This content originally appeared on Level Up Coding - Medium and was authored by Mohamed Aboelez
Mindful tips to break the cycle and thrive.
“Control of consciousness determines the quality of life.”
― Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience
If you practice yoga, the state of flow should be very familiar to you. It is the state of being completely involved in the movement of your body during a yoga session. Each posture flows effortlessly from the next. Your body creates a natural dance. Your mind flows with your body while blocking out all the “noise”. The consistent, concentrated, and relaxing practice of yoga creates this state of flow.
Like yoga, any activity that a person loves to do can create a state of flow. For programmers, the state of flow generated by a long productive programming session is unbeatable. It is much more than a good meal.
It is the intersection of creativity and logical analysis. It’s the mother of all cognitive activities.
I was once that programmer, who sat in front of her split-screen monitor every day at work for long programming sessions. In a way, it was easy to lose track of time. The repetition of writing code, running code, and testing code is similar to the beginning, middle and end of a yoga flow.
I put on my headphone during those programming sessions. I’m usually sensitive to the noise in my environment. I prefer silence. However, when I program, synchronizing the movement of my fingers to music seems to replicate the “music” generated by the state of flow.
As I coded, ideas came sequentially one by one. I didn’t even need to write them down. As I coded, I seemed to be walking the diagram of various pieces of code in my head. As I walked through each section of this diagram, I stopped to insert new ideas and refine old ideas.
It was a systematic process of beauty and order.
People at work often commented on how difficult it was to break the state of my flow to drag me to a meeting. They also noticed that I could literally work for 8 to 12 hours without getting up if I had a few donuts, a cup of coffee and a bottle of water. In fact, not even all the noise of the trading floor affected my intense concentration. My co-workers admired my ability to concentrate under extremely chaotic conditions.
People often confuse the “flow” state with hyper-focus.
Hyperfocus is the state that is commonly experienced by people with ADHD. Often, when performing tasks that will result in instant gratification, people with ADHD will focus on the tasks for hours on end. Many people view this as an asset in work. However, it also comes at a cost for the ADHD person. The cost is the unhealthy pattern of concentrating on certain tasks in certain areas life and not being able to tend to other aspects of life.
The difference between hyperfocus and the “flow” state lies in the driver of the condition. In hyperfocus, the driver of this condition is inherent in the psychological condition of ADHD. In the “flow” state, the driver of this condition is intrinsic motivation and feedback from the tasks.
Although there’s a “compulsion” that may be experienced by both ADHD person in the hyperfocus state as well as a healthy person in the “flow” state, the ability to break this compulsion is very different. A healthy person using mindful techniques may be able to recognize this compulsion and break the cycle of “flow” state. An ADHD person in the hyperfocus state may not be able to break through this “compulsion” and end the cycle.
Understanding the science of the flow State and addiction
During the flow state, your brain produces a cocktail of performance-enhancing neurochemicals: norepinephrine, dopamine, anandamide, serotonin, and endorphins. These chemicals enable you to take in more information, process it more deeply and process it more quickly. Creativity, intrinsic motivation and learning are all amplified during the flow state. In a study done by the Flow Genome Project, creativity increased 500 to 700 percent.
The cocktail of these performance enhancing neurochemicals is extremely addictive. In a study of cyber-game addiction, scientists showed that consumers of cyber gaming who have experienced flow are more likely to be addicted to playing cyber games.
Mindful Techniques to break the cycle and develop stamina
We all want to be productive. The flow state is a great gift for creative individuals to explore learning and creativity. However, everything good has two sides to it. The key is to balance out the chemical effects of the flow state with a dose of mindfulness. Stamina comes from both rest and practice.
Visualizing your flow state as a wave
When you are in the flow state of programming, visualize this state as a wave. As new ideas come up, realize that not all new ideas have to be implemented right away. Write them down. When you are solving problems during your flow state, notice the peak of the wave when you finish solving a problem. Then, notice the trough of the wave when you are beginning to put the pieces of the puzzle together.
Set a time limit for a sprint
When you picture your flow state as a wave, you can then put a start and an end to this wave based on a logical time frame. Is it one hour, two hours or three hours? What can you accomplish in the shortest amount of time possible? Pretend you are the runner. Instead of running a marathon, break up the marathon into short sprints. In this sprint of 30 minutes to an hour, what can I accomplish? Stick to that timeframe.
Stagger sprints with other activities
Do you have an activity that will put you into the meditative state? The flow state is the height of your cognitive activities. The meditative state is the slow down or recovery from brain stimulation. The meditative state can be achieved by performing any simple activity that allows you to “empty your thoughts”.
A few examples of activities that will put you into the meditative state are sweeping the floor, loading the dishwasher, playing a game of ping pong, doing yoga, walking, cooking, meditating and playing with your children.
When you stagger an hour of flow activity with 15 mins of meditative activity, you are giving your brain time to go through the whole cycle of stimulation and recovery.
Notice the feeling of “compulsion”, then end the session
Sometimes, when I am in a long sprint of 2 to 3 hours, I feel as if I am compelled to keep going. My mind floods with many ideas. I feel that I must keep going to finish all that I have set out to accomplish.
Don’t. End the session right here.
Once that compulsion strikes, you are more likely to be in your addictive state than the actual flow state. Anything that you work on after that will be the product of addiction than actually being the product of your flow state. Write down your ideas, then move on. Once you have meditated and your mind has recovered, your ideas will be able to marinate. In your next flow state, you will be able to better elaborate on those ideas.
Do you love working in your flow state? Then, manage it. Develop stamina to avoid addiction and burnout. By mindfully developing your stamina, you will be able to have more productive flow state cycles that will enable you to work better.
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Coding Addiction, Flow, Hyperfocus was originally published in Level Up Coding on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
This content originally appeared on Level Up Coding - Medium and was authored by Mohamed Aboelez
Mohamed Aboelez | Sciencx (2022-11-10T03:22:55+00:00) Coding Addiction, Flow, Hyperfocus. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2022/11/10/coding-addiction-flow-hyperfocus/
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