{"id":4083,"date":"2017-01-14T20:02:12","date_gmt":"2017-01-14T20:02:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mapsofthemind.com\/?p=4083"},"modified":"2023-01-07T14:18:38","modified_gmt":"2023-01-07T13:18:38","slug":"hacking-creativity-shortcut-creative-mental-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mapsofthemind.com\/2017\/01\/14\/hacking-creativity-shortcut-creative-mental-state\/","title":{"rendered":"Hacking Creativity: Shortcut To A Creative Mental State"},"content":{"rendered":"

I first became fascinated in the creative process when I began writing songs on my guitar as an angsty teenager.<\/p>\n

To my adolescent mind, inspiration and ‘the zone’ came and went as they pleased and I had to make the most of them when they came, and just be cool when they didn’t. I never considered the scientific side of the process, or that there could be specific techniques to ‘hack’ creativity and enter creative states of mind, until recently.<\/p>\n

As with almost everything nowadays, scientists are trying to figure it out, doing all sorts of research, measuring brain chemistry etc. – to find out what’s going on behind the scenes in these creative states, and how we can actually enter them willfully.<\/p>\n

Enter Steven Kotler<\/h2>\n
\"steven

Steven Kotler, director of The Flow Genome Project<\/p><\/div>\n

On a recent episode of the Joe Rogan podcast, Joe speaks with Steven Kotler; bestselling author, journalist and co-founder and Director of Research for The Flow Research Collective<\/a>. Kotler, in his own words, is ‘mechanistic’ and ‘likes to know how things work’.<\/p>\n

In his work with the Flow Genome Project Kotler has been trying to understand different states of consciousness, especially the state known as ‘flow’, and how we can enter it.<\/p>\n

What is ‘Flow’?<\/h2>\n

In positive psychology, flow, also known as being ‘in the zone’, is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity.<\/p>\n

In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does – it’s when the voice in your head quietens and you are immersed in what you are doing; time seems to fall away and even your sense of self can disappear. It’s a state of optimal human performance and results in:<\/p>\n