Clear goals provide a blueprint for success. They help you get where you want to go, both in the short and long term. Goals are one of the important preconditions for flow. Having clear goals—both those set in advance, and those that arise during a situation—enhances your ability to focus and remain free of distractions. As we’ve discussed in an earlier instalment (Champion’s Mindset), having a resolute focus and total absorption in the task at hand are defining features of someone in flow.

For elite athletes, this clarity of intention can be almost palpable, as a champion cyclist describes, “You can almost touch or know that you can predict the outcome of the event before it actually happens.” In addition to goals set in advance of an event, athletes also rely on action goals to direct their focus in an ongoing way during an event. The IT world and sport are similar in that both operate in a constantly changing environment, and thus goals need to be fluid, and, when the situation requires, spontaneous. The challenge—be it opponent, competitor, or target—becomes intertwined in the present-centered goal focus of the successful performer, as this international rugby player describes, “There was one stage in the game when I went up to catch a ball, and I knew when he kicked it, I was going to catch it.” Having such clear intention sets one up for a successful encounter with the challenge.

Elite athletes have lots of experience with goal-setting, and the sport environment facilitates the setting and assessment of goals through its clearly defined rules for action and equally clearly defined measurement of success. For management professionals, working out clear goals and parameters for assessment of their attainment can be a little more challenging, but is worth the effort. There are many methods to the goal-setting process, and my advice is to use one that is simple and works for you.

Closely related to the clear goals dimension of flow is another flow factor: Unambiguous Feedback, or a moment-by-moment knowing of how you are doing in relation to your goals. There are many sources of feedback that we can tune into. One that successful athletes understand well is the feedback provided by their own body as they perform. Known as kinaesthetic awareness, this feedback about how your body is responding to the demands you are putting it under is critical for successful performance in a challenging situation, and on a longer term basis, for personal well-being.

Another source of continuous feedback is the external environment. This can take many forms, including deadlines met (or past), other’s appraisal of your work, successful bids, pay increases, or promotions. The key point with feedback is to use it to keep you connected with what you are doing, and where you want to be headed. Positive feedback is easy to integrate, and draw motivation from. However, even negative feedback is useful input, so long as it is unambiguous and you use the relevant information to help you make any necessary adjustments so as to keep on track.

The highly competitive world in which management professionals work requires the same sort of disciplined approach that world-class athletes adopt in their pursuit of excellence. It is a discipline of the body, but more importantly, a discipline of the mind, that champions develop, through ongoing use of goal-setting and listening to relevant feedback. Such discipline results in a confidence that athletes described to me as “an unshatterable self-esteem.” I shall explore this aspect of flow in the next edition.