I find that no matter how busy my days are, and how far this busyness has taken me away from my creative work, if I’m able to get one Flow State Session (FSS) in, then none of the other stuff matters.

I am more forgiving of the fact that I was pulled in so many directions if I can just spend some time working on the direction that matters most to me. The work that connects with my soul.

What do I mean by a flow state session? The classic definition of flow state is when time disappears and you are fully engaged with your work. This can be from playing music but also exercise or any activity that brings you joy. So the flow state session is very simply any time you intend to go into the flow state.

It takes a bit of time to get into flow state, so I would say that 20-30 minutes is a good minimum amount of time to work with. If you can get a full hour in, then mazel tov!

The best tool that I have at the moment is to use focusmate to schedule a session in the lengths of time as listed above (they recently added  75 minute sessions to the platform as well).

The app pairs you with someone for one of these time slots and you work with them until the timer goes off.  I would be ok with a regular timer without using focusmate as well, but having the person on the other end of the computer helps keep my butt in the chair when I hit some resistance.

Another trick is to schedule in your sessions at times before you eat a meal, or in the case of the morning, before you have your coffee. If you schedule a session right when you get home from work, you’re more likely to get it done than after you finish your dinner and want to plop down on the couch. In the morning I find it’s more rewarding to drink my coffee after getting a session in rather than reward myself first and then have no guarantee that it will actually get done.

The main thing is not how or when you make this session happen, but the idea that you can seek to find one in every day, no matter how small amount of time you have to work with.