The flow state.... We’ve all experienced it before at some point in our lives.
It’s that point where time suspends, and you’re so deep into some sort of problem-solving process that your mind is hyper-focused on that thing. Everything unrelated to that process ceases to exist, and your brain is operating on a level a full order of magnitude above and beyond what is normal for you.
Sit with that thought for a minute…
But first I want to give you a brief update on where I’m at in life.
Now that I’ve officially completed my move from Chicago to Lisbon, my focus has shifted back to building my business. It is time to really figure out how I can not only channel my knowledge, my passions, and my life experiences in a way that truly brings value to you, the reader, but also build a viable business around the value that I hopefully am able to deliver.
This is no simple task, as I’m sure you would imagine. Like with any business, it requires a LOT of thought, planning, ideation, testing, learning, failing, reiterating, etc… and most of all it requires FOCUS.
And by “focus” I don’t mean half-hearted attempts. I don’t mean dabbling with an idea in my spare time. I mean being fully locked in, fully committed, and fully entering that flow state that I mentioned in the beginning of this article.
I mean entering that state of mind where the brain is firing on all cylinders to unlock its full creative and problem-solving potential…
I’ve talked in the past about the importance of focus, and how it must be trained just like any other skill. So if you don’t practice focusing, and if you don’t actively take steps to improve your focus then you’re not going to be very good at it, or at least you’re not going to be as good at it as you could be if you put some effort into developing your ability to really lock in. And when I say that you can actively take steps to improve focus, this implies that you can modify your lifestyle and your daily actions to be more conducive for focusing the mind.
There are lots of different lifestyle modifications that a person can make to be more focused, and I’ll touch on those things a bit later, but my understanding is that on a physiological level, everything we do to be more focused boils down to shifting the mind into a certain frequency that maximizes brain’s full creative and problem-solving potential.
I first began to grasp this concept in Joe Dispenza’s book Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself where he goes into extensive detail about the different brain wave patterns and how each is associated with different levels of consciousness.
For example, a person that is in a very relaxed state is going to be in a totally different brain frequency than someone who is panicking and concerned for their safety.
What I find both fascinating and encouraging about this is that the brain can be tuned to these different frequencies like how your radio can be tuned to different stations. What’s more is that rather than passively sitting back and listening to whatever music is on the radio, you can actively change the station until you reach a frequency that broadcasts what you want to hear in that particular moment. In other words, you can change the frequency in your brain to get desired outputs just as you can change the radio frequency for different stations.
The combination of understanding the different wave frequencies along with their associated states of consciousness and knowing that you have the power to actively shift your mind up or down into the various frequencies is quite life-changing if you ask me.
So now that you know you can move up or down the brain wave spectrum, here’s a very brief rundown of the different frequencies:
Delta Waves: These are the slowest brain waves and are typically associated with deep relaxation and sleep. While in this pattern you likely have no level of awareness of your external environment as you are deep within your subconscious mind (dreaming), or fully unconscious.
Theta Waves: These are faster than delta waves, and are associated with being in a relaxed state, while still having some level of awareness. I’d put this in that state just between being sleep and awake, where the mind is more lucid, or maybe even day dreaming.
Alpha Waves: These are faster than theta waves, and are associated with being in a calm, worry-free state and fully alert. I’d describe this as the state of mind when you are really enjoying a good book or movie, or focused on learning new information.
Beta Waves: These are the second fastest waves and represent the default state for most of us during our wakeful hours. In this state we are fully alert, and maybe even stressed a bit as this is the frequency that the brain is tuned to when it needs to focus on surviving. The stresses, distractions, and obligations of daily life require our brains to be in this frequency to successfully navigate modern society.
Gamma Waves: These are the fastest brain waves, and are associated with higher states of alertness, consciousness, and intelligence. This is where you want to be when you’re trying to be deeply focused, but not in a relaxed way like the alpha wave pattern where you may be listening to a lecture or focused on a book..… but more so like when you’re trying to be fully immersed and focused on solving very difficult problems that require abstract and creative thinking.
