Comments on: What’s Your Flow State DNA?

By: Eric Deeter

Eric Deeter — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 12:28:40 +0000

I heard somewhere that a sign of character is giving excellence in a task you dislike. For me it was painting. I loved remodeling, but hated putting paint on the wall. I took this saying to heart & learned how to do it quickly (to get it over w/ ASAP) and well.

Now it is how we make our living. I dropped the remodeling & joined my wife in faux painting. I discovered a joy in the flow of this work. And while I’m rolling paint my creative mind is at work with ideas for our next business venture.

By: Website Marketing Guy

Website Marketing Guy — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:46:01 +0000

Hey Jonathan, I am somewhat similar. I love to create things, then I get bored with them and have to move on to new things. It’s crazy… I can’t get creation of new things out of my mind, and my wife absolutely hates it.

By: Celestine Chua

Celestine Chua — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:55:43 +0000

Hey Jonathan! This is my first time at your blog and I’m glad I’m here! Previously I’ve read a lot of mentions of ‘Jonathan Fields’ from other sites but never really came over to take a look at your blog. Glad that I’m finally here! I love your writings and they have such rich insights in them.

Personally, my flow state DNA is to grow. I love growing. I love challenges; I thrive in them. Anything that lets me stretch myself and push beyond my limits are much welcomed. Like you, I left my well-paying career (last year) to pursue my true passion – to grow and help others live their best lives. Having been in large organization before, I found the bureaucracy sucks the life out of me – not a surprise, since this sits at odds with my desire to grow and be doing value-added, meaningful work.

By: Roy Murphy

Roy Murphy — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 13:19:46 +0000

Yep. any “creator” will know those words well. the difficulty is always in the same sphere

1. being able to switch off
2. sorting the great ideas from the what-the-hell-was-i-thinking-i-might-take-up-accountancy-i’ve-crashed-and-burned-so-badly ones

Half the fun is finding out

By: Paul

Paul — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 11:59:25 +0000

What about the situation when you can’t create? When you can’t live without your drug? Life becomes a nightmare, you are like in a cage… and probably the best thing to do is to buy your book and start acting

By: Leo

Leo — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 18:11:02 +0000

This post instantly resonated with me.

I am definitely a creative beast. I’m the idea guy. I frequently am asked “Where do you get these ideas?” and the answer is that I’m always thinking, dreaming, creating in my head.

I am definitely not the operations guy. I can create all the systems, forms, guidelines, etc., to execute my ideas. I’m just not the guy you want doing them. Don’t misunderstand me – I will do them, and do them well. But I will not be happy. There are others will be very good at executing these, and my best function is coming up with the next idea.

My current goal is figuring out how I get to where my life is focused on the creating for me, and not for the big corporate entity. One of the things that sucks the pleasure out of the creating (for me) is when that creation is simply another cog in the machine.

Great post – thanks!

By: Amy

Amy — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 14:49:55 +0000

I, too, love to create! The problem I run into is the follow through. I seem to have a lot of little projects left unfinished. Sometimes I decide it really isn’t worth it, but I realized with the help of a life coach that I live for the rush, so that helps me realize that sometimes I’ll have to do the mundane to accomplish the task.

By: Ryan Robitaille

Ryan Robitaille — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:12:48 +0000

@Jonathan Fields – Agreed. I feel the same way, but its harder to conceptualize a plan based on helping people (which is also what I love to do) – even if that’s the direction I think I’m heading. I think it’d be easier to “strategize” if it were something simple like “Wine”, “Smurfs”, or “Yoga”.

@Allan Bacon – Thanks for the advice Allan, I think that’s a really good approach. I like the idea of setting up mini “Flow Experiments” and gauging the results. Cheers!

By: Allan Bacon

Allan Bacon — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 22:07:04 +0000

Jonathan – great post.

@ryan – I can also totally relate to having lots of interests and I think you are on track.

What I’ve done is used the combination of “flow” + higher energy afterwards as my yardstick for finding things that are part of my calling.

Then I set up lots of bite-sized tastes of the things I think I will like. This let me do lots of them. Take your interest in fixing and make it into something small – something you could do in a couple of hours or less. Then try lots of ways and see how you feel during and after.

If you do this with lots of different interests, you will start to see the common threads…

- Allan Bacon

By: Jonathan Fields

Jonathan Fields — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 20:25:40 +0000

@ positivelypresent – Creativity can also be massively addictive, just gotta watch out for the dark side, too

@ David – Wow, sounds like you’ve survived a lot in a short period of time. Glad to hear you’re coming back, refocusing on what’s right and positive in life and pouring some energy into making those things grow.

@ Ryan – yeah, birds of a feather. I am happy creating a wide variety of things, though there is a common “content” thread in that they are usually things or experiences that revolve around impacting peoples’ lives in some positive way.

@ Briana – Isn’t it interesting how discovering this state almost always happens in the context of great work/challenge. People think hard work sucks, but it’s a lie. We don’t mind work at all, when it’s being driven by something more deeply, personally compelling. I love working hard, makes the process and the outcome that much more meaningful