How to Live Your Life: On the Glory of Flow

I’m not here to tell you how to live your life, but I’ll do it anyway.

You say, “Who are you to tell me how to live my life—you’re not even 30 yet!”

I say, “Don’t be so serious.”

I’m just a dude who writes words, stupid words like “go with the flow, maaan.”

Ultimately, though, this is my goal in life: to maximize flow.

In a state of flow, the will is true: active and purposeful.

In a state of flow, the mind is cool: focused and worriless.

In a state of flow, the soul is free: blissful and egoless.

In a state of flow, the body is balanced: in the golden middle between boredom and stress.

Isn’t maximum flow your highest goal in life, too?

See, you can be in flow while you work, play, socialize, exercise, and perform.

You can be in flow while you create art, meditate, make music, and make love.

In fact, every enjoyable activity is tied to a skill, and everything tied to a skill can be done in flow.

Isn’t flow is the greatest good of human experience?

Joyful attention beyond ego, time, and distraction—what else could you want?

Are willpower and self-improvement good in itself, or are they good as gateways to flow?

Are mindfulness and mastery good in itself, or are they good as expressions of flow?

Are goal achievement and success good in itself, or are they good as results of flow?

So, to answer the question of how to live your life:

To maximize your flow, follow these principles:

Know your unique talents! If you’re naturally good at something, you’ll enter a flow state more easily. (You don’t know what your talents are? Ask two friends, two family members, and two teachers.)
Practice skills for which you have a talent! The more developed and automatized your skills are, the easier you can enter a flow state. (You don’t have the discipline to practice for 10,000 hours? Read Willpower Condensed or reconsider the point above.)
Seek environments that foster your talents! Surround yourself with people who admire the most “flowing” version of you; people who support, inspire, teach, and learn from you following your path; people who’d never distract you from it. (You don’t know where to find such people? Visit seminars, workshops, and conferences or comment here on my blog.)
Find a way to turn your talent into a job or business! If you don’t get paid for what you do in a flow state, you have to spend a lot of time out of flow just to make money. (You don’t know how to make money? Consult someone wealthier than me. One tip, though: If you can’t be the best in your field, try to combine different skills and become the best in your niche.)
Ignore everything that doesn’t benefit your talent-based business! Whatever distracts you from developing productive skills diminishes your ability to enter a flow state. (Consider this when you are tempted to waste time or uncertain about your priorities.)

Flow is life, freedom, and happiness—springing out of will, discipline, and aggressive action.

Thank you for reading and for letting me tell you how to live your life.