 So you guys know the story of when I moved back from China and I got super depressed and for years I think it was like a solid two years. I was super unhappy on a daily basis And so I was trying to figure out Like what are the things I actually enjoyed doing in my life and why is that I so unenjoyed? I'm not enjoying most of my life day to day So around that time I came across this book called flow by mihi chik sent mihi Who's basically a hungarian positive psychologist one of the early ones? And what he did in his research was something absolutely incredible And I want to share in this video a little bit about what his research was And how I used it in my own life to conduct a flow test to find what I truly love to do and what makes me feel most alive Hey guys, alexine author of the book master the day Now the first link in the description is a link for a free journaling worksheet Now that journaling worksheet is what got me started with flow testing to get my life together and to find work that I love to do So if you want check out that first link in the description Grab that free worksheet and you'll also get an email every three days on how to use journaling to improve your life So mihi's work on flow was really really interesting to me Because he did these research studies around the world with various people from hell's angels bikers to I think even Korean housewives and everything in between And he came up with the word flow because these subjects self reported that when they were in this zone It felt like they were in the flow Where life was effortless and things just happened and they felt good and they felt happy So what he did in one of the studies was that he had people wear a buzzer And at these certain I think they were random or they were fixed But at these designated intervals the buzzer would go off And they just had to reflect on at that moment when it went off Were they in flow which meant were they present? Were they enjoying it? Did they feel like time was going by smoothly? And then they would just mark in flow or out of flow Now what was fascinating about his research was that he found that people were in flow the most at work Even though they would subjectively say they did not like their work And that people were the least in flow in their leisure time When subjectively they would say they were the happiest And so he came up with these criteria of what flow means And how you actually know you're in flow and how to get yourself in flow So I figured it would be brilliant if I could do a flow test on my own life to discover What were the things that I truly love to do And objectively like when was I really happiest? When did I notice it and when did other people notice it? So what I did and what I want you to do is I started keeping this little flow journal Now I just called the journal on my evernote happiest moments And I set my alarm on my phone or a little habit reminder to go off every hour So 7 a.m. 8 a.m. 9 a.m. 10 a.m. all the way until 10 p.m And I did this for about a week and I noticed something very very interesting So after the first week I just noticed that most of the time at work I was not in flow because I just really didn't enjoy my work that much And one of the things the times that I was the most in flow was actually when I was with other people Now that surprised me as an introvert because I didn't spend that much time around people because I didn't really want to But my data was showing that I was happiest with friends with family With walking the dog with getting brunch and going on lunch dates with people That was showing me I was the happiest there And there were certain aspects of my life that I was really happy in Like I was beginning to write my first book and I was loving that process That was a super flow producing part of my day Super rewarding super enjoyable. I love to wake up and do it You know, I love to do it And that was one of those things that made my life feel like it was worth living But overall you take a look at the trends here as I go through this I mean almost 80 percent of it was with Experiences where I was with other people and that was very enlightening for me So your mission and your habit here today is to conduct a flow test So I would recommend first of all either just choosing dedicated times like going on the clock hour or every half hour And you're just going to write down are you in flow and you evaluate that based on two things Which is do I like what I'm doing? Do I feel like time is going by effortlessly and do I feel internally smooth? Like life is just happening and it's all good And I want you to write that down on an index card You carry around one index card per day And you just flip it over and write down flow or not flow based on the hours that you've listed out And then at the end of the week you're going to compile them So if you don't use the index card just use evernote like I did or some other note taking app And then you're just going to look at the trends and you're going to be like wow You know what I'm really in flow when I'm sitting in a coffee shop reading a book I love that or I'm really in flow at the gym or when I'm playing on my sports team Or when I'm at work or when I'm with the person I'm dating And then you just track these trends and then you schedule more of those in your life Super simple super unremarkable But the results and the self insight it can tell you about your own life to me is really really incredible And I'm still doing that almost 10 years later because of the insight it provided into what I love to do And to help me learn more about myself So go ahead get started create your happiest moments or flow log whatever you want to call it And again if you want the way I got started with all this is with journaling So you can check out the first link in the description to get the free journaling worksheet On how to have your best year ever and on top of that every three days You're going to get an email with exactly how I use journaling to prove Improve and just completely transform my life. So check it out down there below You can also check out my last two videos there and there