[打卡]阅读打卡第56天 (Feb 08, 2022) - Flow

Progress: 88

Author proposes that the 4 types of games provide 4 different ways for enjoyment to occur:

1) Agonistic games (e.g. games of competition) stretch the person's potential to meet the challenge of competition.

2) Aleatory games give the person illusion of controlling the unpredictable future (e.g. shaman making predictions regarding a person's future, games of chance, divination etc..)

3) Vertigo games alter the person's perception of reality (e.g. spinning in circles until they are dizzy, riding a roller coaster).

4) Mimicry games make the person feels as though he is more than what he actually is through fantasy, pretense & disguise (e.g. religious rituals in which our ancestors danced wearing masks of their gods.

Flow experience is possible through fulfilling 2 conditions:

1) the structure of the activity (external condition): the activity must provide a sense of discovery, has clear rules, clear goals with immediate feedback, must provide a level of challenge that matches our skills. Through flow, we push ourselves to a higher level of performance, and emerge as a more complicated version of the self, hence attaining self growth.

• Cultures are structured activities in a massive scale in that they "are defensive constructions against chaos. They prescribe norms, evolve goals, build beliefs that help us tackle the challenges of existence". e.g. cultures dictate how we are born, brought up, get married, have children, and then die.
  
• Games / flow activities during leisure time fill in the gaps, they are activities that provide structure when cultural instructions offer little guidance.
• We have more opportunities and leisure times to enjoy ourselves, yet fail to translate them into enjoyment.
• NOTE: watching TV does not lead to the flow condition. Working people achieve the flow experience - deep concentration, high and balanced challenges & skills, a sense of control & satisfaction - about 4 times more often on their jobs, than when they are watching TV ==> Get to work!!!

2) The autotelic personality (internal condition)

Flow state is more difficult / unattainable for those with the following traits:

• 1) attentional disorders & stimulus overinclusion --> attention too fluid & erratic (e.g. ADHD, schizophrenic individual)
  
• 2) excessive self-consciousness or excessive self-centeredness --> attention too rigid and tight

Condition #1 does not apply personally, neither does excessive self-centeredness. To minimize the effect of excessive self-consciousness, do remind the self that others' opinions on you are irrelevant to your personal growth. It only reflects their personal opinions, which can be biased and only serve their own interests. Complete tasks/objectives at your own pace, one step at a time.