I’ve been meaning to read
two books by Mihaly Csikentmihalyi (pronounced Mee-high CHICK-sent-me-high-ee),
an American psychologist, for about 6 months now. One is Flow
and the other is Creativity.  

I first heard about Flow
in the Fast Company article The Art of Work,
by Ann Marsh. She writes that flow is “…
a condition of heightened focus, productivity, and happiness that we all
intuitively understand and hunger for.”

She goes on to say how
major corporations and political figures are using the concept of flow.  

“These companies are now
using Csikszentmihalyi’s ideas to learn how they can get the best out of their
workers or create more compelling connections with their customers. Without
flow, there’s no creativity, says Csikszentmihalyi, and in today’s
innovation-centric world, creativity is a requirement, not a frill.”

Liz Strauss discussed both
books recently and it’s worth taking a look.
Flow: Zen
and the Art of Having Fun Writing
10 Reasons
Creative Folks Make Us Crazy 

If you find yourself
scratching your head when trying to understand “the creatives” or if you see
others scratching their heads when trying to understand you, you’re going to
love what Dr. Csikentmihalyi has found (and how Liz presents it!).

I really like the
definitions of creativity and the ten dimensions of creative complexity.

Thanks for the cliff
notes, Liz!

UPDATE 8/1:
Some more great coverage of Flow by Mark McGuinness.