What does flow have to do with it?

During the Ted Talk video titled Elusive Creative Genius, Elizabeth Gilbert talked about creativity as a persistent commitment to do the work (Gilbert, 2009) . Further, Amabile (2010) discuss the the importance of creativity in solving complex problems, as well as the processes and social environment that influence that end. Educators generally agree that more creativity is desirable, the challenge is fostering the conditions that actualize its development in the day to day happenings in schools across the country. The following article discusses how the concept of flow is relevant to cultivating optimal experiences in school.

       In the Ted Talk, How Schools Kill Creativity, by Sir Ken Robinson that has been viewed 43 927 213 at the time this article was written, and shared in staff meetings to motivate teachers beginning in 2006, it is suggested that the unquestioned structures within schools prevent new and creative approaches to learning. Conversely in Csikszentmihalyi’s (2008) analysis of the concept of flow, it is suggested that through controlling consciousness optimal experiences can be created regardless of the limiting structures in a person’s environment. In fact, according to Csikszentmihalyi (2008), “potentiality does not imply actuality”. Despite Americans having ample free time they rarely experience deep concentration, high and balanced challenges, and a sense of control and satisfaction. Without learning to control consciousness people will continue to fail to reach their creative potential even when surrounded by technological advancements. Students thinking about their own thinking through the development of metacognition is therefore a key component to the cultivation of creativity in addition restructuring timetables, or the ways in which students are grouped.

       There are, however, cultures and family units that have been successful in increasing the frequency of optimal experiences potentially providing educational institutions with pathways to frame their own learning cultures. If schools are to create learning cultures in which students, faculty, and staff alike achieve their desired creative pursuits we must avoid the social conditions of anomie, which refers to a lack of rules, and alienation, which refers to excessive constraints that force people to act contrary to their own ambitions (Csikszentmihalyi, 2008). Instead, an autotelic social environment should be pursued based on the conditions of clarity of goals, feedback, feeling of control, concentration on the task at hand, intrinsic motivation, and challenge to increase the likelihood of flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 2008).

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2008). *Flow: The psychology of optimal experience.* New York, NY: HarperCollins.

Gilbert, E. (2009, February). *Your elusive creative genius.* [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth\_gilbert\_on\_genius *An interactive transcript is available on the TED site*

Hennessey, B. A., & T. M. Amabile. (2010). Creativity. *Annual Review of Psychology, 61*, 569-598. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.093008.100416

Robinson, K. (2006, February). *Do schools kill creativity?* [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/ken\_robinson\_says\_schools\_kill\_creativity *An interactive transcript is available on the TED site*