Ever Blink and Realise It’s 4pm? You Might’ve Been in Flow
You know those days at work when everything just feels like it clicks? You feel like you’re ticking things off the to-do list.
You're deep in a task, totally absorbed, time flies, and the usual background buzz of Teams notifications and snack cravings disappears. You look up and it’s 4:07pm. No panic, no fatigue, just that odd, satisfying sense that your brain and your work were in sync. That’s flow. And if you’ve experienced it, you’ll know it feels rare but kind of addictive.
What is Flow, Anyway?
Psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (yes, good luck pronouncing that before your coffee) coined the term flow to describe a mental state of complete focus and immersion in a task. It’s that sweet spot where challenge meets skill - where what you're doing stretches you just enough to keep you engaged, but not so much you feel overwhelmed or underprepared.
Flow isn’t just reserved for F1 drivers, artists, or people doing deep meditation on mountain tops. It can (and should) show up in your 9 to 5 too.
How Do You Know You’re in Flow?
Here are a few clues you're probably swimming in it:
Time Distorts: Hours feel like minutes. You don’t check the clock, because you don’t need to.
Laser Focus: You're fully present. No mind-wandering to last night’s group chat or what’s for dinner.
Inner Critic? Quiet: That voice that usually says “Is this good enough?” or “Should I be doing something else?” takes a backseat.
Effort Feels… Easy: Even though you’re working hard, there’s an energised sense of ease, not struggle.
Creative Sparks Fly: You’re not just executing; you’re making connections, solving problems, and creating in real-time.
So What Gets in the Way?
Let’s be honest, the modern workplace isn’t exactly designed for flow. Interruptions, reactive workflows, unrealistic multitasking expectations, collaboration - these can be flow’s kryptonite.
We often mistake being busy for being in flow. But that frantic, mentally-split-in-three feeling? That’s usually cognitive overload, not creative immersion.
How to Invite Flow at Work (Without Quitting and Moving to Bali)
Know your peak hours. Are you a morning brain? Protect those hours for deep work, not inbox triage. Flow thrives when we match the right task to the right energy window.
Match the task to the challenge. Flow likes a bit of a stretch. Too easy? You’ll get bored. Too hard? You’ll get stressed. But here’s the nuance: even tasks that usually drain you (like the soul-sucking admin or spreadsheet slog) can sneakily become flowy if you line them up with your natural rhythm.
I used to loathe updating budgets and cashflows. The repetition, the lack of spark—it felt like it sucked the colour out of my day. Until I realised that if I scheduled that task for 3pm, right after a strong cuppa, I could lock into it. That late-arvo lull—when I wasn’t great for innovation but could handle repetition—became a pocket of accidental flow. I'd often look up at 5pm, surprised that two hours had passed and mildly panicked that I was about to miss the ferry.
Scheduling to your best fit is a superpower and a privilege. If you can, use it.
Minimise interruptions. Commit to the intention of Flow; close tabs, block calendar time. Tell Steve from Sales you’ll reply after.
Find meaning. Flow thrives when your work feels aligned with your values or strengths - even if it’s just a moment of mastery inside the chaos.
Reflect when it happens. Got into flow today? Take note. What were you doing? Where were you? How can you set that up again?
Flow isn’t something you can force, but you can make space for it. The more we notice what helps us get there (and what pulls us out) the more we can design our workdays around energy, focus, and dare I say it… joy.
Because maybe the goal isn’t to be productive every second. Maybe it’s to find those moments where work feels like something you’d choose to do, even if you didn’t have to.
Over to you:
When was the last time you were in flow at work? What were you doing and what did it feel like?
Stay curious,
Claire
Image by cottonbro studio, courtesy of Pexels