Rian Doris, CEO and co-founder of Flow State Collective, knows what it takes to build your focus to laser-sharp concentration. However, it took a brush with death early in his life to make him interested in neuroscience. Thanks to years of research with the Flow State Collective, Rian knows what it takes to make things happen, and he has some advice for founders who want to get into that flow state.
Introducing Rian As an Expert
Rian and his co-founder, Steven Kotler, have worked in neuroscience for years. He holds a degree in neuroscience from Trinity College, Dublin, and a Master of Science from King’s College in London. His academic excellence underlines his vision for the Flow State Collective.
His work has been featured on several podcasts, and he’s done writing for Forbes and Fast Company. He even runs his own podcast, Flow Research Collective Radio, which is a top-ten iTunes science podcast. His education and experience turned him on to what he teaches other people.
A Past That Got Him Thinking
Rian’s early years saw him going to India every year until he was 12. His parents ran a meditation practice in Chennai, which set the stage for his later life, although the young entrepreneur hadn’t known it yet.
His close brush with death came at the age of 13 when he wandered into an abandoned water park and suffered an accident on a disused water slide. For six or seven years after the accident, he suffered with the fallout until he met his co-founder. They both hit it off and devoted themselves to positive psychology.
What’s a Flow State?
Rian helps founders find their way into a flow state and get there purposefully rather than by accident. But what exactly is a flow state? Rian attributes finding out about flow states to a book he found while at a boarding house in Dublin during his school years.
The book, “Blink” by Matthew Syed argued the complete opposite of what Rian has come to believe today – that flow states are reachable on purpose. According to Rian, flow is a state of consciousness in which we perform and feel our best. A flow state happens when you’re deeply involved in the task at hand.
Removing the Inner Monologue
Rian says that a lot of people get into flow states, but they just aren’t aware of it and don’t know how to harness it properly. In a flow state, the consciousness melds into itself, and both your inner monologue and your outer voice become one harmonious projection.
According to him, it feels like losing that inner monologue but gaining perspective about what you’re doing. The flow state results in paying much closer attention to what you’re doing, and your self-critic side shuts down because it’s also involved in what you’re doing.
Being “In The Zone”
Most of us have encountered people talking about being “in the zone.” It seems like a throwaway phrase, but that’s exactly what Rian means when he discusses flow states. For example, being in the zone for a sports player is finding that mindset that allows them to focus on what they’re doing to phenomenal success.
Rian says that being in the flow can come from many things or places. Jazz players who are getting into the groove of being “in the pocket” experience that flow state. For entrepreneurs, learning how to reach into that state fuels your ability to do more and accomplish more.
Flow Is a Double-Edged Sword
Rian has also extensively researched how flow affects people in many different communities. He sees it as a positive force that entrepreneurs and founders can harness to make themselves more successful. The flow state creates a positive feedback loop, as people want to re-enter that flow state because everything “feels” better.
Unfortunately, the same is true for people who have negative flow states. Rian suggests that addictive behaviors can emulate the flow state, and it creates a negative feedback loop in that case. Individuals fall further into their addiction because of that feeling of flow state that the substance creates.
Finding Your Flow Trigger
In his research, Rian realized that people had certain triggers that could vault them into a flow state. These triggers differ from person to person, but once someone finds that trigger, it is easy to get into the flow state and forget everything else around them. It made them more productive as a result.
What Rian suggests as being the way to find your trigger is discovering where your challenge level outstrips your current skill level. When the skill level is slightly above the challenge level, your brain believes it can raise your skill to a level to overcome the challenge. It pushes your brain into that elusive flow state.
You Can’t Flow With Boredom
Rian maintains that flow has to come from a point where you’re being challenged, either mentally or physically, with the task at hand. The worst way to seek out a flow state is to be bored. Finding new things to challenge yourself within your work will help you enter and remain in that flow state for longer.
He suggests that there are ways to increase the difficulty of something to put yourself into that flow state. One of his suggestions is to compress the amount of time you have to complete something. This gives you an adjustable challenge level to increase or decrease to ramp up the challenge.
Something All Founders Should Look At
Rian’s coaching and teaching are available on his website, and he advises all founders and entrepreneurs to aim for that flow state. Based on the Flow State Collective’s research, founders who put themselves into that flow state tend to be more productive in shorter periods of time.
Finding your purpose and meaning can both help with getting into the flow state, but locating the trigger and increasing challenge difficulty is the best way to do it. Rian’s success as a teacher and coach has to do with his own flow state. It’s something every founder should look into.
