values and strengths,

 values and strengths

Once you have your values figured out, list

your goals. Big and small, what 10 or 15 things

do you want to accomplish in the next ten

years? Look at how those match up with your

values and strengths, and make a rough plan

for when you’ll work toward them and which

one or two you’ll tackle first. Get your

gratifying work from that—do what it will take

to achieve your goals.

As you align yourself with your values and do

challenging work that calls on your strengths,

you will find yourself absorbed in what you’re

doing. Sometimes time will pass without your

notice, and you won’t be aware of yourself or

your surroundings, just absorbed in your work.

That’s called the flow state. You become one

with your work. This is the source of deep

gratification and great accomplishment. Here’s

what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who named the

flow state, has to say about it:

_It is the full involvement of flow,

rather than happiness, that makes for

excellence in life. When we are in flow,

we are not happy, because to experience

happiness we must focus on our inner

states, and that would take away

attention from the task at hand... Only

after the task is completed do we have

the leisure to look back on what has

happened, and then we are flooded with

gratitude for the excellence of that

experience—then, in retrospect, we are

happy... The happiness that follows flowis of our own making, and it leads to

increasing complexity and growth in

consciousness._

You’ll never get the flow state by watching tv,

but activities like rock climbing, writing, skiing,

painting, dancing, or programming are good

candidates. For an activity to invoke the flow

state, it must:

_ require concentration

_ be challenging but a good match for your

skills

_ provide immediate feedback

_ represent a harmony between what you

feel, want, and think.