In two previous posts, I wrote about ideas that resonate with me and also this state of being that I got into while driving my new car. Tonight I watched a TEDx video from Leone Ross, an author. She really spoke to me, as someone who is striving to find himself in creativity and creation. But, in particular, is her last point, which I have linked to it here (just a couple minutes for the part I’m referring to):
Flow is something that Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has written about extensively. I think his definition matches very closely with her description in the above video. One of the things I like most about the way she describes the experience of flow is that it comes from simple repitition, something that you have done over and over again. I think this matches up very well with what Malcolm Gladwell talks about in Outliers when he talks about those that are most successful it is because they’ve done something for 10,000 hours. I think it also fits with what Galwey writes about in The Inner Game of Tennis. He talks about getting to the point in your tennis game where you aren’t thinking about things, but your swing just comes from knowing how a good swing feels, and just doing it.
I could come up with a ton more examples from sports or creative endeavors. Regardless, this video is just another beautiful reminder of a concept that keeps getting hammered home to me. Repitition. Practice. Consistent practice. It’s something I’m trying to apply to all important areas of my life. This resonates with me, and I take it a little bit more as part of me.