How to Find Your Creative Flow: It's Scientific! (2018) 

My flow trigger is doing research! Doesn't matter what the subject is, as long as I'm at least mildly interested, I will hyperfocus for hours/days until I'm practically fluent in it. Too bad I'm terrible at directing my interest towards things that I actually NEED to research! 🙄

walking in nature.. riding bike in nature, drawing, cooking, researching, listening to favorite music. thank you for all you do.

Movement and music on the beach- or anywhere I can play with something euphoric

I get into flow by listening to someone or something interesting while doing art/crocheting/crafts, it sparks ideas while im doing it. And i try different things/techniques in the process. It always comes out differently then what i first imagined it would be. And better. Like you, hours pass like they dont exist.

Worship is my flow trigger 😊 art and worship together is 🙌

Your talks about flow are so helpful! This is what I’ve been missing for quite some time from my art practice... this is why I got into it in the first place but lost it. Tennis is my flow trigger. But I’d really like to block printing, follow that curiousness that’ll hopefully lead to flow.

Great vid Josie. I haven’t been in the zone, as I call it, for several weeks so I’m really looking forward to part 2 of your flow series!

I loved your video! I get into flow with my art, and when I'm using the computer. I'll look up and realize the whole night has gone by! To me no time has passed at all. Your talk about flow has explained a lot, in terms anyone can understand. Thanks, I am looking forward to seeing the next one.

Thank you, Josie! This was very well explained. I used to get in the zone when sewing, playing guitar, reading. These days it's sometimes at work, would you believe! I work as a travel manager and it can get complex. But definitely, I always have and still do get into a zone when I craft and when I draw and paint. Photography also gets me there when I want to get THAT shot. When I sit down in my art-room I always turn on something like a video on my phone and I forget about that completely, not even noticing when it finishes, let alone remembering to put on the next one. :-)

Thank you for the flow recap. I'm pretty sure we studied this is psych class and I filed it in the back of my brain. My flow triggers are all over the place, colors set me off along with good/bad design. In my studio it's RU-vid painters, Pinterest, and Instagram. Sometimes I just turn on an Audiobook and sink in. I feel like I'm in more than I'm out these days.

when i'm studying and listening to my favorite game soundtrack.. when i'm doodling and hearing something playing in the background when i'm playing a game When I'm cleaning and blasting music When I'm cooking a new recipe Music helps in a lot of these situations.

I really appreciate this video and I think it may explain a few things in my life. I can get into 'the zone' (the way I refer to it) quite easily every time I paint. But, nothing sends me deeper into flow as you referred to it than a shower. Now, I don't mean the ones where you have 10 minutes to shower and get to work but the ones where you know you have a little time. Just standing there while the water runs over me must put me into a trance like flow because all of a sudden out of nowhere, solutions and ideas just start popping in my head. I always thought that was bad - I couldn't quiet my mind type of thing - I'm still not sure it isn't - lol.

Love your videos, always makes me smile! (and sometimes bust out laughing - PROTECT THE CLAN! hahaha). Listening to music gets me into flow, but the BEST flow I have had (so far) was when I melted glass and made beads. Melting glass and shaping, and melting, and the colors changing, etc... just drops me into flow so nicely. I miss it, working on finding new creative ways to get into that state for sure.

Flow triggers: creating reactive enamel or poured paintings, creating new glass pieces, reading a great book, or knitting. Creating in general.

I can lose MANY hours creating any art project that I am comfortable with, watercolors, art journaling or doodles, but zero flow if I am challenging myself in art I am not familiar with, like alcohol inks or acrylics on canvas. As others stated, I need background noise, and prefer human voices, so I can go to Skillshare or other teachings on youtube, but oddly I love having Alfred Hitcocks 'Rear Window' playing, its like having Jimmy Stewart as my pal chatting away while I paint ... LOL

Can I just say, I love your videos!

Thanks for the info

I go into flow once I enter my studio to create a new resin piece. I just get lost in there! :D Everything melts away except what I am creating! It's as if time just goes away, or stops. I love that feeling!! :D

This happens to me often while crafting ... But I also have this happen while playing video games (though only ever happens with open-ended creative style games like Sims, so I guess that would still make sense)

I get into flow programming/coding :D yeah, I've gone 4 hours in a row, exactly like how you mentioned. Although that amount of time is not very frequent... My coding task needs to strike a balance of decision-making, problem-solving, and mindless tasks. If there's too much of one, I get out of flow.

i don't know if it's the same thing, but i sometimes play a random tv series on my laptop (somehow in the background) and i play with my brush pens and watercolors. I tried playing music or audio books but its not the same thing. I get more "in the zone" if some movie/tvseries plays in the background.

idk if it's "flow" but i totally get into a meditative state when i put on music and play online minesweeper or solitaire mahjong haha, i just click click click and everything else kind of fades away

I am consistently put into 'flow' by sporting activities, most specifically basketball.

I tend to get into that 'flow' state of mind by doing something with a strong element of repetition, my papercuttings of geometric patterns for example get me in that state of mind in no time at all. I found the same thing happening while cleaning, folding laundry or doing some other simple repetitive manual labor. Art-ing is a far more preferable way to get into that state of mind of course. but I think it is the repetitive nature in these activities that causes my awareness to relax into the moment. I do have a question, I hope it is not to bold of me to ask, but I'm an uncle of two teenage boys and was wondering, how would you teach a child to recognize this state of mind within themselves? I'm a little ashamed to say, but I really never thought about this before. I imagine you have after watching you interact with your daughter, hence my question. I'm loving the content you're putting out (I've bin binging your videos the last couple of days) you really have me rethinking the way I approach my own creative process, can't thank you enough for that! I hope you have a great day, Tim.

rock climbing