As a creative communication consultancy, we at Make Happy get to work with a lot of different businesses and meet a lot of different people. Entrepreneurs are as varied as they are numerous and we never know what might come through the door.
One point that we look at is the level of happiness that our clients have with their work. It is easy to identify the individuals that are passionate about what they are doing versus those that aren’t. The people who are motivated purely by money can and do succeed, but after that success has been achieved they often find that they are not significantly more happy than they were before.
Most people assume that having more money will lead to more happiness, and while money is an ingredient of a happy life, it is not the whole pie. The truth is that happiness lies in the balance between having sufficient money, and enjoying how you spend your time each day.
One of the best ways to combine business success and happiness is through regularly being in a state of flow.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, author of Flow characterises flow as a state of focus where you experience loss of self, meaning large amounts of time can pass in a blink, your attention in the moment increases, as does the speed at which you process information, allowing for rapid mastery.
Steven Kotler, author of The Rise of Superman, mentioned two emotional triggers for entering a state of flow. The first is novelty and unpredictability. Being in the unknown heightens your awareness and makes you fully engaged in the moment. This illustrates why travel can be so fulfilling. The second is deep embodiment. This comes from physical activities that require a lot of focus and effort, and has the effect of bringing your awareness outside of your thinking mind and into the activity at hand. That said, the state of flow can be attained by anything that fully captivates your attention and interest and requires your full focus.
The value of flow is that it both improves productivity and happiness simultaneously. We aim to bring our clients, partners and selves into a state of flow, because we know that the outcome and experience will be all the better for it. Check out our workshops to learn more about what we do and how we can bring flow to you and your people.