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Comment by asdf6969 | Hacker News Reader

I want to know where their goals and favourite source of flow come from. Do any of these bloggers know what they’re writing or does it just sound good to other people who are also aimlessly playing on the computer? I want more depth.

It’s a lot more enjoyable and “flow”y to get stoned and watch YouTube all day everyday but I know that’s not what he’s talking about. I want to know what’s so great about the work and personal lives of these productivity guru guys. Seems like they all just make another data analytics tool, AI toys, or write blogs for each other.

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I think you're mixing up concepts.

Sure there are people that make a living from marketing self-help. Some of them might even really enjoy it.

But flow as defined in the book "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi[0], is "a state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the situation." In the book, it gives a few guide rails. Just enjoying something is different from it being in the sweet spot of challenging you, triggering growth, enabling you to learn something new or achieve something.

Of course that could come from selling your book or making a YouTube video, but instead of focusing on other people, and their motivations, and what they get out of whatever they're doing, the whole point is to figure out where you are really in a flow state that you personally find fulfilling, and would want to repeat. If you can't find that, then forget about, ignore all the information out there, and find a different life goal to pursue.

[0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/66354.Flow

> focusing on other people, and their motivations, and what they get out of whatever they're doing

I want to focus on this because I don’t believe in the idea of an authentic self and I want to know how anyone can find something that makes them feel this way, or at least how they can trick themselves into thinking some boring topic like writing productivity advice blogs can feel meaningful. Put this guy’s birth in 1800 and I’m sure he won’t feel any sense of loss because he can’t write anymore.

Is there anything you like to do without being prompted by someone else? Something you have to take an active part of? That's the thing you're searching for. It's the act of doing that gives happiness and the fact that you've done something that give satisfaction. I don't think of it as authentic self or whatever. It's just something that I can do and I enjoy doing. It's not supposed to be objectively meaningful.

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