How To Achieve Flow When Writing Materials
One of the criteria for flow of comedy material is that a
comedian’s actions and awareness
merge. This is an overly complex way
of saying that our concentration is
focused on what we are doing at the
time… and nothing else. The
comedian is writing comedy in the
moment .
This is easy to see in professional
athletes. When an athlete performs,
they are in the present moment.
Their awareness of themselves and
the outside world merges with the
actions they are taking. There are no
thoughts of something unrelated to
the game. They are 100% aware of
the actions they are taking and
nothing else. Look at any activity that
you’re passionate about and it’s likely
that you already do this. Remarkably,
this exact same feeling of flow occurs
in every single field. Flow happens in
the same way and for the same
reasons regardless of industry.
Look back to a time when you
experienced flow while writing
comedy. You’ll see that flow came
only after you became totally
immersed in your writing. Flow
never occurs before . When a
comedian’s awareness is spread thin
(i.e. on tasks unrelated to writing
comedy) then flow becomes
impossible. There are too many
distractions. They are unable to build
momentum in their writing because
their awareness pulls them in many
different directions.
Contrast this with what happens when
a comedian’s awareness is in a single
direction. Distractions become
impossible because the comedian’s
awareness only consists of writing
comedy . When distractions are gone,
writer’s block cannot exist. This,
obviously, leads to being able to write
higher quantity of material. However,
it also leads to writing higher quality
material. It takes time for the brain
to be creative. That’s why creativity
isn’t as simple as sitting down to the
computer and deciding to create
something. The longer the brain is
allowed to work with an idea, the
more opportunities for creativity it
finds. When flow criteria are met it
gives the brain longer to search for
highly novel, original ideas… the kind
of ideas that set a comedian apart
from their competition.