When you have more than one mode of thinking

After sharing my guide about how different minds enter flow, a number of people asked: What if I have more than one cognitive preference?

It's a good point, because statistically most people do. Two or three preferences is most common, and some people even have all four. That complexity matters, because if you don't fit neatly into a single modality of thinking, reaching flow works differently.

Flow is fragile. It requires a stable mode of thinking sustained long enough for conscious effort to drop away and your thinking to settle. When you switch between preferences too quickly, or try to hold several at once, that stability can't easily form.

Flow doesn't come from integrating all your preferences at once - it comes from sequencing them. When you allow one way of thinking to lead for a period of time, without interruption, you can reach flow within that preference. When that mode has done its work, you can then shift deliberately to another.

Once you stop trying to integrate your thinking all at once and start working with it sequentially, flow becomes far more accessible. Flow can only emerge when your mind isn't competing with itself.

Gregor