In-class journal for April 5, 2011

I'm looking at a book excerpt called "Happiness Revisited".

Happiness, the author claims, doesn't come from pure self-indulgence or hedonism. Instead, it comes from "flow". Flow is an experience that results when one is so involved in what he/she is doing that he/she has no reason to stop or give up. I completely agree with this idea - nothing makes someone like me happier than accomplishing something difficult, or meeting a goal. Sure, I'd be glad to play video games and eat junk food all day, but after a short while I think the guilt of not doing anything overcomes any bit of happiness I might have felt before.

Flow is illustrated on a graph comparing skills and challenges. In a situation where one has "high" skills but is faced with "low" challenges, he/she experiences "boredom". In a situation where one has "low" skills but is expected to confront "high" challenges, he/she experiences "anxiety". But flow is different - it's when the skill level is roughly equal to the challenge level, forming a line with positive slope on the graph passing through the origin. (The graph is below.)

It seems logical, but my classmate Tomer has a slightly different model in mind. He believes that "flow" is achieved when the challenge level is above one's skill level, forming still a line with positive slope, but situated higher up on the graph. Not too much of a difference, but I agree with Tomer's interpretation.

Where am I on the flow chart? Skills I'd say a quarter of the way from the left, and challenges probably three-quarters the way up. Not really set in stone of course, because it's not like drawing a graphic novel with ease takes exactly three times more skill than what I have right now - but that would drop me on the "anxiety" side of the graph.

From this point, there are two ways to achieve flow. I can either decrease the challenge level or I can increase my skill level. I could try a little of both. But really, the best to do by far is to increase my skill level. Lowering the challenge is almost like giving up, which I'm all for not doing at the moment...