Original answer by 吃胖 on Zhihu. The following is an excerpt and summary of the sections related to flow.

  • Many people say they want flow when what they really want is concentration—and perhaps an endless supply of inspiration. In reality, they are looking for a highly utilitarian shortcut. That starting point is misguided. It is human desire, not the natural order. Pursuing concentration actually runs counter to flow. The key to entering flow is forgetting the self. It begins with a model that satisfies the emotional self; at bottom, it is a pure pursuit of enjoyment.
  • The “logical self” is reason and anticipation. Suppose you have to cycle more than 20 kilometers home. The moment you think about it, you imagine the fatigue, the hot sun, and the unbearable heat or cold, which makes it hard to start. But if you anticipate nothing and simply empty your mind and ride, the experience may turn out quite well. In that moment, you are acting from the “emotional self”: there is no inner debate, and time slips by unnoticed.
  • The “logical self” never has complete information. In investing, for example, you can never know the full picture of a company and its surrounding world well enough to reason your way reliably into the future.
  • Two flow-like examples are games and alcohol. Both lower the “logical self” and make time disappear, but neither engages creativity; both remain at a surface level.

The Basic Conditions for Flow

A state in which the logical self is quiet, with human desire and KPIs set aside. You need a navigation app, not a nagging, complaining passenger in the front seat. You have to be relaxed enough that right and wrong—and the outcome—do not matter. Only then can you enjoy the drive.

Start from the natural order. Connect with your visceral desires. Generally, if you are interested in something and genuinely want it, this is easier to achieve. For example, suppose you are driven by lust but find much of what is available on the market unsatisfying. Right? That is actually a good starting point.

Put your relationship with the world in order. In other words, examine your system for judging value. By “the world,” I mean the people and things outside you. If you treat the world as something worthy of awe, your senses open up. If you treat the world as a bunch of bastards, you will struggle to summon positive emotions. This includes how you view difficulty. Someone who blames heaven and everyone else can never enter flow. (This is especially important but often overlooked. Reverence is the prerequisite for all healthy growth. The Confucian idea that “when walking with three people, one of them can be my teacher” is a form of reverence for the world.)

Create wherever possible. This is the most important point—even the only real test of flow. If you are a student, try writing your own questions. A question is generally a multi-layered jigsaw puzzle with one piece missing for the solver to find. Solve the first layer, carry its pieces into the second, and then move on to the third. If you can rework the same concepts into different questions, you will understand the exam paper deeply. A crude joke makes a sound point: once someone sticks their backside out, you know what they are about to produce… right?

Some people cannot get into a book because they are still stuck in the early cultivation stage of the sixteen seeds. They have no idea what the book is for. In this world, I have never met anyone with no interest in creation. You have to approach these seeds with the desire to grow a tree. Imagine what they could become. When you hold a book, you are holding a seed.

Let the body participate whenever possible. Exercise, rest, and nutrition matter. Move your hands, dance, gesture. For example, when I have privacy, I hum when I enter flow. Sometimes, even with people around, I put on headphones and sing silently without making a sound.

Your priority is not how much you have learned or how much you have gained. You should be pursuing enjoyment. Maybe I am misunderstanding this, or perhaps everyone is. I do not think concentration is the point or the measure of flow. At least it is not what I focus on. In my experience, flow is accompanied by constant cheers and applause ringing in the back of my mind. You deeply approve of yourself; you feel confident and fulfilled.

As I said earlier, flow should be deeply enjoyable, natural, and self-evident. Once you commit to something and take part in connecting and creating with the world, you receive a sustained sense of recognition and fulfillment. This pleasure is not projected by the rational mind. It is exactly like your instinctive reaction when you see an attractive man or woman. The pleasure generated by the model bypasses the logical layer. If someone loves their parents, do they need to think through why?

Some people cannot do this because their “logical self” is too strong. Their problems are endless. What they need to solve is not whether they can enter flow, but the logical self’s attacks on itself. Something is deeply wrong with their mindset. The real questions are how to reconcile with yourself and how to view the world positively.