How can work be more fun, or at least more engaging? We’ve all experienced moments when we’ve felt extremely focused and productive, and time seemed to fly by. That experience was “flow,” first identified by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the 1970s. Flow theory describes a very focused, energized, and effective mental state that takes place when a person is fully involved in an activity.1 Experiencing flow at work has been linked to increased performance and improved learning,2 as well as increased productivity and problem solving.3 As it turns out, several of the factors that contribute to flow also underlie good game design, most particularly factors related to goals, feedback, and difficulty.
Management Lessons from Games
The activities most likely ...
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