decide you can - episode 4 (finding flow)
One month in to our podcast journey and we've got another episode that we're excited to share with you. Last week we spoke about buy-in which was close to Susie's heart and this week we talk about 'flow' which I love to think (and talk) about.
Flow is when you're 'in the zone' (or if you're in Melbourne people say they are 'kicking goals' ...which I'm still not fully on board with). It's the most productive part of your day or week and you've found a balance between being motivated and challenged . Being productive feels good and so when you push too far over the edge of that it can quickly become stressful or overwhelming. Today's episode is about how you bring yourself back into flow and some tips and tricks to find that balance.
I find myself referencing Jess Lively often on this podcast (and in daily life) so it's no surprise that it was through her I heard the term 'comfortably edgy' and the Kurt Vonnegut quote I found this week goes some way in explaining what comfortably edgy means to me:
I want to stand as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center.
Susie and I discuss the balance of not being too comfortable (and therefore unmotivated) and not being too busy or 'on edge' (and therefore overwhelmed or stressed) and share some examples of our own coping mechanisms to get back to flow.
For us we found 4 key things help us stay productive:
- Talking something through (finding a sounding board);
- Making a list to keep focus (and writing things you've already done);
- Focusing on one thing at a time (being present in each task); and,
- Sleep (to keep your brain working at its best)
As we share our own examples of stressful situations and how we have brought things back under control using the techniques above we both get to a good understanding of our own responses and ways to stay positive and focused. For Susie this was an Instagram challenge she did documenting 100 happy days and her reflection on this challenge is wholly positive.
We finish off our episode with a brief chat about the time of day we find flow and, despite being similar in so many ways, Susie and I find out that our times for being most productive are very different! Maybe that's why it was difficult to concentrate on homework when we shared a room as teenagers!!
