To live is to experience. If we were lucky enough to find the fountain of youth, we could all live indefinitely and thus experience everything there is to experience. Unfortunately, our most valuable resource, time, won’t allow that to happen.

Most people believe in the aphorism “Work now; Play later”, but research has show that having all of the leisure time in the world doesn’t lead to happiness. Dr. Czikszentmihalyi, of the University of Chicago, has show that “free time is more difficult to enjoy than work” because “learning how to use it beneficially turns out to be more difficult than expected” (60, 65). So before you set your eyes on retirement at the age of 65, think again.

If loads of leisure doesn’t lead to happiness, they what does? The answer is flow, or one’s ability to enter into “the zone”. Research shows that “human beings feel best in flow, when they are fully involved in meeting a challenge, solving a problem, discovering something new”. (66). Flow occurs “when goals are clear, feedback relevant, and challenges and skills are in balance, attention becomes ordered and fully invested” (31).

The good news is that you don’t have to wait until the age of 65 to find flow. By actively search for opportunities that lead to flow, you can experience flow everyday. Some good ways to find flow-filled opportunities include:

1. Transform the way you think about existing opportunities
Example: Think about your career differently.
2. Challenge yourself to explore new opportunities
Example: Consider changing your career.
3. Create the opportunities that you want
Example: Create your career.

Live purposefully!

Inspire by: Finding Flow by Czikszentmihalyi