Ikigai : the Japanese secret to a long and happy life pdfdrive com

The Seven Conditions for Achieving Flow
According to researcher Owen Schaffer of DePaul University, the
According to researcher Owen Schaffer of DePaul University, the requirements for achieving flow are:

1. 
   K nowing what to do
   
2. 
   K nowing how to do it
   
3. 
   K nowing how well you are doing
   
4. 
   K nowing where to go (where navigation is involved)
   
5. 
   Perceiving significant challenges
   
6. 
   Perceiving significant skills
   
7. 
   Being free from distractions¹
   

Strategy 1: C hoose a difficult task (but not too difficult!)

Schaffer’s model encourages us to take on tasks that we have a chance of completing but that are slightly outside our comfort zone.
Every task, sport, or job has a set of rules, and we need a set of skills to follow them. If the rules for completing a task or achieving a purpose are too basic relative to our skill set, we will likely get bored. Activities that are too easy lead to apathy.
If, on the other hand, we assign ourselves a task that is too difficult, we won’t have the skills to complete it and will almost certainly give up—and feel frustrated, to boot.
The ideal is to find a middle path, something aligned with our abilities but just a bit of a stretch, so we experience it as a challenge. This is what Ernest
Hemingway meant when he said, “Sometimes I write better than I can.”²
We want to see challenges through to the end because we enjoy the feeling of pushing ourselves. Bertrand Russell expressed a similar idea when he said, “To be able to concentrate for a considerable amount of time is essential to difficult achievement.”³
If you’re a graphic designer, learn a new software program for your next project. If you’re a programmer, use a new programming language. If you’re a dancer, try to incorporate into your next routine a movement that has seemed impossible for years.
Add a little something extra, something that takes you out of your comfort zone.
zone.
Even doing something as simple as reading means following certain rules, having certain abilities and knowledge. If we set out to read a book on quantum mechanics for specialists in physics without being specialists in physics ourselves, we’ll probably give up after a few minutes. On the other end of the spectrum, if we already know everything a book has to tell us, we’ll get bored right away.
However, if the book is appropriate to our knowledge and abilities, and builds on what we already know, we’ll immerse ourselves in our reading, and time will flow. This pleasure and satisfaction are evidence that we are in tune with our ikigai.