Switching Mental Gears: Mindfulness, Flow, and Mind Wandering

Do you have the nagging feeling that you should always be mindful, present, and focused at work? The reality is most of us spend our days shifting between different states. And while mindfulness gets a lot of attention, it's not always the optimal state for every situation.

Why Your Mental State Should Match Your Task

Different activities require different types of attention and awareness. Here's how three key mental states align with specific tasks:

Mindfulness

• Characterized by: Present-moment awareness with wide attention
• Best for: Social interactions, complex decisions, dynamic situations
• Helps with: Reading others' emotions, adapting to changes, seeing the big picture

Flow

• Characterized by: Deep focus with narrow attention
• Best for: Individual focused work, applying expertise
• Helps with: Detailed analysis, writing, strategic planning

Mind Wandering

• Characterized by: Loose attention across many thoughts
• Best for: Creative breaks, making new connections
• Helps with: Problem-solving, having "aha moments,” mental recovery

Mindful State

The mindful state means paying close attention to what you’re doing right now, to your thoughts and feelings, and everything around you, without judging or worrying about what happened before or what might happen later.

When you’re in this state, you can think straight and organize your ideas. You find it easier to speak clearly and respond to others thoughtfully. You’re not overwhelmed by your own emotions, and you notice and connect with how other people feel. And you’re not easily distracted.

Being in a mindful state can help in a lot of situations:

1. Group Conversations and Meetings: When you’re in a discussion or team meeting, being mindful helps you listen better and understand what others are saying. This is super important for working well together.
2. Solving Problems Together: If you’re trying to solve a tricky problem with other humans, staying mindful helps you think clearly and consider everyone’s ideas before finding a solution.
3. Understanding Your Feelings: When you’re mindful, you become more aware of your emotions. This makes it easier to handle how you feel and to relate to how others feel, too.

The easiest and most direct way to develop your mindful state is to practice meditation.

Flow State

The flow state is a mental state where you’re completely absorbed by what you’re doing. When you’re in this state, everything feels clear, and you enjoy the task a lot. Your mind is fully on the present moment, helping you work really well. You cannot, however, pay attention to anything else while you’re in flow.

Flow happens when a task is just the right amount of difficult for your skills—when the challenge matches your abilities, it boosts your motivation and helps you do your best work. Although matching difficulty to skills plays a lesser role for individuals with ADHD and helps them achieve flow easier than neurotypical folks.

Being in flow can be particularly helpful in various situations, such as:

1. Creative Writing: When crafting a report or an essay, you may enter a flow state, allowing ideas to flow freely and enabling you to write without interruption.
2. Strategic Planning: During workshops or meetings focused on developing a strategy, participants can achieve flow by focusing on brainstorming ideas and analyzing data.
3. Studying or Research: When diving into complex subjects or digesting large volumes of information, entering flow can help you understand the subject faster and with more clarity.

If you're interested in exploring the flow state more deeply, check out my other article, “Unlocking the Power of Flow: A Guide for Neurodivergent Professionals.”

Mind Wandering State

Mind wandering is when your mind isn’t focused on what you’re doing right now. Instead, your thoughts can float off and explore different ideas. Even though it might feel like you’re not being productive, daydreaming can actually help you think more flexibly and solve problems better. It’s a way for your brain to be creative and come up with new ideas.

Benefits of mind wandering:

1. Enhanced Creativity: Allowing your mind to wander can lead to novel connections and creative ideas, as it helps you to explore concepts without strict boundaries.
2. Mental Recharge: Taking breaks and allowing your mind to drift helps refresh your mental processes, reducing fatigue and improving overall productivity when you return to focused work.
3. Problem Solving: Sometimes, stepping away from a problem and letting your thoughts flow can lead to unexpected insights or solutions that might not come to you during focused effort.

Our brains automatically enter mind wandering state when we’re not focused on a particular task. So, to activate this state, disconnect from what you’re doing at that moment, go for a walk, listen to some music, doodle, or do some light cleaning. Put away devices to reduce stimulation and allow your mind to wander naturally.

How to Apply This in Practice

The best performers aren't those who maintain constant focus—they're the ones who intentionally switch gears and match their mental state to each task and vice versa.

So, first of all, stop trying to be mindful and focused all the time. Instead, develop the self-awareness to match your mental state to the task at hand.

For one week, try noticing which mental state you're in before each new task:

• Notice your current mental state
• What state would best serve your present situation?
• Intentionally shift states as needed throughout your day
• And allow yourself guilt-free mind wandering time between focused work

Practice shifting states intentionally rather than staying stuck in one mode. You will struggle at first, but it gets easier and easier with practice.

References

Dust, S. B. (2015). Mindfulness, Flow, and Mind Wandering: The Role of Trait-Based Mindfulness in State-Task Alignment. Industrial and Organizational Psychology, 8(4), 609–614. https://doi.org/10.1017/iop.2015.87

Cacioppe, R. L. (2017). Integral mindflow: A process of mindfulness-in-flow to enhance individual and organization learning. The Learning Organization, 24(6), 408–417. https://doi.org/10.1108/TLO-06-2017-0063