Four Steps from Flow to Happiness

Why do we sometimes feel empty despite being crazy busy, while other times, even though we’re still working, we’re surrounded by a sense of lightness and focus, even feeling happy?

After reading “Flow,” “Deep Work,” “Lean Learning,” and “Anne of Green Gables,” combined with my own experiences doing experiments, going on stage, and teaching others Ba Duan Jin, I discovered a simple yet powerful path:

Choose the right thing → Maintain a positive mindset → Eliminate distractions, deeply engage → Enter flow, harvest happiness.

1. Choosing the Right Thing: The Flow Moment in the Hysteresis Loop Experiment

“Lean Learning” tells us: Don’t learn everything—finding the right direction matters more.

I can really relate. For instance, I recently did the “hysteresis loop experiment.”

At first, I had almost zero experience with circuit wiring. Looking at the pile of tangled wires on the table, I was almost overwhelmed.

But I thought to myself: I don’t want to get trapped in complex theory. I want to make this experiment work, and work well. So I treated it as something fun.

I read the handout over and over, even trying to “get inside the head of the handout designer,” imagining how he structured this experiment. Although little voices kept popping up in my head—“I’ve never done this before, can I really wire this?”—I pushed forward anyway.

Then things became magical:

• I became immersed in the wiring process, so focused that even my sense of time faded;

• When I hit problems, I discussed them with classmates who also couldn’t get their wiring right. When we couldn’t figure it out, we’d ask the teaching assistant, only to discover she hadn’t prepared either (the world really is a house of cards, which made me more comfortable discussing with her—this way I wouldn’t waste her time);

• In the end, I not only completed the experiment but also helped classmates with wiring and troubleshooting Windows software interface issues.

The transformation from “knowing nothing” to “people coming to ask me” happened because I invested flow in the right direction. That moment was truly joyful.

2. A Positive Mindset: The Decision at the Fitness Qigong Performance

“Anne of Green Gables” says: “If you decide to be cheerful, you will be cheerful.”

The first time I truly felt this was when participating in my school’s fitness qigong performance.

Honestly, as an engineering guy, my vibe doesn’t match qigong performance at all. Not to mention I was nervous to the point of exploding before going on stage.

But at that very moment, I suddenly made a decision: I don’t want nervousness to ruin this performance. I want to feel happy about participating, so I went on stage cheerfully.

The result was completely different: I didn’t freeze up, and completed the performance smoothly with my teammates. Though my movements weren’t exactly graceful, that mindset of “I’ve decided to enjoy this” made the whole process feel relaxed.

This feeling made me realize: sometimes it’s not that things become easier—you’ve just changed your mindset.

3. Eliminating Distractions, Deep Engagement: The Reminder from Deep Work

“Deep Work” tells us that if you want to produce value, you need solid blocks of time for yourself, reducing shallow distractions.

Physicist Richard Feynman explained a somewhat unconventional productivity strategy in an interview:

To really do good physics work, you need large solid chunks of time… you need very high concentration… if you’re responsible for any administrative matters, you won’t have that kind of time. So I have another perception of myself: I am irresponsible. I actively escape responsibility. I tell everyone that I don’t do anything. If someone invites me to serve on some licensing committee, I tell them: “No, I’m an irresponsible person.”

This completely echoes my experiences with the experiment and performance:

When I stopped being stuck on the worry of “can I do this well” and didn’t think about other distractions—like ignoring WeChat messages during the experiment even when someone was looking for me; and during the performance, despite the lively atmosphere with booths drawing attention, I still pressed all my focus onto the wiring and stage movements—flow naturally happened.

4. Entering Flow, Harvesting Happiness: The Meaning of Flow

“Flow” explains why this state makes people feel happy. Because in that moment, you’re not doing something for a reward—the process itself is beautiful enough.

The moment I helped classmates during the experiment, the moment I completed the performance on stage—what I experienced wasn’t recognition from outside, but a satisfaction from within. This satisfaction is actually produced through high-level focus on the current task. It fully isolates relevant neural circuits, promotes myelin sheath formation, and thus constructs positive neural pathways. These pathways allow me to continue using them in subsequent processes, no longer trapped by negative memories from past failed performances or attempts, but instead reinforcing the neuron clusters I truly want to develop.

Conversely, if attention is scattered (like notification alerts constantly popping up), these positive pathways don’t get truly reinforced, leading to a state of insufficient happiness and difficulty mastering complex skills.

5. Summary:

Four books gave me a simple path:

• Choose the right thing (Lean Learning)

• Maintain a positive mindset (Anne of Green Gables)

• Eliminate distractions, deeply engage (Deep Work)

• Enter flow, harvest happiness (Flow)

And my real feeling is: many things you’ll never be fully prepared for, but daring to fight unprepared battles, going in with the right mindset, focusing on the present—that’s how you create your own flow moments.