I am Water

Published

April 22, 2021

Modified

December 1, 2025

Petr Slováček on Unsplash

Introduction

There is some stuff lying on the floor of the classroom.

  • Lego

  • Where’s Waldo? Books 

  • Magic Eye Books 

  • Dominos

  • Magnets + Links 

  • Parquetry Blocks 

  • Imaginarium Train Set + Thomas the Tank Engine 

Play!! Yes, you.

Discussion #1

  • Did you get bored?
  • Did you lose sense of time at any point?
  • Did anything become too difficult at any time?
  • What did you do at such times?

What is Flow?

We will understand Flow from:

  1. The book Flow and the Psychology of Happiness, pp; 72-76; by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. First, let us learn to say his name!!

Here is the book.

  1. This video:


  1. This TED Talk : Flow, the Secret to Happiness


3. This is Water: David Foster Wallace’s famous Talk:


4. Let us quickly read and discuss this extract from the Play and Playground Encyclopedia https://www.pgpedia.com/m/man-play-and-games

Discussion #2

  • Is the idea of Flow elusive?
  • Do only some people get it, and then only at some times?
  • Was David Foster Wallace’s talk somewhat self-deluding?
  • Then what is this Empathy stuff we talk about when we speak of Design Thinking?

Pop Quix: Want still more Flow?

No, that is not a bad spelling….why not?

Go find me in this picture !!

Pillar Rock

Pillar Rock

Conclusions

  • Flow is a Zone of Play between the rising Floor of Boredom and the approaching Ceiling of Anxiety / Challenge
  • You need to use the Boredom to push away the Ceiling to stay in Play
  • To do that, you may need to:
    • Break Rules: Change how you experience things
    • Understand your Assumptions: ( More on this later)
    • Use and Create Surprises: Spot the Problem lurking in your Boredom

Wait, But Why?

  • Flow is a great state to be in when you are working
  • It enables you to experience your work, your problem solving, in a way that is unique and hyper productive
  • And…
  • If you build / design some thing, wouldn’t you want flow for the people who use that thing?
  • Flow is your gift to your users / customers / clients / audience !!
  • And so, it is both a beginning, and an end in Design!!

References

  1. The National Institute of Play https://nifplay.org/
  2. Scott Eberle, “The Aspects of Play” https://www.journalofplay.org/sites/www.journalofplay.org/files/pdf-articles/6-2-article-elements-of-play.pdf
  3. “Platform Creativity: Domain, Field, and Person”. https://medium.com/call4/domain-8a22b6b486f4
  4. 8 Ways To Create Flow According to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. https://positivepsychology.com/mihaly-csikszentmihalyi-father-of-flow/
  5. Maria Popova. (April 8, 2016). Diane Ackerman on the Evolutionary and Existential Purpose of Deep Play. https://www.themarginalian.org/2016/08/04/diane-ackerman-deep-play/
  6. Ian Bogost, “Play at Anything”.
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