It all started in high school. With one observation. Even though chronically sleep deprived due to my studies, waking up even earlier, and fitting in an hour of running before school, left me feeling more focused & productive than compared to one hour of extra sleep.
Running became a go-to habit of mine. Any time I wanted to clear my head, or workout my body, I would run. Once in the corporate workforce, I continued this habit. The second observation: if I went on my run during the work day, with work still needing to be done, it was during my run that I had all my “aha” eureka moments; it was as if work solved itself. By the time I got back to my desk, I was in the flow, and work just flowed out. Third observation: this phenomenon only happened if I refrained from listening to music while running. A tradeoff I was willing to make!
An internship in Hawaii was the perfect excuse to take up surfing. I fell in love with the sport and noticed surfing was even more flow inducing than running. It just wasn’t as accessible. While working at Apple on the iPhone team had been fulfilling, the schedule was also all consuming. It didn’t leave much time for hobbies, let alone driving to beaches & chasing swells.
It wasn’t until I co-founded Push Pop Press, when I set my own schedule, that I was able to take full advantage of my free time. Three or four days a week, I camped up in the Santa Cruz mountains, surfed both morning and night, and worked 12+hr days in between. My routine & surfing paid dividends. I’d never been more in the flow, and I’d never been more productive.
When I exited the work force, after 14 years in tech, I discovered meditation. I was smitten. I quickly started meditating three times a day. I discovered that flow also describes a physical state, in Yogic terms amrita. I also began to see the bigger picture. We all go through life collecting practices that serve us (and ones that don’t!). Some of these practices would be characterized as flow inducing, ways to tap into our highest, most creative, most productive self: cooking, making music or art, meditating. Peak performers are people who go through life collecting flow inducing habits, and use them to their advantage. I was eager to create a forum where others could also explore their habits.
After eight more years of exploring various practices, some flow inducing, enter The Lotus Lab, the office of my dreams. Guests experience a 5-day work retreat focused on cultivating flow & achieving peak performance. They bring a project to work on, and in their “free time”, are guided through a collection of carefully selected activities to get them into flow and performing their best. The new habits formed can be allies for life. I’d love to share the experience with you.
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