My Recipe For a Day of Perfect Digital Flow
It is perhaps the greatest moment in history to be a creative. Phones and computers have provided us with unlimited reach and potential.
Except there’s one problem: every distraction in the universe now fits snugly in your front pocket. Flow state requires heightened focus and finding it in today’s digital age can be nearly impossible.
Writers, software engineers, designers, business owners, and other creatives need flow. They need it daily. After working with Tommy Sobel on perfecting my most productive state, I have found that flow, and I’d like to share it.
The overarching principles are simple: Prepare your priorities. Enter a focus zone. Do one thing at a time. Have a plan for distraction.
The magic is in the methods. Here is the recipe for a day of Perfect Digital Flow!
1. First, Prioritize
Always start by listing out your priorities for the day. Otherwise, mental reminders bounce around in your head while you work.
Sometimes things come up unexpectedly, and that’s okay. Just quickly tack them onto the list, so you can keep working on the task at hand.
I like to choose 6 items a day, each of which I can do in under 25 minutes. More on that later.
2. Pre-Flight Checklist
A pre-flight checklist is a list of things you must do before you enter flow state. Here’s mine:
1. Turn my phone off and put it in the car or plug it in a wall far away.
2. Tell my coworkers that I’m snoozing my Slack notifications while working and will check in every 25 minutes.
3. Tell anyone that may need me that I’ll text them after work.
4. Snooze Mac notifications with Do Not Disturb setting.
5. Start a Freedom session to block distracting apps and websites from my devices.
6. Listen to the Phone Smart™ Focus Playlists with my headphones.
3. Switch List
A switch list is a list of things to do if you feel tempted by distraction, designed to pop you back into flow state. My personal switch is:
1. Imagine a big red X over the distraction in my mind.
2. Remember the people relying on me.
3. Take a deep, slow breath.
4. Back in.
You can make your own, based on what motivates you to stay focused.
4. Pomodoros
The Pomodoro technique is a method that assigns individual tasks into intervals, separated by short breaks. I’ve found it to be the single most effective tool for productivity.
Here are the rules:
1. A Pomodoro is a 25-minute interval, where you focus on one task, and one task only.
2. Give yourself a 5-minute break between Pomodoros (15 minutes after every fourth).
3. If you finish a task early, review your work.
4. If you don’t finish a task in time, use the next Pomodoro to finish the task and aim smaller next time you estimate
I use pomofocus.io to outline, prioritize, and manage my tasks every day.
During my 5 and 15-minute breaks, I typically skim Slack to see if I need to respond to any work messages; if not, I take a quick reading break.
5. Walk Away
Once you’ve spent several hours in a perfect flow state, it’s important to shut down your computer and walk away feeling accomplished.
Feel the joy and fulfillment of having glided through your top priorities and give yourself the important luxury of resting, spending time with loved ones, being outdoors, or doing something you love.
Santi Garza is a surfer, camper and the founder of Ditto, an app that brings people together in the real world. Santi was one of the first backend engineers at Tinder. As a coder, focus and flow state is absolutely essential.