Well personally I look at working out as a sort of masochism. I mean there's no practical purpose to becoming stronger in today's society, especially when I'm going into a computer based field. I work out for the same reason that angst ridden teens cut themselves: When I'm lifting weights I'm not thinking about anything else. When I'm at the gym I get to take a break from worrying because otherwise I might drop a large amount of weight on my chest. I don't really get the same thing when I'm running which is just another reason that cardio is harder to make myself do than weight training. I'd say I'm pretty driven in working out, but I have no goals which is what usually drives people. The thing is that eventually these people reach a goal or plateau on the way to it and it demotivates them so I don't know that that's the best motivation to use.

Is that what you meant? I hope I didn't misunderstand the idea behind your thread.

>>555
I was thinking more along the lines of advice on getting into ''flow states'' (see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xvpuj6DRS4).

Maybe we can try and work towards a methodology for getting into flow states. When I can unreliably do it I can do better than when I do self hypnosis things (does barely nothing - probably placebo), but less than any good pre-workout stimulants.

Here's the useful, actionable information from the Wikipedia page - which is the best source I can find for bias mitigation while retaining accessibility:

''"A person does not need to be told to pay attention to a stimulus that captures attention quickly and effortlessly.[6] In many cases, explicitly directing one’s own or another’s attention is necessary due to the presence of another stimulus that more easily captures attention. In the case of flow, however, an action that would normally grab one’s attention is ignored, and many automatic processes are either suppressed (such as stimulus-driven attention changes) or ignored (such as discomfort.)

On the other hand, situations in which autonomy is encroached upon (for example, if the individual must always control his/her actions to abide by rules imposed by the task) are thought to inhibit flow.[7] This implies that another requirement of flow is to be free from constraints that force controlled processes to be used. Additionally, several areas of research indicate that during a state of flow an otherwise-controlled process becomes automatic allowing it to behave dominant over all other automatic processes.''

that picture is legit

So successful people surround themselves with flow only.
But I dont understand how to generate flow.
is it something you are instinctively good at and you support it with music and sports, both which creates flow?
How to find somethin in life, which is "you" giving you flow? If I understand it correctly, there is no way arround this ultimate goal. This is all about?
Anyways. Dont get all this.

flow is a term meaning living in the present, ymmv. lots of different people describe what being "in the flow" similarly. athletes, fighter pilots, even cashiers will experience flow. it's nothing more than being 100% committed to the task at hand. think to yourself "there's nothing in the world I'm doing RIGHT NOW than this". the grateful dead started out in the back of this guy Neill's bus, and Weir says that Neill was always "in the flow". He would have this amazing ability to always seem like he was in the right place at the right time, living each moment like it was an enormous event.