Flow at Work

To enjoy your job, books such as Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience recommend filling your day with as many "flow" activities as you can--tasks that you find engaging, challenging, and enjoyable.

Do we really have a choice?  In our jobs, don't we just do what the job description calls for?  I suspect that most people do have a choice.  If you keep doing more of what you enjoy, and less of what bores you, will your company stand in your way?  Probably not.  They'll see your increased energy and motivation and will recognize that this is as good for them as it is for you.  Your work is likely to evolve into something that often feels like play.

In my case, in my 25 years as an engineer, I've consciously filled my work with things that I can get totally absorbed in.  Troubleshooting problems.  Writing user friendly spreadsheets that will make my coworkers lives easier for years to come.  Training young engineers.  Developing information systems that enable technicians to run their equipment more reliably. Writing as often and as persuasively as possible.

These aren't the types of tasks I would have pictured when I went into engineering.  I use a lot more common sense and a lot more people skills than I use math.  And I get much more involved than most engineers in cultural and management issues.  But the activities I've managed to fit into my daily work are the ones that allow me to experience "flow".  I've crowded out as many of the boring tasks as possible so that, most of each day, I'm absorbed in something I really like to do.  My work gets me "on a roll", "in the zone", lost in what I'm doing so that my wife has to call and remind me to shut down my computer and come home to dinner.