Flow State Comes Later

The sweet spot for entering Flow State is an activity that requires 4% more skill than you currently have. This means you must rise to the occasion.

Unfortunately, this also means that frustration is a necessary requirement for Flow State.

In fact, the first step in the Flow Cycle is Stress.

Before we continue, here’s a refresher:

🔶 Hyperfocus = Intense Focus
Can feel like a double-edged sword of a superpower but also a trap.

🔷 Flow State = Deep Focus
Feels like mastery.

And you can’t achieve mastery without struggle and frustration.

As the saying goes:
“The master has failed more times than the beginner has tried.”

So, how do we deal with frustration while we’re still in the Stress phase?

One way is by igniting your curiosity.

This transforms the problem into a puzzle to solve.

Frustration is a type of Threat Response:

🔸 Attention narrows (tunnel vision).

🔸 Error signals get louder (hyperfocus on what’s not working).

🔸 Dopamine drops.

🔸 The nervous system looks for exit ramps: quit, freeze, avoid.

This is why frustration can feel paralyzing.

Curiosity downgrades the threat to an unknown.
The discomfort remains, but now it’s explorable.

Neurochemically:

🔹Dopamine starts to release (anticipation, not reward).

🔹Attention widens enough to allow options.

🔹The nervous system loosens its grip.

🔹You move out of panic/avoidance and into engagement.

That loosening is Release in the Flow Cycle.

⚠️Important nuance:
Curiosity doesn’t remove frustration.
It coexists with it.

➡️ Don’t quit during Stress.
Remain engaged long enough for Release.
Flow State comes later.

❓ What’s one problem on your plate right now that you could get curious about like a puzzle?

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This is the Cognitive Layer of my coaching—how your attention, patterns, and decision-making shape leadership.

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The 21st century needs ADHD Leaders.
If this is you, I want to support you.

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