There is a scene in the movie “The Hustler”, where Fast Eddie, played by Paul Newman, says: “It’s a great feeling, boy, it’s a real great feeling when you’re right and you KNOW you’re right. It’s like all of a sudden I got oil in my arm. The pool cue is a part of me. . . you don’t have to look, you just KNOW. You make shots that nobody’s ever made before.”   What the character is describing is being in a state of flow – that enthralled state, when your level of skill matches the level of the challenge.  You become so engrossed in what you do that you forget to eat.  You escape time. We’ve all been there. It’s what athletes call “being in the zone”, what musicians refer to as “being in the groove”.

The concept of flow is the brainchild of psychologist Mihali Csikszentmihalyi. In an interesting talk a few years ago, on TED.com, Csikszentmihalyi talks about the concept of flow and about his more recent book, Good Business: Flow and the Making of Meaning. In it he writes that success is being involved in an endeavor that helps others and, at the same time, makes you feel happy.  You can’t have just one of these things to be successful.   As an inspiring example of flow in an organization he cites the vision of Masaru Ibuka, the co-founder of Sony: “To establish a place of work where engineers can feel the joy of technological innovation, be aware of their mission to society, and work to their heart’s content.”

The literature on how to find happiness is abundant, especially so in the last few years.  Perhaps one of the key components of happiness, is precisely the flow prescription Csikszentmihalyi gives us as a result of his massive research on what makes our life meaningful, on what helps us experience those “best moments,” which usually happen when we are physically or intellectually stretched to our limits “in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”

How can we help ourselves achieve the coveted state of flow?  Here are ten tips for harnessing this psychic energy:

1. Forget about multitasking. Constant multitasking, this modern-day malaise, is the enemy of flow. A 2006 Time Magazine article by Claudia Wallis and Sonja Steptoe cites several studies that show that interruptions at the beginning and the end of a task are most detrimental to performance.  “Some of the world’s most creative and productive individuals simply refuse to subject their brains to excess data streams.” A large number of Winners of MacArthur genius grants share a striking similarity: they turn off their cell phones and iPods during transit time and devote that time to thinking.

2. Know that flow is an inside job. Wean yourself away from dependency on others’ approval and set your own inner standards of excellence.

3. Be crystal clear about what you want to accomplish and develop a single-purpose focus. Having a laser-like focus of attention on what matters most is a hallmark of successful people. Take a page from people like Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO, who said:  “I keep things focused. The speech I give every day is: ‘This is what we do. Is what we are doing consistent with that, and can it change the world?’”

4. Set micro milestones and celebrate small wins. At the outset of a project, set the smallest of milestones and celebrate all the small accomplishments along the way. In his most recent video clip, Tom Peters explains the crucial importance of this practice for energizing yourself and others.

5. Do whatever it takes to sharpen your skills. When the skill set is not adequate for the challenge of the task, we move away from flow and experience anxiety, a flow killer.  It pays to devote maximum time to hone our skills for whatever it is we are undertaking.

6. Work on reducing your stress level. This will increase your chances of experiencing a flow state.  A useful tool to consider is Heart Math’s em Wave.  This is a scientifically validated software program that shows you in real time the effect of your thoughts and emotions on your heart rhythm. It helps you train your brain to release stress which in turn will improve your ability to focus, a prerequisite for the flow state.

7. Cultivate mastery. Mastery is a desire to surpass oneself, always striving to improve and rise above mere adequacy. Take an inspiration from the late Dr. George Leonard, the foremost expert on the subject of mastery. His research has isolated five keys to mastery:  1. Surrender to your passion. Mastery is a journey of joy and being willing to see how far you can go is a self-surpassing quality.  2. Practice, Practice, Practice. This will make you good at anything you undertake.  3. Get a Guide:  Don’t practice wrong. 4. Visualize the outcome. Visualize it vividly and in detail to make it real and present in your consciousness.  5. Play the Edge: Go a bit further than you have gone before and maybe a little further than anyone else has gone before.

8. Practice leadership Aikido. If you are a leader, derive some inspiration from Eastern philosophies of management by considering the practice of Aikido in the context of leadership. The term Aikido roughly translates “as the way of the harmonious spirit”. It refers to the non-combative martial art in Japan. In his book, Leadership Aikido:  6 Business Practices that Can Turn Your Life Around, John O’Neil, shows how we can achieve inner calm and blend energy with a competitor to move us forward. The three-pronged strategy of adaptability, flexibility and partnership is an unbeatable combination of personal mastery.

