Flow can sound like a buzz word to some. Everyone has experienced the feeling. It’s that feeling where time disappears, and you get lost in a routine of positive production. Entering a “flow state” is a key to success in any field, including the game of baseball. In that zone, everything comes naturally, and your skills take over without the impediments of thought. At Stanford University, David Melnikoff has tried to uncover the magic factors that allow us to enter a flow state.
Melnikoff says that entering a flow state is most possible when a task is between routine and unreachable. The combination of a high level of uncertainty, mixed with reliable ways to reduce that uncertainty, is the best way to induce flow. This can vary by person, and is dependent on the type of uncertainty you want to inject into the process: “A struggling student may be asked to think about the fewest number of assignments they’d need to turn in before acing the work,” said Melnikoff. “Or you could ask a top student to see how many assignments they can ace in a row.”
You can see how this could be applied to the game of baseball. A struggling player could be challenged to see if they can reach base one time in a game. A player who is succeeding can be challenged to see how many times they can reach base in a game. You don’t want a quantity challenge for a struggling player, as that would put the task in an unreachable stage. You don’t want a simple task for a succeeding player, as that would put the task in a routine state. When it comes to flow for an entire season, you’d want the struggling player to have a simple target to progress their development forward — perhaps an easier level, or an easy-to-reach season goal. A player whose development is on track would need to be challenged with a more difficult level, or a higher season goal. The long-term challenge with baseball development is that there are few regular spots available in the Majors, which means the goal of reaching and remaining in the big leagues is going to be “unreachable” for many. Melnikoff believes that in these situations, many will assume they won’t win. To counter this, it’s up to the organization to establish that there are many prizes, with the size of the prize depends on where you rank. In Major League Baseball, there are many roles, and those are projected out with prospect rankings. Those rankings come from outside the organization. It’s ultimately up to the organization to discover with the players where they stand, and what future outcome is between routine and unreachable.
THIS WEEK ON PIRATES PROSPECTS
This is the final week of the 2023 calendar year. I’ll have some year-ending writing, including some looks ahead to the 2024 Pirates. From there, I’ll be entering my flow state for the 2024 year of coverage, trying to find a task that is between routine and unreachable.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
The magic combination to flow is starting out highly uncertain, then reducing that uncertainty predictably through your actions so that you’re constantly satisfying your curiosity about what the future holds.
-David Melnikoff
