In part 2 of our conversation with Dr Esther Murray, we explore the Flow State, where your sense of time and self disappear and you become hyper productive, 100% focused on what you’re doing.
The Flow State was first postulated by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. He found that people who were great at what they did (be it for work or for intense recreational activities like extreme sports) would often report feeling in the “zone” to the point where they lose consciousness of themselves and their perception of time warps, whether it’s hours flying by like minutes, or a few seconds stretching out. In this episode, we discuss how to make this state more likely in your practice by giving yourself mental cues, cutting away distractions, and increasing intensity of focus.
Key Points in This Episode:
00:21 Introduction of the flow state.
03:30 How flow feels in healthcare.
05:00 How to be mindful of distractors on-scene and take control of your inputs.
08:00 How to use physical and habitual triggers to increase chances of flow state.
10:20 Mindfulness and dealing with the remembering-self vs the experiencing-self.
12:30 Acceptance and commitment therapy, how to understand yourself in context and get distance from regrets and doubts.
14:30 Should we make training in moral injury and mental self-care be a part of induction?
15:55 How do you avoid “catching” stress from other people on-scene?
18:40 What would the Esther Murray of now tell the Esther Murray of 10 years ago?
22:45 You are not as alone as you think – The importance of speaking honestly about what you’re going through.
Add this episode to your CPD by signing up to the Pre-Hospital Care Season 2 “proof of learning” course.