Of course, in a perfect world we could all do what we wanted when we
wanted, and thereby fill our lives with a series of exciting flow activities. But
reality simply does not grant most of us that luxury. The common lament these
days seems to be that we face so many demands, yet have so little free time. This
observation brings us to an important question: When are people more likely to
experience flow —at work or during leisure hours? Most of us answer quickly
that we are happier during time away from work. In fact, people often point
to their long working hours as a cause of their unhappiness. However, research-
ers find this is not the case. Although people often have flowlike experiences
when engaging in sports and other recreational activities (Stein, Kimiecik,Daniels, & Jackson, 1995), these experiences are far more likely to happen
when people are at work than during off-hours (Csikszentmihalyi & LeFevre,
1989). A job filled with challenges provides many more opportunities for opti-mal experience than the usual kinds of easygoing activities that typically fill
our time away from work (Keller & Bless, 2008). Unfortunately, most of us
buy into the conventional wisdom that says work is work and play is play.
Consequently, we fail to recognize the frequency with which our jobs provide
us with a sense of mastery, accomplishment, and enrichment.TABLE11.1
Eight Components of Optimal Experience
1.The Activity Is Challenging and Requires Skill .
The task is sufficiently challenging to demand full attention, but not so diffi-
cult that it denies a sense of accomplishment.
2.One ’s Attention Is Completely Absorbed by the Activity .
People stop being aware of themselves as separate from their actions, which
seem spontaneous and automatic.
3.The Activity Has Clear Goals .
There is a direction, a logical point to work toward.
4.There Is Clear Feedback.We need to know if we have succeeded at reaching our goal, even if this isonly self-confirmation.
5.One Can Concentrate Only on the Task at Hand .
During flow, we pay no attention to the unpleasant parts of life.
6.One Achieves a Sense of Personal Control .
People in flow enjoy the experience of exercising control over their
environment.
7.One Loses Self-Consciousness .
With attention focused on the activity and the goals, there is little opportunityto think about one ’s self.
8.One Loses a Sense of Time .
Usually hours pass by in what seems like minutes, but the opposite can alsooccur.292 CHAPT ER 11 The Humanistic Approach