Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Quotes - Page 2

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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”

  33 Copy quote

• 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

  24 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”

  7 Copy quote

• 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

  13 Copy quote

• 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

  17 Copy quote

• Flow is hard to achieve without effort. Flow is not 'wasting time.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Effort, Flow, Wasting Time

  35 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

  15 Copy quote

• Few things are sadder than encountering a person who knows exactly what he should do, yet cannot muster enough energy to do it. "He who desires but acts not," wrote Blake with his accustomed vigor, "Breeds pestilence.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Desire, Energy, Vigor

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

  16 Copy quote

• 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

  27 Copy quote

• 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

  15 Copy quote

• 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

  17 Copy quote

• 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

  12 Copy quote

• 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

  45 Copy quote

• 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

  45 Copy quote

• 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

  7 Copy quote

• 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”

  13 Copy quote

• 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”

  20 Copy quote

• 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

  32 Copy quote

• 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”

  24 Copy quote

• Produce as many ideas as possible. Try to produce unlikely ideas.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Ideas, Trying, Unlikely

  13 Copy quote

• 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

  12 Copy quote

• 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

  35 Copy quote

• 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”

  15 Copy quote

• 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

  24 Copy quote

• Those periods of struggling to overcome challenges are what people find to be the most enjoyable times.

  Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

  Struggle, Teaching, Learning

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

  13 Copy quote

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