The flow state is where your best work happens, a zone of deep focus where time disappears, distractions fade, and productivity feels effortless. But reaching that state isn’t about waiting for inspiration to strike. It’s about creating the right conditions and training your mind to slip into focus on command.
Here’s a system that works.
1. Keep a Post-it Note and Uncapped Pen Nearby
Before you begin, place a sticky note and an uncapped pen within arm’s reach. This isn’t for taking notes or brainstorming. It’s for one simple thing: tally marks. I’ll elaborate on this more later, but its importance is vital.
2. Eliminate All Distractions
Your environment sets the stage. Put your phone on airplane mode or Do Not Disturb, turn off notifications on your computer, and keep devices out of sight. Distractions are the enemy of flow. Create an environment that’s free of notifications and designed to help you slip naturally into your best work.
3. Just Begin
Stop waiting to “feel ready.” Just start, messy, uncertain, imperfect. Momentum beats perfection every time. The quality doesn’t matter in the beginning; what matters is movement. Once you push past that first step, your mind clears, and you’ll find yourself entering flow almost without noticing.
4. Treat Work Like Meditation
Inevitably, a distraction will pop into your head. Hmm I wonder if the 9 brains of an octopus can disagree with each other? Okay, it’ll only take a second, I’ll look it up super quick.
STOP!!
When your brain starts throwing random questions at you, it’s not weakness, it’s resistance. And that’s a good sign. It means you’re on the edge of deep work. Your mind is used to constant stimulation, so when faced with focus, it looks for an escape. Don’t get frustrated. Treat it like meditation: notice the thought, let it pass, and return to your task.
Here’s where the sticky note comes in. Every time you catch yourself drifting, make a tally mark. This isn’t a mark of failure; it’s a mark of victory. Each tally shows that you noticed your wandering mind and chose discipline instead.
The trick: Don’t try to minimize tallies. In fact, aim to rack up more. The more tallies you earn, the more times you’ve won against distraction.
At the beginning of a session, you may fill up 5–10 tallies quickly. That’s your brain shifting gears from everyday thinking: breakfast, errands, plans, into deep work. By the time you’ve reached those tallies, you’ll often feel the transition into focus. Once this becomes a habit, you’ll notice that in the beginning you rack up tallies quickly, but once you push through the difficult phase your mind is accustomed to working and you enter the flow state.
5. Use the Pomodoro Technique/Time Chunking
I’ve found the sweet spot is 50 minutes of work followed by a 10-minute break. This keeps energy high while preventing burnout.
But breaks are dangerous. They must be honest breaks. Ten minutes can quickly stretch into 20 or 30 if you’re not disciplined. The longer the break, the harder it is to get back into flow.
Keep your break to 10 minutes, and you’ll find it’s easier to drop back in. Sometimes, during those first few minutes after restarting, your mind doesn’t even realize you stopped. You may have one distraction, but after it passes, you’re able to easily slip back into a renewed state of flow.
If you take longer breaks, you reset your progress and must climb back up the hill again. Trust me, I’ve learned this the hard way.
6. Remember: It’s Easier to Keep Going Than to Start Over
The flow state rewards consistency. Once you’re in, protect it. Don’t give in to distractions or extend breaks. Staying in flow is easier than restarting from scratch.
Final Thoughts
Entering flow isn’t about magic or luck. It’s a skill, one you can train by building the right environment, using tools like the tally system, and respecting the rhythm of your work and breaks.
The more often you practice, the easier it becomes. Soon, you’ll find yourself slipping into deep focus almost automatically and doing the best work of your life.
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This is what I\’ve found works for me, if you\’re struggling to stay focused or can\’t seem to enter the elusive flow state that is talked about. Try this guide.
Photo is from a hike, Devils Bridge in Sedona, Arizona.