走进巅峰工作状态背后的科学

    那么，这是一种可以在临床上测量的物理过程吗？

    是的。心流研究或许从19世纪就开始了。过去这么多年的主要成果是，我们已经非常擅于测量神经生物学。部分原因在于，乔治•布什宣称20世纪90年代是“大脑的十年”，大量金钱随后涌入神经科学研究领域。

    举例来说，当你的时间感减慢或加快，你的自我意识消失（这些听起来就像是身处新纪元的感受），你过去不知道这是怎么回事。但我们现在知道，你的大脑其实正处于一种被称为“瞬时脑前额叶功能低下”(transient hypofrontality)的状态。瞬时意味着这种状态是暂时的，低下(hypo)是超高(hyper)的反面——它意味着放慢、甚至完全停止。Frontality指你的前额叶皮层；作为大脑的一部分，它容纳了所有更高级别的执行功能。

    关于最佳表现的旧观念是：“哦，我们只使用了大脑的5%，心流肯定是指大脑的所有功能都处在最高水平。”事实证明，这种看法完全过时了。处在心流状态下时，前额叶皮层的相当大一部分正在关闭，开始终止运行，于是你就再也无法分清过去、现在和未来。为什么你的自我意识消失了？那是因为，在心流过程中，存储你内心的批评家（即总是在那里的质疑声和贬低声）的背外侧前额叶皮层关闭了。

    那么，这个概念是不是指“与万物合一”？你听到一些冲浪者说，“哦，我与浪涛融为一体了，”这听起来就像是废话。不，事实证明，你的大脑中有一个被称为右顶叶的部分，它正在帮助你搞清楚你处于空间的何处。它帮助我们区分自我和外在事物。在深度心流状态下，能量流向其他地方，右顶叶关闭。所以，从神经系统的角度来看，在这一时点，大脑确实认为自己与万物合一了。

    所有这一切对商业世界有什么好处？

    麦肯锡公司(McKinsey)的一项研究发现，普通人在大约5%的工作时间内处于心流状态。但如果你能够将这个比重提高至20%，他们预测称整个工作场所的生产力将翻一番。真是难以置信。这是一个非常疯狂的统计数字。

    《超人的崛起》介绍了15种心流触发器。比如，你想要一个非常明确的挑战技能比。挑战需要比你能够拿出来的技能高出4%。我们接受这个数字，用它运行，同时尝试着在各种情况下对它进行测试，我们发现这样做非常有效。

    And this is a clinically measurable, physical process?

    Yes. Flow research started probably in the 1800s. What has happened in the last couple years is that we've gotten very good at measuring the neurobiology. That's partially because George Bush declared the '90s the "Decade of the Brain," and money flooded into neuroscience.

    So for example, when it feels like your sense of time slows down or speeds up, and your sense of self vanishes -- those sound like new-agey sensations. But we know now that what actually goes on in the brain is something called transient hypofrontality. Transient means temporary, hypo is the opposite of hyper -- it means to slow down or deactivate. And frontality is your prefrontal cortex; it's the part of your brain that houses all your higher executive function.

    So the old idea about optimal performance is, "Oh, we only use 5% of our brain, and flow must be all of our brain functioning at a maximal level." Turns out that's totally backwards. In flow, huge portions of your prefrontal cortex are turning off. Parts of it start to wink out so you can no longer separate past from present from future. Why does your sense of self vanish? The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex that houses your inner critic -- that voice of doubt and disparagement that's always there -- it shuts off in flow.

    And this concept of becoming one with everything? You hear surfers talk about, "Oh I was one with the wave," and it sounds like absolute nonsense. No, it turns out there's a part of your brain called the right parietal lobe that helps you figure out where you are in space. It helps us separate self from other. In deep flow states, energy goes elsewhere and the right parietal lobe shuts down. So, from a neurological perspective, at that point the brain actually does believe it's one with everything.

    What good is all this in the business world?

    A study conducted by McKinsey found that the average person spends about 5% of working hours in flow. But if you could increase that to 20%, they estimate that overall workplace productivity would double. That's incredible. That's a crazy statistic.

    There are 15 flow triggers that are covered in The Rise of Superman. For example, you want a very specific challenge-to-skills ratio. The challenge needs to be 4% greater than the skills you bring to the table. We took that number and ran with it, and tried to test it in various scenarios, and we have found it's very effective.