“The average person is ill equipped to be idle.” (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Finding Flow. Basic Books, 1997)
When great people talk about the beauty of joy and happiness, and when they pontificate about what motivates us toward the good life, the word “Flow” inevitably crops up in the conversation.
Author, philosopher and researcher Csikszentmihalyi (cheek-sent-me-hi-elle) stakes his career on the idea that you are at your best when in flow: when you are “fully involved in meeting a challenge, solving a problem, discovering something new.”
Last week thousands of Vermonters took part in the Corporate Cup, a worksite oriented 5K walk/run. Workplace teams gather together to walk or run the course with gusto, raising money for physical activity awareness. Our team started off as nine weeks ahead of time and dwindled to five by the time we reach the starting block. Nevertheless, five unlikely worksite friends squeamishly stuck to the plan. From the onset we were right to do so… We ran into countless others who were equally anxious and reluctant but there and wonderfully excited. We ran into old friends. We awed at new friends walking for Leukemia (one woman on her 7-year anniversary of a successful stem cell transplant). We ran into 20 different four-legged walkers who brightened out step. And we laughed at every costume, every cool shirt, every set of knee socks, goofy head bands, and silly slogans.
Every step, though hard on the feet and taxing to the mental toughness coffers, put us one closer to victory and took us one farther from the idleness of the heartache rendering couch. I didn’t want to be anywhere else except walking with my buddies, feeling proud of our progress and our commitment to each other. The more experienced helped the less and the more chipper cheered the gloomy. There’s just something special about conquering a goal, however hard, with someone else who shares your immediate strife. We look at each other and say, “this hill is not my friend” and then we hi five and laugh. What obstacle? And have you seen these thighs? They crush this hill. We crush this hill.
We.
How you spend your time is a measure of who you are. How do you want to see yourself at your best?
Csikszentmihalyi writes, “Having leisure at one’s disposal does not improve the quality of life unless one knows how to use it effectively…. Without goals and without others to interact with, most people lose motivation and concentration. The mind begins to wander and more often than not it will focus on unresolvable problems that cause anxiety.” Do you become a ball of anxiety or do you get up and go? Go is the answer and a community 5K is a great outlet.
Other people matter and getting out and about with them matters even more. Get addicted to group fitness and you might just find yourself deliriously happy, not to mention a great problem solver who is focused and resilient.
While getting into a state of flow requires some initial investment, like signing up for the race, ordering shirts, committing some training time, showing up, and so on… it’s clearly worth the effort.
The winning time that Corporate Cup day? Oh, somewhere around 15 minutes. Our team time? Priceless.