Today is my second day of the Flow Genome Project, Flow Fundamentals course. So far, I find it interesting… nothing revolutionary at this point, but then again it’s only week 1 of a 6-week course. What I like about the format is its weaving more efficient habits into the fabric of my daily routine. Some of the habits I was already doing such as drinking water upon waking up, morning exercise, gratitude, and blocking of my “flow time.” What I appreciate about the program thus far is the videos released each day that gives the scientific background for each daily lesson and how it all ties into the bigger picture. For the most part, I can see the efficiency models they are putting in place along with some essentialism practices being really useful moving forward. Prior to taking this course, I’ve been diving into researching positive psychology and flow states. A great book to check out is Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Super interesting read about finding flow and creating an optimal experience.

In today’s exercise, we had to recall moments of flow from our childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. The last 2 were fairly easy, but the childhood part I had to really think about. After settling in on a few moments I realized that Flow occurs daily in our lives and we might not even realize it. By digging deeper into our own psychology, and understanding more of what makes us tick, I do believe that we can gain the understanding to better create and maintain states of flow to allow us to be more productive but more importantly, find what makes us truly happy. Which I believe for most is missing.

“However difficult life may seem, there is always something you can do and succeed at.”
~Stephen Hawking

I’ve been in a funk. Not exactly sure why, but it’s something I am trying to work through. More times that not, what I’ve noticed is that when I get this way I tend to pull back and focus on myself. In the past, after a few days, the funk passes. But, I wonder if I should be focusing on the opposite… surround myself with others and make more of an effort to help those around me. Would this create the shift needed for the head change? I’m not sure, but something I have been thinking a lot about lately is doing more charity work or volunteering for a good cause. It could be linked to feeling that the more you give, the more you get, or it’s simply about contributing for something that’s bigger than yourself. I think the last charity work I did was help build a house down in Mexico about 8 years ago. When I look at how much time is spent focusing on ourselves and then think about how much time we WASTE doing mindless tasks, I wonder how much time could be spent doing meaningful work to help others. This will definitely be something I will look into and plan out over the next few weeks.

“If you make your bed every morning, you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task, and another, and another. And by the end of the day that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed.”

-U.S. Navy Adm. William H. McCraven

When I look at the numerous difficulties we could potentially face on a day to day basis, I think that it becomes even more important to build in little successes for you to stack up during your day. The idea is that success breeds success and if at the end of the day, no matter how terrible it was, you can say you have accomplished at least one thing.

I think it can be difficult to really know your place in the world. People always talk about finding themselves and making a difference which I think this is great, but have you first started to make a difference within yourself? What have you done on a personal level to become the best version of you, today? I think doing deep work on yourself and gaining a better understanding of where you are each day can help guide you moving forward and become even more helpful to others. It’s kind of like when you’re about to take off on an airplane and the flight attendants tell you to first put your oxygen mask on before helping others. It’s hard to love and care for others when you don’t love and care for yourself.

I’ve recently realized just how powerful the act of “action” is. I’m sure we’ve all experienced a time and place when we’ve set a goal or started a project and began taking the necessary steps to complete it. In those moments the actions we take build momentum and propel us forward. Along the way, we make changes through feedback loops and ultimately pivot, twist, turn, all the while continuing to move forward towards our goals. I think we can all agree on this, granted everyone’s situations are different. I think what might be a limiting factor in taking action is not fully setting your mind to the action. We tell ourselves, I’ll give this a try and see what happens versus saying I’m going to DO this and regardless what happens I will make something work. Subtle difference, but powerful in its intent.

Do. Or do not. There is no try. – Yoda

I have been recently playing around with my morning rituals/routine, trying to fine tune it to all me to be the most productive during the day. As of now, I feel like I’m on to something good that primes me for the day.

Wake Up
– Glass of water

Start Morning Routine
General Mobility: neck, shoulders, arms, torso, back, hips, legs
Calisthenics/Core Circuit (M/W/F Routine 1, T/Th/S Routine 2)
Wim Hof Breathing x 5 min
Meditation x 5-10 min
Hot to Cold Shower x 5 min

The mobility work starts off standing and then progresses to the ground for prone and supine work. The main emphasis is to target areas which I have problems with and also address overactive muscles that tend to tighten up from sitting for long periods of time.

The volume of the calisthenics changes each day and accumulates over the weeks. I think my main goal for this would be to do something every day so that if I get too busy and cannot make the gym, I at least feel I have accomplished something.

I have been playing around with Wim Hof’s breathing exercises and plan to build up my time each week and try to deepen the experience

I like to follow the Wim Hof breathing with meditation because I feel that I am in a more grounded state and have primed my body and then can calm and set my mind.

The hot to cold showers are the final touch that brings me out of the calmness of the meditation and primes me for the day. I feel refreshed and energized.

My goal is to consistently carry out this routine with slight modifications for 6 weeks and then assess where I am at and if I want to make any changes.

Think about your own morning routine. What could you add, or even remove, to prime you for your day and everything that comes with it?