I recently read Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. It’s one of those books I’d seen referenced for years but never actually sat down to read cover to cover. I’ll admit, it’s not light reading. The author dives into psychology, philosophy, and even touches on spirituality. Still, the core idea grabbed me: happiness and satisfaction aren’t random. They come from a state he calls “flow,” that sweet spot when you’re so absorbed in what you’re doing that time seems to disappear.
Now, I could write pages about all the concepts he covers. However, as I read through the book, three lessons kept standing out to me. Not because they were new, but because they reinforced ideas I’ve been encouraging my mentoring clients to consider for years. Sometimes a book doesn’t teach you something brand new; it validates what you’ve experienced and gives you a new way to explain it.
The Three Lessons of Flow:
The three lessons that really stuck with me were:
The Challenge/Skill Balance
Attention Is Your Most Valuable Resource
Autotelic Personality (Doing Things for Their Own Sake)
Let me walk you through how each of these shows up in business and maybe in your own life.
The Challenge/Skill Balance: The Goldilocks Zone
One of Csikszentmihalyi’s significant insights is that flow happens when what you’re doing isn’t too easy and it isn’t too hard, what I like to call the “Goldilocks Zone.” Think about playing golf. If you play against a six-year-old, you’re most likely going to be bored. In contrast, if you play against Tiger Woods, you’re most likely going to be humiliated. Flow lives somewhere in the middle when the challenge is just beyond your current ability.
I’ve seen this play out with so many business owners.
Take the solopreneur who’s mastered their trade, whether it’s web design or bookkeeping. In the early days, the work itself was challenging. Every new client was a learning opportunity. However, they eventually reached a plateau. What was once exciting became routine. That’s when boredom crept in, and ironically, that’s often when businesses stall out.
On the other end, I’ve watched entrepreneurs bite off way more than they can chew. Perhaps they landed a large contract that fell outside their comfort zone. Suddenly, they became stressed, overwhelmed, and questioned whether they were cut out for this. Anxiety overtook them.
The lesson? Growth lives in that narrow Goldilocks Zone between boredom and anxiety. That’s where flow happens. And as a business owner, it’s your job to put yourself there intentionally.
I’ve experienced this in my own work too. When I get tired of repeating the same messages to different clients over and over, I don’t just push through; instead, I have learned that I need to shift gears for a while. I’ll take a few days to learn something new. For example, I recently learned how to automate parts of my workflow using Make.com and utilized AI to help code an interactive funding game, FundingQuest, which I built to complement my course, Funding a Small Business Startup. And when stress is through the roof, I learned to pause, break the work into smaller steps, and focus on mastering one piece at a time.
So, here’s the takeaway: don’t get too comfortable, and don’t set yourself up to panic. Nudge the challenge level just a little higher than your current skills, and that’s where the magic happens.
Attention Is Your Most Valuable Resource
This one hit me hard. Csikszentmihalyi says, “Attention is the currency of experience.” As the old saying goes, “Where your attention goes, your reality follows.”
Csikszentmihalyi’s line about attention being the currency of experience made me stop and think about how often business owners, including myself, scatter our attention everywhere. Emails, texts, social media, employees asking for five minutes, clients asking for “just one quick question.” Before you know it, the day’s gone, and you’ve accomplished almost nothing that actually mattered.
I once coached a client who was a fitness instructor. Every day, she felt drained but couldn’t figure out why she wasn’t making progress in her business. As we dug in, it became clear that she wasn’t running her studio; the studio was running her. Her attention was scattered. She’d respond to every text from clients in the moment, squeeze in extra sessions at the last minute, and say yes to every request without ever considering whether it was sustainable or profitable. Her energy was spent reacting rather than intentionally building the business she wanted.
We worked on reclaiming her focus. I encouraged her to carve out an uninterrupted half-day every few weeks for the tasks that actually moved her business needle forward. Within two months, she reported feeling like a different person. She was still busy, but now her attention was fueling growth instead of always being in firefighting mode.
That’s flow. Not because the world suddenly got easier, but because she decided where her attention would go.
As a business owner, your attention is far more valuable than your money. You can always make more money. You can’t get back wasted attention. Protect it fiercely. Create systems, set boundaries, and permit yourself to focus deeply on the few things that matter most.
Autotelic Personality: Doing Things for Their Own Sake
“Autotelic” is one of those academic words you don’t hear much outside of psychology. It simply means doing something because it’s rewarding in itself, not because of the external payoff.
In business, we’re taught to focus on outcomes: revenue targets, customer engagement numbers, market share. Don’t get me wrong, those are important. But if that’s all you chase, you’ll burn out quickly.
I’ve learned that the most successful entrepreneurs find joy in the work itself. The electrician who geeks out over solving tricky electrical issues. The baker who lights up when a new recipe finally comes out just right. The consultant who loves cracking the puzzle of a client’s messy operations.
When you find meaning in the process, not just the paycheck or the outcome, two things happen:
You stick with it through the hard times because the work itself is rewarding and fuels your soul.
You actually do better work because you care about your craft, not just the outcome.
I’ll give you another example from my own life. Years ago, when I was running one of my companies, I found myself fascinated by pricing strategies. Most people hate it; it’s spreadsheets, buyer psychology, and lots of trial and error. But I enjoyed the puzzle. It was like a fun game for me.
That’s the essence of autotelic. When you can find enjoyment in the activity itself, not just the result, you can unlock a kind of resilience that money alone can’t buy.
Pulling It All Together
Reading Flow reminded me that being a business owner isn’t just about working harder or setting goals; it’s about being strategic. It’s about designing a work life that fuels your inner passions.
Keep yourself (and your team) in that challenge/skill Goldilocks Zone. Not too easy, not too hard.
Protect your attention as it is your most precious resource, and it is flow-limited.
And whenever possible, rediscover the joy of doing things for their own sake.
Business will always have stress, uncertainty, and setbacks. But if you can create flow in your daily work, you’ll find more satisfaction, more energy, and ultimately, more success.
I finished the book feeling grateful not just for the insights, but for the reminder that business doesn’t have to feel like a grind. With the right mindset, it can feel like play. And when business feels like play, everything changes.
