Over the past year, I've competed in over a dozen jiu-jitsu competitions. I didn't grow up as an athlete and never competed much as a kid, so competing has been a completely new experience for me. Still, based on my experience dealing with high-pressure situations when I was younger, where anxiety often got the best of me, I thought I'd be worse at it than I am.
In fact, I've found that I'm pretty good at competing. And I don't think it's solely because of my athletic abilities or jiu-jitsu knowledge — rather, it's because of my understanding and application of the flow state. Let me explain.
I first learned about the concept of flow when I picked up Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. I became instantly captivated by the idea. Since then, I've read every book I could find on it. I've studied it endlessly, even getting certified as a Flow Coach (yes, apparently, there is such a thing). And I work to apply it wherever I can — including in jiu-jitsu competitions.
Csikszentmihalyi beautifully defined flow as "being so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter: The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost."
I still get chills every time I read that description. Yes. That is the feeling I'm looking for. One of the best feelings on earth.
Some of us may get there more often than others, but we all know what it feels like. Flow, or being in the zone as athletes like to call it, can occur in any area of our lives: from athletics to writing, to creating art, to coding, gardening, crafting, or even cooking a gourmet meal.
And while most people think of flow as something that just randomly happens and we have no control over, what I've learned in my study of flow the past few years is that while there's no guaranteed way to set ourselves up for flow, there are things we can do to make it more likely that we will reach a state of flow when the stakes are high — whether we're about to give an important speech, take a crucial test, or, yes, even compete in jiu-jitsu competition.
Here are five strategies that have helped me the most and are ones you can apply ahead of any crucial moment:
1. Proper preparation. It's much harder to reach a flow state when we're tired, cranky, hungry, or otherwise physically uncomfortable. Getting enough sleep, drinking enough water, and eating good, nutritious food ahead of any intense challenge can go a long way in making it more likely that you'll eventually reach the zone.
2. Have a routine. Routines can provide a trigger for our minds and bodies, giving them the heads up that it's time to focus. For example, my routine before jiu-jitsu competitions includes putting on a specific playlist, eating a particular snack, doing a pre-planned warm-up routine, and going through a set of breathing exercises. I do all of this in the same basic order before every competition, and by the end, my mind is focused and ready to go. Routines take some experimentation — chip away at one over time and find one that works for you.
3. Put on headphones. Look at almost every high-level athlete before any big event, and you'll notice they're almost always wearing headphones. Headphones serve two main purposes:
They signal other people not to talk to you. There's nothing worse than chit-chat to prevent you from getting in the zone.
Music itself is a trigger for flow, acting as a stimulus that directs and maintains attention as well as blocking out distractions. Putting on headphones with music that you have some emotional connection to can help you stop thinking about the outcome or the crowd and get lost in the beat. Eminem was wise when he advised us to lose ourselves in the music.
4. Bounce around. Hear me out on this one. I may look a little strange when I'm warming up — I'm either jumping rope, pretending to jump rope (if there's not enough space), or bouncing along to whatever EDM or hip-hop music I'm listening to.
But there's a point to this bouncing: repetitive movement is a trigger that can help us get into flow. Exercise where we're doing the same thing over and over, like jumping, running, or dancing demands continuous attention and concentration to keep up the movement, a feedback loop that helps maintain concentration and engagement. As we become more absorbed in the movements, we're setting ourselves up to enter a focused state of mind, which can then lead to flow. Combined with music, the combination is pretty powerful.
5. Practice letting go of outcomes and staying in the moment. This one is the hardest one of all and involves letting go of thoughts as they arise rather than focusing on future — or past — outcomes.
One of the basics of flow is that we must be completely present and can't think about our performance. When I'm competing in jiu-jitsu, for example, I try and let go of any thoughts about how I'm doing — including how I did in past matches or whether or not I'll win my next one. Instead, I try to be as present as possible and focus on the jiu-jitsu before me.
I've found Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) strategies to be really helpful here; by noticing our thoughts and immediately letting them go and re-focusing on what we're doing, we can stay in the moment and not be distracted by thoughts of outcomes. The more we practice this, the easier it becomes to apply in any situation.
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As every athlete, artist, or high performer knows, there's no guaranteed way to get into flow. Some days, we'll slip into the state easily without much thought or struggle, and other days we'll do everything right, and yet that magical state — and it is truly magical — will remain stubbornly out of reach. And yet, by deploying the above strategies, we can give ourselves the best chance possible for reaching it — at least some of the time.
As for me, I'll keep up my cycle of studying and doing my best to apply psychological concepts like flow in real-time. And if I happen upon any other life-changing triggers, I'll be sure to let you know.