So another way of looking at all of this is that when you want to slip into the flow state at will and tap into the cognitive abilities necessary to lock in on business, on work, on your goals, on big challenges that are before you, then you’ll want to train your mind to upshift into the gamma wave frequency.
With a bit of training, you have the power to actively put your mind into hyper-focus mode. You can consciously upshift your cognitive functioning so that you can lock in and get shit done. You have the power to consciously level up into a state of mind that those who do not understand this concept will rarely tap into.
I don’t mean to be hyperbolic here. But it’s true. For the longest I subscribed to the belief that I cannot truly focus or get things done because of ADHD. I listened to doctors tell me that I have “poor executive functioning” and such. But now I believe that my ADHD or whatever you want to call it is more so a manifestation of being chronically in the beta brain wave frequency and failing to understand or be more proactive with shifting into the state of consciousness that is required for a focused effort.
I was tuned into the wrong radio station. But now I know I can tune into the correct station with a bit of training and intentionality.
And you can do the same.
I realize that life is busy and realistically speaking we cannot expect to go through a super formulaic routine every single time to get ourselves into the gamma state. So I like to take what I think is a very practical approach.
I have a sort of two-layer system that can be divided into long term habits and short-term measures. The long- term habits are the daily actions and behaviors that I try to employ with consistency which primes my brain to be more capable of shifting into higher states of focus. The short-term measures are the on-demand actions I can take to help my mind be more focused at any point in time.
Hear me out on this, because it’s simpler than it seems….
Long-Term Habits:
Firstly, let’s start off with “brain foods.” I’m sure you’ve heard the term before, but essentially, there are certain foods that are associated with higher cognitive functioning. These also happen to be the foods that are associated with the gamma brain wave frequency. Most notable among these foods include nuts and dark chocolate. So, if you’re looking for an excuse to eat chocolate covered almonds or anything similar, then here it is. Just make sure it is at least 70% chocolate content or higher.
Second is consistent exercise. Jim Kwik, author of Limitless: Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, and Unlock Your Exceptional Life says it best, “when your body moves, your brain grooves.” I’m not going to elaborate on this point because I’m sure that the notion of exercise improving your cognitive function is not a controversial take. So, exercise. Do it regularly. And you’ll increase your capacity for higher order brain activity.
Thirdly is having a meditation or wellness practice. I’d say that meditation is probably the most potent of the wellness practices, because it entails you manually shifting your brain into a different wave frequency, which is quite frankly the point of all of this. However, I understand that meditation is a skill in and of itself, and that’s not something everyone is willing or ready to do. So aside from that, a regularly recuring wellness practice like going to the spa, getting massages, or some other form of deep relaxation is a great way to keep your mind primed to shift into different states of consciousness.
Short-Term Measures:
There are a number of quick fixes you can turn to, to help yourself enter the gamma state for better focus. Breathing is one that immediately comes to mind. Psychedelics are another. But neither of those are something I can speak intelligently about.
However, there is one very simple one that I like to use, which is “binaural beats.” These are easy to find on any platform you use for music. I typically just put on some noise canceling headphones and use YouTube (I have premium, so no distracting commercials) to search for something like “binaural beats, 40 hz, gamma wave” and I’m all set.
Within a few minutes, I’m in the zone. In fact, this is exactly what I’m doing as I type this. In the past it would take me multiple days to complete an essay as I struggled with writer’s block and finding the creativity to string my thoughts together in a coherent manner. But now that I’ve been keen on tapping into higher order brain frequencies, 3 hours after starting this essay, I’m putting the finishing touches on it.
So when people see me with my headphones on, sitting in a coffee shop or wherever I’m working for the day, it may look like I’m listening to regular music, but what people don’t know is that I pumping brain wave frequencies into my system to put me in whatever zone I need to be.
I should also mention that it extends beyond just gamma waves. When I want my brain to be in "learning mode" I'll go for alpha wave binaural beats, or when I want to de-stress and really relax then I'll go for theta frequencies.
So let me finish by saying that you don’t have to follow my approach exactly. I think that simply being aware of the different wave frequencies and the fact that you can actively traverse the frequency spectrum puts anyone in a position to really get focused on the important matters that sit before them.
And this is more important than ever in an increasingly distracted world.