Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Quotes - Page 2

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For better or worse, our future is now closely tied to human creativity.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Creativity, Our Future, Humans

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2009). “Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and”, p.6, Harper Collins

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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

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To be creative, a person has to internalize the entire system that makes creativity possible. Creative individuals are remarkable for their ability to adapt to almost any situation and to make do with whatever is at hand to reach their goals.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Art, Creativity, Hands

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

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Attention is like energy in that without it no work can be done, and in doing work is dissipated. We create ourselves by how we use this energy. Memories, thoughts and feelings are all shaped by how use it. And it is an energy under control, to do with as we please; hence attention is our most important tool in the task of improving the quality of experience.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Memories, Feelings, Important

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For a person to become deeply involved in any activity it is essential that he knows precisely what tasks he must accomplish, moment by moment.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Focus, Essentials, Tasks

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2004). “Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning”, p.37, Penguin

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It is amazing how little effort most people make to improve control of their attention. If reading a book seems too difficult, instead of sharpening concentration we tend to set it aside and instead turn on the television, which not only requires minimal attention, but in fact tends to diffuse what little it commands with choppy editing, commercial interruptions, and generally inane content.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Book, Reading, Editing

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For original ideas to come about, you have to let them percolate under the level of consciousness in a place where we have no way to make them obey our own desires or our own direction. Their random combinations are driven by forces we don't know about.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Ideas, Intellectual, Intelligence

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Some individuals have developed such strong internal standards that they no longer need the opinion of others to judge whether they have performed a task well or not. The ability to give objective feedback to oneself is in fact the mark of the expert.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Strong, Business, Giving

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2004). “Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning”, p.38, Penguin

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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

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It is how we choose what we do, and how we approach it, that will determine whether the sum of our days adds up to a formless blur, or to something resembling a work of art.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Art, Add, Blur

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1997). “Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life”, p.13, Basic Books

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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”

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Most of us become so rigidly fixed in the ruts carved out by genetic programming and social conditioning that we ignore the options of choosing any other course of action. Living exclusively by genetic and social instructions is fine as long as everything goes well. But the moment bioloical or social goals are frustrated- which in the long run is inevitable - a person must formulate new goals, and create a new flow activity for himself, or else he will always waste his energies in inner turmoil.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Running, Long, Goal

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

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Half a century ago, the Austrian psychiatrist Viktor Frankl wrote that happiness cannot be attained by wanting to be happy - it must come as the unintended consequence of working for a goal greater than oneself.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Happiness, Business, Goal

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2004). “Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning”, p.48, Penguin

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However, a good life consists of more than simply the totality of enjoyable experiences. It must also have a meaningful pattern, a trajectory of growth that results in the development of increasing emotional, cognitive, and social complexity.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Meaningful, Business, Good Life

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2004). “Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning”, p.20, Penguin

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To know oneself is the first step toward making flow a part of one's entire life. But just as there is no free lunch in the material economy, nothing comes free in the psychic one. If one is not willing to invest psychic energy in the internal reality of consciousness, and instead squanders it in chasing external rewards, one loses mastery of one's life, and ends up becoming a puppet of circumstances.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Business, Reality, Psychics

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2004). “Good Business: Leadership, Flow, and the Making of Meaning”, p.143, Penguin

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Happiness is not something that happens ... It does not depend on outside events, but, rather, on how we interpret them.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Events, Doe, Happens

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A person can make himself happy, or miserable, regardless of what is actually happening 'outside,' just by changing the contents of consciousness.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Consciousness, Miserable, Persons

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

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Optimal experience is that rare occasion when we feel a sense of exhilaration, a deep sense of enjoyment that is long cherished and that becomes a landmark in memory for what life should be like.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Memories, Long, Rare Occasion

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A paycheck is a sufficient impetus to motivate some employees to do the minimum amount to get by, and for others, the challenge of getting ahead in the organization provides a satisfactory focus for a while. But these incentives alone are rarely strong enough to inspire workers to give their best to their work. For this a vision is needed, an overarching goal that gives meaning to the job, so that an individual can forget himself in the task and experience flow without doubts or regrets. The most important component of such a vision is an ingredient we call soul.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Strong, Jobs, Regret

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It does not seem to be true that work necessarily needs to be unpleasant. It may always have to be hard, or at least harder than doing nothing at all. But there is ample evidence that work can be enjoyable, and that indeed, it is often the most enjoyable part of life.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Joy, Doe, Needs

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

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If there is one word that makes creative people different from others, it is the word complexity. Instead of being an individual, they are a multitude. Like the color white that includes all colors, they tend to bring together the entire range of human possibilities within themselves. Creativity allows for paradox, light, shadow, inconsistency, even chaos -and creative people experience both extremes with equal intensity.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Creativity, Light, Color White

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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

People, Quality, Able

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

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Write down each day what surprised you and how you surprised others. When something strikes a spark of interest, follow it.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Writing, Each Day, Sparks

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One cannot lead a life that is truly excellent without feeling that one belongs to something greater and more permanent than oneself.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

Feelings, Existential, Excellent

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (1997). “Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life”, p.131, Basic Books

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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”

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Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

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Born: September 29, 1934
Occupation: Professor
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