9. If you are in charge of others, set the conditions for them to experience flow in the workplace.  Be particularly vigilant against boredom experienced by your people. Since we experience boredom when our skill set is higher than the challenge, find ways to enrich others’ job.  While all jobs have routine components, know the percentage of time that people spend in that draining zone and look for means to increase their challenge. Incorporate the prescribed practices for increasing flow:  Establish clear goals, especially short-term ones, set unequivocal expectations, give people control over the task, and, above all, give your people immediate feedback on how they are doing.  All of these practices set the stage for creating flow experiences. Not only is it a benevolent initiative but it is a smart thing to do as it will increase the engagement of your people.

10. Get absorbed in something that is bigger than you.  If you have limited control over the kind of work you are involved in, use some of your discretionary time to get interested in noble causes, pursuits that contribute something beneficial to society.  Bertrand Russell said that the quickest way to make ourselves miserable is to focus on ourselves all the time.  It was his love of mathematics that kept him energized.

The characteristic signs of being in a state of flow are that we feel joyful – even ecstatic – totally absorbed, and devoid of stress while using our skills to the utmost for the greater good. This is a mental state worth cultivating.

For more information on mastery, read my book: The Leader as a Mensch: Become the Kind of Person Others Want to Follow.

My article was first posted in American Express Forum. Copyright ©2010 Bruna Martinuzzi. All Rights Reserved.

“If there is any one secret of success,” said Henry Ford, “it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from his angle as well as your own.” This is empathy. Not an easy undertaking, even though scientists have now proven that we are indeed wired for empathy. In this fascinating video by Nova Science, we see how mirror neurons, also dubbed Gandhi’s neurons, act as a “neurological Wi-Fi” to help us connect with other people’s feelings.

Almost one hundred years after Henry Ford’s pronouncement, Dave Patnaik, in Wired to Care: How Companies Prosper When They Create Widespread Empathy shows how a variety of global successful organizations, from Nike to Harley Davidson, benefit from integrating empathy for the consumer as an integral part of their culture.

Empathy is our ability to recognize and identify with the concerns other people have. In short, it is our capacity to care for others besides ourselves. Not only does the ability to empathize make us more successful in our professional and personal lives, but it is also the decent thing to do. It’s the path of the mensch.

With our overloaded psyche and our fast-paced lives, our empathy skills can become corroded. How do we practice empathy? Here are a few pointers:

1. Don’t Take for Granted the Most Important People in Your Life. Is your unwavering focus on the finish line causing you to unintentionally neglect your family’s emotional needs? If so, you might derive inspiration from the poignant words of Brian G. Dyson, a former CEO of Coca-Cola: “Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling some five balls in the air. You name them-work, family, health, friends, and spirit-and you are keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls-family, health, friends, and spirit-are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life.”

2. Understand this Universal Human Fear. A fundamental fear experienced by most is the hidden fear of not measuring up. Recognize this and do your part to genuinely make those in your circle of influence feel that they are enough. It’s a powerful act of interpersonal philanthropy.

3. Cultivate an Executive Presence. Much has been written about what executive presence is but one thing is certain: those who possess it have “social generosity.” We invariably walk away from them feeling energized and better about ourselves. This is because they have empathy, the quality that makes them sense our need to feel important. They see us not as we are, but as who we could become. Simply put, they care about how we feel. What a wonderful gift it is, to be able to bestow this on those we encounter. One could argue that it is indeed impossible to have executive presence without empathy because a major requirement for executive presence is the ability to connect with others.

4. Stop Negative Listening Habits. Adele Lynn isolated six negative listening habits, including the Rebuttal Maker (listening long enough to formulate his rebuttal), the Advice Giver (jumping too quickly to give unsolicited advice), the Interrupter (more anxious to speak his words than to listen), the Logical Listener (rarely asking about the underlying feelings or emotions attached to a message), the Happy Hooker (using the speaker’s words only as a way to get to his own message: “That’s nothing, let me tell you what happened to me”), and perhaps the worst of all, the Faker (pretending to listen). Do you inadvertently fall into any of these poor listening habits? Self-awareness precedes self-management. Making someone feel that they are truly listened to is the most foundational aspect of empathy.

5. Beware of the Pygmalion Effect. How you persistently view someone that you closely interact with can have an effect on how they perform—a self-fulfilling prophecy. People are very good at sensing how we view them. We translate this through a multitude of micro gestures: frequently checking email while they talk to us, picking up the phone when they enter our office, or looking away when they speak at meetings. All of these seemingly insignificant gestures are posters with a clear message: you are not important. Put yourself in their shoes for a moment and try to experience what that must feel like. Developing empathy involves putting our foot on the brake for a moment to ponder such issues. Our First Nations people have a beautiful saying for empathy—it is: “Walk a mile in my moccasins.”

Empathy helps us forge positive connections with others. It’s a state of mind and a way of being that act as a catalyst to help us create positive communities for the greater good.

My article was first posted on American Express Forum. For more tips on practicing empathy, read my book: The Leader as a Mensch: Become the Kind of Person Others Want to follow.