The germ of an idea doesn't make the sculpture that stands up... so the next stage is hard work
Mihaly CsikszentmihalyiRead
Competition is an easy way to get into flow.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Competition can help individuals reach their peak performance and enter a state of flow.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi suggests that competition serves as a catalyst for achieving a state of flow—where individuals are fully immersed and engaged in an activity. This state not only enhances focus and productivity but also leads to increased satisfaction and creativity. By setting challenges against others, individuals can push their limits and reach new heights in their abilities and skills.
Themes
CompetitionFlowPerformanceMotivationAchievement
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a team meeting to inspire employees to embrace challenges.
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To know oneself is the first step toward making flow a part of one's entire life. But just as there is no free lunch in the material economy, nothing comes free in the psychic one. If one is not willing to invest psychic energy in the internal reality of consciousness, and instead squanders it in chasing external rewards, one loses mastery of one's life, and ends up becoming a puppet of circumstances.
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To live means to experience-through doing, feeling, thinking. Experience takes place in time, so time is the ultimate scarce resource we have. Over the years, the content of experience will determine the quality of life. Therefore one of the most essential decisions any of us can make is about how one's time is allocated or invested.
Mihaly CsikszentmihalyiRead
It is as if evolution has built a safety device in our nervous system that allows us to experience full happiness only when we are living at 100%-when we are fully using the physical and mental equipment we have been given.
Mihaly CsikszentmihalyiRead
Our jobs determine to a large extent what our lives are like. Is what you do for a living making you ill? Does it keep you from becoming a more fully realized person? Do you feel ashamed of what you have to do at work? All too often, the answer to such questions is yes. Yet it does not have to be like that. Work can be one of the most joyful, most fulfilling aspects of life. Whether it will be or not depends on the actions we collectively take.
Mihaly CsikszentmihalyiRead
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