked, or getting into flow or writing in general. Throught writing in flow perry gives you lessons what she calls master keys. These master keys are exercises that are supposed to help you get into the flow of writing. There are also sections in which writing specific questions are asked to the author and the author responds. I also found that to be very useful. Perry's book is extensively researched. There is a notes, section , a footnotes section there's even an appendix in which she goes into detail the who, what, when and where of her research. Another thing that I liked about Writing in Flow was that the author didn't try to find a one way to understand and get into flow. Her insights are alot like an good investagative reporter who not only finds out what she's looking for but also finds the contradictions. The answers to the who what when where and how are there but there not as simple as 1-2-3. In the end there are no hugeground breaking discoveries about writing although i found a few small ground rumbling insights. Not a perfect book but I found this book to be extrtemely useful. It really helped my look at writing from a different perspective. Recommended with little or no reservations.

As a writer, with articles published in OMNI, Success, Writer's Digest (cover article), and numerous other publications, it was a genuine pleasure and surprise to discover Dr. Perry's book on flow and writing. Finding descriptions of how so many well known writers enter and experience flow in their writing was both useful and inspiring. It really helped me get revved up for some new writing projects.

Susan Perry has taken one of the most pleasant, challenging, and sometimes difficult to achieve aspects of the art of writing and woven together a discussion of the science and art.

Flow is a thoroughly researched concept, with hundreds of studies illuminating this unique yet ubiquitous process. I've been aware of the research on it since the eighties. And Flow has played a major role in my own model of POsitive Psychology and Positivity, which I have lectured on at numerous national professional meetings.

Reading the book, you'll understand this phenomenon and, more important, you'll get a handle on how to access or enter the flow state yourself, and use it to enhance your writing experience.

Flow is not just another pop psych fad. It is an elegantly researched dimension of positive psychology. Some people write and some people criticize. I would venture to guess that critics who learned how to enter the flow state, might even become writers.

If words sometimes seem to pour from you; if you have wondered why they sometimes seem to flow with such ease; if you question where they are coming from as they seem to be pulling so much into and out of you, Writing in Flow: Keys to Enhanced Creativity is a must-read.
Building on the concept of Flow as described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, using extensive research and intensive interviews, Susan K. Perry explores how Flow works through writers and what their various relationships are with it.
While this makes fascinating reading, what is most important about this book is that Perry in examining underlying patterns of writing in Flow has found, explored, and charted, how the altered state, however it is experienced, is achieved and related to by writers.
She suggests particular techniques that are helpful in achieving flow in writing and provides Five Master Keys for achieving this state that has been described as transcendent, expansive, timeless, and connected to something, or to All, at a deeper level than normal awareness.
If you are thinking of being a writer, if you already think and work as a writer, Writing in Flow holds the key to the answers to many questions you have probably puzzled over, as well as the keys to unlock flow to an extent that you may not have dreamed possible.
Whatever the degree of control you like to have, or would like to have, over your writing, the timelessness, depth, and yes, longing, she touches in this beautifully researched work, will help take you where you have dreamed you might go, and perhaps, beyond.

Flow is a concept Csikszentmihalyi developed to describe his observations of human's happiest states. Flow he says is more or less being heavily involved in an activity - be it work, a hobby, sex, music etc. - in which you've tuned out to everything else. I saw this as sort of zen-like living in the present through immersion in an action.

I immediately identified with this concept, and he did an excellent job of showing the connection between flow and happiness in all areas of life. This is a very clear writer with an easy style. However I was left feeling that I can now identify past flow experiences I've had but can't exactly find in this book the key to increasing either the frequency or quality of those experiences in the future. That seems to be the trick. But maybe true happiness doesn't come easily.

I would certainly recommend this to any thoughtful reader.

For me, this book provided my first insight into how people really become happy. We're happy when we are in flow. Unlike many of the "happy psychology" books that are available, this one feels true. It's also backed up by real research; the author is not a pop psychology dude but a real researcher. (I understand from the university psych community that M.C.'s work may not be universally admired, but that may simply be because it is approachable and understandable by your average educated person.)

It's rare to find a book that agrees with both what I think and what I feel. For anyone who wants to have new insights into what makes us feel happy (and who doesn't?), I highly recommend this book.

Additionally, I recommend his latest book, Creativity. I would skip much of his second popular book, Finding Flow, which gets into a lot of metaphysical stuff that doesn't agree with either how I feel or how I think. Flow, however, is the key to understanding the rest of his work.

When I read the characteristics of "optimal experience" or "flow" (see p. 71), I found myself saying "Yes! That's it!" I had never had a concise description of those experiences in life that practically give meaning to our existence.

As a developer of online environments (MOOs) for language learning, I have had to describe to educators in presentations and published articles just what it is that makes a low-level learner of Spanish stay hooked to the Internet for *hours* while chatting away in a foreign language, and why that experience was so highly motivating that these students were neglecting other studies (in favor of a foreign language??!!) or even missing Spanish class. I have quoted Csikszentmihalyi many times because his is the best description of that experience. The students were "in flow" - the experience had just the right balance of stress (they might not understand me if I don't communicate clearly) and pleasure (I'm enjoying getting to know this person!) to make it highly motivating.

He says on p. 74: "In our studies, we found that every flow activity, whether it involved competition, chance, or any other dimension of experience, had this in common: It provided a sense of discovery, a creative feeling of transporting the person into a new reality." And that is precisely what was happening to my students when they got involved in using MOO (Multi-user-domain, Object-Oriented) for language learning. They were able to create and "live" in a new reality - but all in Spanish!

I suspect that some of the readers of this book either have not had many flow experiences, or have not recognized them as such when they were having them. This book clarifies what they are and thus, bringing this understanding to consciousness, makes it easier to replicate them and increase the time spent in moments of happiness.