When in the flow state, people lose track of time and the outside environment. They are at one with the task they are performing. ... The flow state occurs when the challenge of the activity just slightly exceeds our skill level, so full attention is continually required.
Intuitive Flow
Mastery means bypassing conscious thought entirely.
← Back to trails
When people concentrate wholeheartedly on an activity, they lose awareness of peripheral problems and distractions. ... Flow often induces a “gentle sense of euphoria” and can make you unaware of the passage of time. ... To create a sense of flow, our interaction with software must become transparent.
The common factor in each of these descriptions is that some part of the mind is not so active. Athletes in most sports use similar phrases, and the best of them know that their peak performance never comes when they’re thinking about it.
There is nothing mystical about an accurate intuition like the fire commander’s. It’s pattern recognition. With training or experience, people can encode patterns deep in their memories in vast number and intricate detail—such as the estimated fifty thousand to one hundred thousand chess positions that top players have in their repertoire.
This is his way of pointing out that when one has developed the proper Fingerspitzengefuhl for a changing situation, the tempo picks up and it seems one is then able to bypass the explicit Orientation and Decision part of the loop, to Observe and Act almost simultaneously. The speed must come from a deep intuitive understanding of one’s relationship to the rapidly changing environment. This is what enables a commander seemingly to bypass parts of the loop.
Mētis knowledge is often so implicit and automatic that its bearer is at a loss to explain it. ... In Indonesia, older Bugis sea captains, sound asleep below decks, will awaken the moment there is a change in direction, weather, current, or some combination of the three. As the ocean’s waves change amplitude or begin striking the ship from a different direction, a captain immediately senses the change through the resulting slight alterations in the roll and pitch of the ship.
In time I began, peripherally, to become aware of her movements. I looked again, closer this time, and saw that she was plating fish, cooking risotto, emulsifying sauces, taking on three, then four, then five orders at a time-all the while never changing expression or showing any visible signs of frustration or exasperation (as I would have under similar circumstances). No worries, just smooth, practiced motions, moves you see in twenty-year veterans: no pot grabbed without side-towel, no wasted effort, every sauce getting a quick taste, correcting seasonings, coming up on her stuff at the same time as the rest of the order-generally holding down her end like an ass-kicking, name-taking mercenary of the old school, only cleaner and better.
I have noticed over the years, the really good code I would write was when I'm in complete flow—just totally unaware of time: not even really thinking about the program, just sitting there in a relaxed state just typing this stuff and watching it come out on the screen as I type it in. ... Now I can't program anymore if it says, “No.” ... I'd say it's an awful lot of intuition, just knowing what's right.
This temporary abandonment is a common feature of many great creative acts. The monomaniacal pursuit often does not work; the temporary dropping of the idea sometimes seems to be essential to let the subconscious find a new approach.