Kia ora e hoa,

In recent weeks, I had two conversations about the same topic. One was in front of an audience. The other was with a friend.

The topic: flow.

But what is the flow? Flow is the optimal state of mind. The task at hand is effortless. You are in the zone. Nothing matters but what is in front of you. Time dilates. Hunger doesn't stop you. The state is addicting.

This is where you do your best work, your most satisfying work. The pinnacle of human productivity is achieving and sustaining the flow state.

Big companies try and achieve this. The aim is to trap your attention for the next post, the next video, so that they can serve targeted ads. And this is an effective strategy.

So, how do you use the flow state to your advantage rather than some other entity's?

Get into the flow state. How?

First, it must be a task you love deep down. The task has to mean something to you.

Next, the task can't be too easy or too hard. It has to match your skill level and then pushes that boundary slightly.

Too easy and we hit boredom. If the task is too complex, then this leads to anxiety. And just like Goldilocks, we want to aim for a happy medium.

Before and during, we need to avoid distractions. This includes other people and attention-seeking media.

Coming back to my recent conversations about the flow state. My friend's example of bringing in the flow resulted in them from 8:30 am to 11:30 pm not moving; their partner was responsible for serving them the necessities for life and sanity, food and tea.

Personally, when I research, code, or write, I get deep into the flow.

What is your experience achieving the flow state? Do you achieve the flow state with your work? Please let me know with a reply.

Thanks for reading and all the best for the week ahead.

Ngā mihi nui,

Shivan :)

My Favourite Things

1. Video Future of AI in Optometry and Ophthalmology Ehsan Vagefi provides a great explanation, promise and challenge of artificial intelligence — the good, the bad and the ugly.

2. Podcast Series Machine Learning Guide Podcast Tyler Renelle must have been a voice actor. He does a great job explaining the basics of machine learning and deep learning.

3. Book Hands-On Machine Learning with Scikit-Learn, Keras, and TensorFlow, 2nd Edition Since my machine learning learning buzz I've started reading Aurélien Géron's book again. He provides project examples of machine learning which helps with learning.

Kindle Highlight of the Week

Machine Learning is the science (and art) of programming computers so they can learn from data.

Aurélien Géron, Hands-On Machine Learning With Scikit-Learn, Keras, and TensorFlow