Individual Flow Trigger: Complexity
Individual Flow Trigger: Complexity
Why "taking a hike" may be exactly what you need
In this edition, I’m breaking down the basics of the Complexity flow trigger, real world examples of it being applied, and what the Grand Canyon and the galaxy have in common.
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This is the last week of covering a rich environment that consists of the three flow triggers: Novelty, Unpredictability, and Complexity.
This week we’re diving into Complexity.
Quick reminder, all three flow triggers drive dopamine into our systems and, as a result, catch and hold our attention much like risk.
But there’s something I have to tackle about this topic…
When I say rich environment, I’m not referring to the bag, money phones, or anything dollar sign related.
Of course, if you look up the word rich you’ll see the first definitions states: having wealth or great possessions; abundantly supplied with resources, means, or funds.
Even the word wealth doesn’t solely apply to money. It definition states it’s a great quantity or store of money, valuable possessions, property, or other riches; and an abundance or profusion of anything; plentiful amount.
And you know when you look up definitions, there’s a long list of alternative or additional definitions. Well check out the ones for rich:
abounding in natural resources
of great value or worth; valuable
(of food) delectably and perhaps unhealthfully spicy, or sweet and abounding in butter or cream
elaborately abundant; sumptuous
producing or yielding abundantly
Did you see a pattern start to arise?
This applies to a plethora of places within our perspective lives.
An abundance of physical health, mental health, laughter, positive friendships, unforgettable memories/experiences…
Rich and wealth applies to these as well. And implementing this flow triggers will help obtain this for you.
Let’s wrap up rich environment by covering Complexity.
Complexity
Complexity shows up when we force the brain to expand its perceptual capacity, for example, when we stand on the edge of the Grand Canyon and contemplate the question of geological time, or when we gaze up at the night sky and realize that a great many of those singular points of light are actually galaxies.
This is the experience of awe, where we get so sucked in by the beauty and magnitude of what we’re contemplating that time slows down and the moment stretches on into infinity. It’s a partially dopamine-driven process, which also makes it the front edge of a flow state.
How I Use Complexity 😎
One aspect of the lifestyle that came with the gig of being a sales manager was travel. The company had international vacations you could earn as a bonus. But the frequent monthly trips for meetings and conferences was a part I really enjoyed.
I constantly made trips to Birmingham. Then there were trips to Memphis, TN, and South Padre Island, TX. These were conferences but we called them “paycations” because while on the trips, we still had reps in our territories, in the field, making sales.
It was nothing to see a manager leave a table or room to take a call from a rep on a presentation. And after a day of sitting in meetings learning and growing, the nightlife and parties afterward would be epic!
It really did something for my perceptual capacity by traveling across Texas and seeing the vast landscape of the state and the different islands of South Texas. It really made me think bigger.
How The Greats Use Complexity 🤌🏾
To say Diana Taurasi was highly sought after coming out of high school is an understatement. She was the 2000 Naismith and Parade Magazine National High School Player of the Year; and the recipient of the 2000 “Cheryl Miller Award”, presented by the Los Angeles Times to the best player in Southern California.
She chose to go to UConn because Coach Geno was the only coach that challenged her in the recruiting process.
But the transition from HS to College wasn’t easy. During the final 4, of her freshmen year, UConn lost to Notre Dame after being up 18 at the half. This complexity fueled her and her teammates to come back the next year on a mission
I’m sure Breanna Stewart was watching Taurasi’s run and it inspired a young Stewart to do something of great magnitude as well.
Up until she arrived at UConn, no team had ever won 4 national championships in a row—nor had any player won the Final Four Most Outstanding Player 4 times.
That changed during her 4-year run at UConn.
Jackie Robinson experiencing awe and expanding perceptual capacities comes with the territory of being the first African-American to play in the MLB, during the last 1940s. They beauty and magnitude of major league baseball was never the same.
This Week’s Book Recommendation📖
Celebrating the life and legacy of one of the most influential innovators of all time, The Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs has become a landmark in the field, as powerful and inspirational as the man himself. This essential guide shows you how to apply Steve Jobs’s seven principles of innovation to any field, dream, or endeavor.
For Jobs, Apple’s slogan “Think Different” was more than a marketing tool. It was a way of life—a powerful, positive, game-changing approach to innovation that you can use to unlock your creative potential, turn your passions and ideas into revolutionary products, and captivate your customers by doing what you love. These innovation secrets, like Steve Jobs himself, will continue to inspire, challenge, and motivate us all for generations to come.
Last Words…
Applying these triggers comes in many forms.
A trip into nature will do the trick.
Natural environments have high concentrations of novelty, complexity, and unpredictability.
This drivers feel-good neurochemistry into our system, which also explains why a twenty-minute walk in the woods outperforms most of the antidepressants on the market.
We can always pull these triggers by reading, or deciding to work in a coffee shop that’s far form home, or both.
For example, when my mentor Steven Kotler is trying to learn a new subject, he always take his textbook on the road.
The novelty, complexity, and unpredictability of the new environment drives flow, and flow makes learning that subject much much easier.
Hope this added the fuel to ferociously launch your week! ♾️🔥🚀
See you next Monday! 😎
And when it comes to the infinite game of life…
Choose Flow.
Be Brilliant.
Ball Out.
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