Speed Secrets: Driving Flow

Why racing triggers flow

For sure, racing is a challenge. And that can be a trigger for a state of mind that we, as humans, naturally strive for.

In his groundbreaking book, Flow, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, writes about what causes us to get into a state of flow, or “the zone.” Considered the grandfather of the topic, Csikszentmihalyi knew what he was talking about, as he spent most of his adult life researching what causes a person to get into this state.

Being in flow is something that most everyone has experienced at some point in their lives, whether it’s in sport, playing music, driving, work, parenting, public speaking, or pursuing a hobby. For a few – the superstars of any activity – it’s almost a way of life. For others, it's a fleeting experience; there, and gone in a flash. But experienced once, it's something we crave to experience again and again. Track driving gives us an opportunity to flirt with being in the flow – it's accessible, unlike many other activities we spend time doing. Where else can we test ourselves to the extent that a car at speed on a track provides?

One component that Csikszentmihalyi found will more often trigger a flow state is a balanced sense of challenge and belief. If you're faced with a task that isn’t challenging, and you don't believe you can handle it, you're likely to feel ambivalent towards engaging in it. You probably don't even want to do it, and it's unlikely that you'll get into flow doing it. If you feel you're faced with a big challenge, and yet don't have the belief in your ability to handle it, you're likely to feel anxious and not perform at your best. If you're facing a task that seems to offer no challenge to you, and you're super confident in your ability to handle it, it'll seem almost boring, and that won’t trigger a flow performance, either.

However, when you feel challenged, and yet have a deep-down-inside sense of belief in your ability to handle it, that's when you're most likely to perform in flow. A sense of challenge balanced with confidence leads to performing in the zone.

What does performance or race driving do? It challenges you. And most successful drivers have a pretty strong sense of belief in themselves (or they're working their way towards that feeling, especially when they've prepared well for the driving task). That triggers a flow state, often. And we're attracted to this state. In fact, we're more than just attracted to it. It's a basic human need. We want it, and we want more of it!