Lao-Tzu made a straightforward recommendation to people who want to achieve flow in their work, relationships and other areas of their lives. Chapter 22 of the Tao Te Ching warns us against wasting time with debates, grandiloquent declarations, and narrow ambitions.

The key to achieving flow is to avoid conflicts, disruptions, and obstacles. The Taoist does not want to waste a minute with naysayers, debaters and defeatists. He wants to get things done smoothly by applying his skills quietly and steadily.

Two centuries after Lao-Tzu, Chuang-Tzu pointed out that negative criticism can inflict severe damage on our soul. It will paralyse our progress by eating up our spiritual energy. We will get stuck in self-justifications, defensive statements, and anger.

Instead of pursuing our dreams, we will devote days on end to justifying our actions, trying to convince our opponents of our honest intentions. Our projects will stall, our motivation will wane, and our flow will stop altogether.

Chuang-Tzu’s metaphor of the shoes

For Taoists, the ability to operate smoothly is a prerequisite of the capability to achieve flow. It takes years, in some cases decades, to master valuable professional, ethical and emotional skills.

By using Chuang-Tzu’s words, I can depict the achievement of flow as “wearing shoes that fit so perfectly that we forget about them altogether.” When we perform activities in a state of flow, we proceed automatically, joyously and victoriously.

Flow becomes impossible if we dwell on past insults, real or imaginary, or if we view our situation as unfair, painful, devoid of meaning, or undeserved.

Before we actually experience flow, our body and soul need to be ready to do so. Chuang-Tzu warns us against negative emotions, which he calls “invisible arrows” that have remained stuck in our heart as a result of bad occurrences.

Maybe someone insulted us in the past, took advantage of the situation, or reneged on his promises; or unfairly criticised our actions, our philosophy, and our performance; or disrupted our plans, prevented our progress, and capsized our projects.

It is in our interest to remove those “invisible arrows” from our heart and concentrate on future achievements. If our mind remains focused on past disruptions, we will bring them back to life a thousand times.

Flow requires full concentration on current activities. Goals, motivation and implementation need to become aligned. Every fibre of our soul must be invested in bringing that activity or project to the next step completion.

We all have seen children deeply immersed in playing, for instance, building a castle with toy bricks, lightening the pages of a colouring book, or reading an adventure story.

If we talk to them at that moment, they might not even hear our voice. They are in a state of flow, just like adults, although in the case of children, the spell will be broken much sooner due to their limited attention span.

Lao-Tzu and softness

If a state of flow brings so many advantages, can we attain it in our own lives? What lessons can we draw from Taoism in this respect? What practical advice did Lao-Tzu and Chuang-Tzu provide in this respect?

Chapter 36 of the Tao Te Ching states the key principle of achieving flow, namely, that “the soft triumphs over the hard.” It prompts us to let go of rigidity, bellicosity and prejudice. We need to become as soft as water if we want to flow like a river.

Similarly, Chapter 59 of the Tao Te Ching praises flexibility, moderation and ingenuity, that is, the ability to get things done with the available resources. No element is considered crucial or indispensable. Progress can always be achieved if we stay alert.

Taoists possess a strong sense of direction, but don’t expect the path to be straight. They can rapidly achieve a state of flow precisely because of their mental flexibility. When the wind or the tide turns, they accept it as a fact of life, and keep going.

Lao-Tzu encourages us to get down to do what needs to be done, adapting our actions automatically to the circumstances, without making a fuss about errors, lack of perfect knowledge, or unexpected obstacles.

Flow implies the ability to stay operational for hours, using simple, durable tools. Chuang-Tzu, in one of his best known metaphors, speaks of a cook that was so skilful that he did not need to replace his knife for nineteen years.

Due to their abrupt way of working, other cooks would end up breaking or blunting their knives within a few months. They were not operating in a state of flow. They lacked the physical and mental proficiency necessary to work smoothly.

The Tao Te Ching and smoothness

Flow comes from slowly-acquired skills, not from overnight cramming of knowledge. The Taoist trusts his reflexes because he had cultivated those for years. He knows which movements are necessary, for how long, and with which intensity level.

In the words of Chuang-Tzu, Taoists are like “ferrymen that know the waters.” They can cross the river smoothly because of their long experience. They know which areas to avoid, and if the environment changes, they will detect it immediately and react accordingly.

Why can Taoists achieve flow faster and more easily than other people? Because they trust the daily practice of virtue. If they do today what needs to be done, their time has been well employed and there is nothing to worry about.

If we remain aligned with the Tao day in and day out, then the outcome is bound to be optimal, the best that circumstances will allow at this moment. It does not matter if we do not know the end of the story, or if the story changes as we progress.

While Taoists seek to achieve flow in daily activities, other people prefer to chase novelties and excitement. Unfortunately, in doing so, they are diminishing their chances of operating in a steady, smooth pattern.

Chapter 12 of the Tao Te Ching warns us about excitement and novelty seeking. Instead of achieving flow, we will end up blinded by lights, deafened by noise, overburdened, numbed, and dissatisfied.

If we want to achieve flow, let us choose the slow river of the Tao, the alignment with the natural rhythm of cause, effect, and course correction. Ideally, we want to grow like healthy, strong trees, not like haphazard weeds that might not survive the next winter.

If you are interested in putting effective strategies into practice in all sorts of situations, I recommend my book “The Philosophy of Builders.”