Since January I have been hearing from PD & HR professionals across the country how anxious attorneys and business service professionals are, at all levels. This level of anxiety is oftentimes preventing professionals from focusing and being fully engaged at work.
I have presented Time Management trainings every week this year. In the pre-program survey results, participants are consistently reporting difficulty with planning and prioritizing, which are needed to focus their work. The other day, when I was presenting a Time Management workshop at Lowenstein, I mentioned the concept of Flow.
Flow was coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and is a mental state where you are fully immersed in a project and lose track of time. I frequently enter this zone when I’m writing a post or presenting trainings. I feel lost in my work and fully present.
When was the last time you were in a flow state? If it’s been a while since you got “lost” in a work project or creative endeavor, you are not alone!
Since the pandemic began almost three years ago, we have been living in a state of uncertainty, which triggers anxiety. It is very difficult to enter a flow state when we are anxious. However, when we are in the flow zone, we feel deeply connected to whatever we are doing, and our mind is free from fear or anxiety.
Time to focus is a requirement for flow to occur. During my time management sessions, I provide planning tools and strategies for eliminating distractions so attendees can focus on the important things.
Imagine if you and your team members had more time to focus and fully immerse yourselves on important projects (You know, those things you wrote down on your to-do list the first week of January). By creating focus time, and ideally getting into flow, we are likely to feel less anxious, and produce our best work too.
If you had more focused flow time, what important projects could you complete?