Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Quotes

Quotes about:

• Flow is being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Fall, Time Flies, Ego

  91 Copy quote

• The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times...the best moments usually occur when a person's body or mind is stretched to it's limited in voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Effort, Mind, Body

  10 Copy quote

• The happiest people spend much time in a state of flow - the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Inspirational, People, Cost

  12 Copy quote

• A joyful life is an individual creation that cannot be copied from a recipe.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Freedom, Joy, Recipes

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2001). “Flow: the psychology of optimal experience”

  69 Copy quote

• We shape our life by deciding to pay attention to it. It is the direction of our attention and its intensity that will determines what we accomplish and how well.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Attention, Shapes, Pay

  24 Copy quote

• Even without success, creative persons find joy in a job well done. Learning for its own sake is rewarding.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Life, Motivational, Jobs

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2009). “Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and”, p.5, Harper Collins

  14 Copy quote

• If you are interested in something, you will focus on it, and if you focus attention on anything, it is likely that you will become interested in it. Many of the things we find interesting are not so by nature, but because we took the trouble of paying attention to them.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Nature, Interesting, Focus

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1997). “Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life”, p.128, Basic Books

  88 Copy quote

• What I "discovered" was that happiness is not something that happens. It is not the result of good fortune or random chance. It is not something that money can buy or power command. It does not depend on outside events, but, rather, on how we interpret them. Happiness, in fact, is a condition that must be prepared for, cultivated, and defended privately by each person. People who learn to control inner experience will be able to determine the quality of their lives, which is as close as any of us can come to being happy.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Happiness, Happy, Discovery

  76 Copy quote

• Try to be inspired by something every day. Try to inspire at least one person every day.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Inspiration, Inspire, Trying

  18 Copy quote

• Take charge of your schedule. Make time for reflection and relaxation.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Reflection, Relaxation, Schedules

  10 Copy quote

• To be successful you have to enjoy doing your best while at the same time contributing to something beyond yourself.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Success, Happy, Doing Your Best

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2004). “Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning”, p.28, Penguin

  14 Copy quote

• Competition is enjoyable only when it is a means to perfect one’s skills; when it becomes an end in itself, it ceases to be fun.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Fun, Mean, Perfect One

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2001). “Flow: the psychology of optimal experience”

  7 Copy quote

• Find out what you like and what you hate about life. Start doing more of what you love, less of what you hate.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Life, Hate, What You Love

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1996). “Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention”, Harpercollins

  46 Copy quote

• If you do anything well, it becomes enjoyable. To keep enjoying something, you need to increase its complexity.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Joy, Needs, Increase

  42 Copy quote

• Flow is the process of achieving happiness through control over one's inner life. The optimal state of inner experience is order in consciousness. This happens when we focus our attention (psychic energy) on realistic goals and when our skills match the challenges we face.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Order, Psychics, Skills

  16 Copy quote

• Creativity is a central source of meaning in our lives...most of the things that are interesting, important, and human are the results of creativity...when we are involved in it, we feel that we are living more fully than during the rest of life.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Art, Creativity, Rest Of Life

  34 Copy quote

• the self expands through acts of self forgetfulness.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Self, Forgetfulness, Self Forgetfulness

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1996). “Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention”, Harpercollins

  4 Copy quote

• Goals transform a random walk into a chase.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Goal, Walks

  "Go With The Flow" by John Geirland, www.wired.com. September 01, 1996.

  11 Copy quote

• To overcome the anxieties and depressions of contemporary life, individuals must become independent of the social environment to the degree that they no longer respond exclusively in terms of its rewards and punishments. To achieve such autonomy, a person has to learn to provide rewards to herself. She has to develop the ability to find enjoyment and purpose regardless of external circumstances.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Independent, Punishment, Anxiety

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2001). “Flow: the psychology of optimal experience”

  58 Copy quote

• Contrary to what most of us believe, happiness does not simply happen to us. It's something that we make happen, and it results from doing our best. Feeling fulfilled when we live up to our potentialities is what motivates differentiation and leads to evolution.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Happiness, Business, Believe

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2004). “Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning”, p.34, Penguin

  38 Copy quote

• When people restrain themselves out of fear, their lives are by necessity diminished. They become rigid and defensive, and their self stops growing.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Self, People, Growing

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2001). “Flow: the psychology of optimal experience”

  6 Copy quote

• It is not the hearing that improves life, but the listening.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Listening, Hearing

  10 Copy quote

• How we feel about ourselves, the joy we get from living, ultimately depends directly on how the mind filters and interprets everyday experiences. Whether we are happy depends on inner harmony, not on the controls we are able to exert over the great forces of the universe.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Happiness, Laughter, Joy

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2001). “Flow: the psychology of optimal experience”

  32 Copy quote

• There are two main strategies we can try to improve the quality of life. The first is to try making external conditions match our goals. The second is to change how we experience external conditions to make them fit our goals better.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Change, Two, Goal

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2001). “Flow: the psychology of optimal experience”

  36 Copy quote

• People without an internalized symbolic system can all too easily become captives of the media.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Media, People, Symbolic

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2001). “Flow: the psychology of optimal experience”

  6 Copy quote

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