Cassandra Schultz
Professor Bodi
ENG 112
13 September 2015
Achieving “Flow”
[]In “Finding Flow” Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi explores the idea of what it means “to live” (544). Csikszentmihalyi compares living with his idea to flow. Throughout the “Finding Flow” excerpt, Csikszentmihalyi discusses the idea of flow is to have a clear and concise goal, provide immediate feedback, and to balance skills and action opportunities (548). Csikszentmihalyi discusses a study he and his students conducted on employees of a factory that assembled railroad cars. Csikszentmihalyi goes on to describe the workplace as “a huge dirty hanger where one could hardly hear a word because of the constant noise” (545). The general morale and attitude of the employees were poor and most waited for the end of the day to hurry out of the factory to drown out every day monotony of factory life with other activities. There was one employee in particular, Joe, who Csikszentmihalyi describes as a married, sixty-something year old, almost illiterate man who was self taught to fix everything in that factory. Joe and his wife had a large rock garden filled with misty fountains that Joe built. Even when it was dark out, the fountains made a rainbow. The other factory workers had respect for Joe and would ask for his help to fix things. Csikszentmihalyi asks,“ What makes a life like his serene, useful, and worth living?” (545). Csikszentmihalyi goes on to discuss that often different parts of life do not line up with all parts. He describes how work may require to be very focused on a project and that at the same time there may be anxiety of home life. This goes to describe the first part of “flow” the Idea that there has to be a clear and conscience goal. The example given in the excerpt is that of skiing. Skiing requires great concentration to do. There is not room for distraction because it could lead