Flow makes you feel happy.* In 1992, professor Mihaly Csiksentmilhalyi published a book about his decades of research into ‘optimal perfomance’ and put a name to this new psychology – flow. Over the years his book ‘Flow’ has become a classic work on how to achieve happiness.

Csiksentmilhalyi’s work was revolutionary in the field of psychology because until that time, psychology had almost solely been focused on the ‘negatives’ of human experience and behaviour, and not the ‘positives’.

In brief, Csiksentmilhalyi’s research shows that to access a flow state that can bring you happiness, fulfilment and even joy, you need to have a goal, either internal or external, to challenge your existing skill set, one that puts your ability to the test and requires your full attention to do so.