Hpw True is this for others?
Mihaly’s insights ring very true for me. I can recall many occasions, but the most recent was a few nights ago. It was well past 2am when I finished the Fall Guy piece for Savvy Street, and the last two paragraphs, full of rhetoric, just flowed, like some other hand had taken over. And this has happened many times not only in novel and feature writing (art/ creation), but in my business career, as long as I was given the rope to construct something that I argued should be and could be done (by me), and even as a student (where you can explore the subject freely and write a term paper like you were the Editor-in-chief). Mihaly talks of work, play, and art, but even sport we play our best when we are all in.
Jan
This chart is used by socialist to push the idea that stealing money from people is fine, it is used by the anti-patent side to say people will create no matter what. It is a dangerous lie that needs to be exposed and not propagated. I could not get past this fundamental error.
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Likewise, I've begun to consider the possibility that EVERYONE is somewhere on a bell-curve of Asperger's Syndrome, from minus to plus MANY 'sigmas' and OCD is just somewhere to the right of the peak... :)
But whether I was designing a Vceo test circuit, conceiving of a way to increase the I/sb capabilities of a PNP transistor chip, forecast product sales three quarters out into the future, conceptually re-map our division's product line or figure out how to achieve a Really Smooth and Flat bottom for a turned wooden bowl, the feelings were all quite similar.
(or discuss politics, religion and economics, too...)
;)
In fact, it was just a few years in. At ten years, the work became boring, as my development was thwarted by a lack of growth path in the organization and such a high level of problem-solving and innovation in the daily work that creativity was taken over by 'routine.'
But as he continued, and towards the end of the talk, I found myself in agreement with the last chart: when the combination in the environment provided the 'flow' experience, those were the 'happiest times' for me, including every work position AND every most-enjoyable experience in non-work hobbies and amusements, too!
I ended up forwarding the link for the talk to a large number of folks on my email lists.
thanks, Vinay, for the lead!
That's the transcript.