Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life

Narrated by:
Sean Pratt

Unabridged Audiobook

Ratings
Book
36
Narrator
15
Release Date
December 2015
Duration
5 hours 6 minutes
Summary
Part psychological study, part self-help book, Finding Flow is a prescriptive guide that helps us reclaim ownership of our lives. Based on a far-reaching study of thousands of individuals, Finding Flow contends that we often walk through our days unaware and out of touch with our emotional lives. Our inattention makes us constantly bounce between two extremes: during much of the day we live filled with the anxiety and pressures of our work and obligations, while during our leisure moments, we tend to live in passive boredom. The key, according to Csikszentmihalyi, is to challenge ourselves with tasks requiring a high degree of skill and commitment. Instead of watching television, play the piano. Transform a routine task by taking a different approach. In short, learn the joy of complete engagement. Thought they appear simple, the lessons in Finding Flow are life-altering.
Reviews
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Jamie S.

"Finding Flow" was written at the end of the twentieth century and therefore is conspicuously dated in some descriptions of the challenges and distractions of modern life. Significantly, at the time of its writing, the primary "screen" distractor was the television, not the mobile phone, and videos were rented rather than streamed from YouTube or TikTok. However, the MESSAGE of "Finding Flow" is NOT dated: what we have embraced socially since its writing is analogous to what the author examines but all the more distracting, addicting, and problematic for its constant availability. The tips and ideas of this book are therefore immediately applicable to life in the 2020s. More than that, they can be expected to remain ever more applicable if our trajectory towards technological distraction persists -- something that so far shows no sign of abating. I found this audiobook easy to listen to, and its chapters were not obtrusive. Actually, I generally didn't notice shifts between chapters as glaring changes in topic; rather, it all seemed like one continuous, well-written narrative. There are elements of the social narrative that might raise some eyebrows, particularly as it relates to the relationships between men and women in family structures. Readers (or listeners) would do well, however, to remember that the author is not making proclamations of personal values but rather citing evidence gathered from across human societies, sometimes going back millennia. He does not champion ideas that are misogynistic or inequitable and often calls out injustice where he sees it. Nonetheless, this IS where we came from, and if we are going to explore the idea of meaningful living, we need to understand what came before today's technological distractions. Without that, as he observes at one point, we would be forced to choose between full acceptance of our increasingly unsatisfied lives and an assumption that rejecting technical progress would necessarily make us happier -- something lacking much evidentiary support. I liked "Finding Flow" and will use many of the ideas here in refining my own life. That seems to me to be about as much an endorsement as one can give for any kind of self-help book.

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Anonymous

Truly valuable, wish I read this sooner.

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Anonymous

when someone starts his book with defying science I'm automatically out ! sorry

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Rashid K.

A pleasure and treasure to listen. One may not agree with everything Mihaly says but most of it deeply touches One heart and feelings. Sean Pratt has again done a perfect job. This is a must listen book for those who want to know themselves and the human psychology and behaviours and puts you in flow.

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Daan M.

Interesting read/listen, although it took me some time to pick it back up after I bought it 2 years ago. Flow is an interesting phenomenon, and one can recognize many of the points this book makes. I can't say this book has made me find flow, but it has definitly helped me recognize the activities that give me flow, and the ones that don't. Narration is excellent. Sean Pratt in my book sets the mark for how narration should be done.

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