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What tasks or activities put you in a "flow state"?

dougw — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 16:50:48 GMT

A flow state is a state of mind where you are totally focussed on something and nothing else enters your consciousness.

How much of your day is spent in a flow state?

What distractions prevent you from achieving a flow state?

How important to your performance is achieving a flow state?

RE: What tasks or activities put you in a "flow state"?

kmikemoo — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 19:45:16 GMT

Wow... it's been so long... I get distracted by everything these days. It's quite frustrating. I can't think of anything that gets me "in the zone".

RE: What tasks or activities put you in a "flow state"?

Qbit — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 11:00:36 GMT

Some times when I am writing the frimware, I think about 1 to half hour daily, that I have a lot of time so I can leave it for now, it had improved my productivity a lot.

RE: What tasks or activities put you in a "flow state"?

Fred27 — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 07:38:15 GMT

I find that a complex problem gets me in the "flow state", but a more mundane task doesn't. In fact, if I'm working on something tricky I need music off, but with more mundane task I actually prefer music on and will often chose to context switch between multiple smaller tasks.

RE: What tasks or activities put you in a "flow state"?

dougw — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 21:22:50 GMT

I always thought of it in terms of me having a "one-track-mind" which means I'm very often in a flow state. For example I don't turn on the radio when driving a car because that can switch my attention from driving. I can't focus on both driving and the radio. I can ignore the radio, which means there is no point to having it on.

At work there are a lot of interruptions which limit the duration of flow states and meetings are a hopeless tangle of disjointed threads yanking in all directions, but whenever I am alone I slip into a flow state, whether it is designing, building, troubleshooting, reading or just daydreaming. In sports it is called being "in the zone" and it makes an enormous difference to performance.

RE: What tasks or activities put you in a "flow state"?

colporteur — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 21:13:13 GMT

reading a good book suspends time for me.

RE: What tasks or activities put you in a "flow state"?

ralphjy — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 20:54:56 GMT

Too much multi-tasking during the day to get into a flow, but if I’m left alone in the evenings I’ll lose track of time debugging hardware or software.

RE: What tasks or activities put you in a "flow state"?

colporteur — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 20:48:55 GMT

It is ironic D you ask this question.

I don't call it flow state but something more sinister. TF-Target fixation. OO-Objective Obsession. PB-Praxis Brain.

It has been noted that fighter pilots can fly their aircraft right into the ground if they become to focus on the target. I face this with problem solving.

The Red Pitaya Roadtest is my example. I would like to have more success on this RoadTest than I have had but that expectation might be unrealistic.

RE: What tasks or activities put you in a "flow state"?

rsc — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 19:14:05 GMT

My days can be defined as turbulent flow most of the time. Watching a good sci-fi movie can be more immersive.

RE: What tasks or activities put you in a "flow state"?

BigG — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 17:36:01 GMT

When I was in my twenties and thirties my flow state clicked in after 11pm. Nowadays it's more event driven than time driven. E.g. give me hardware to tinker with, especially with soldering, and that's me zoned in / zoned out. Then LOL. The big distraction must be the Element14 website. Distracting me right now. As I often say to the wife... I'm a legacy single processor model... not very good at multi-tasking. It's 100% at something or NULL result.

RE: What tasks or activities put you in a "flow state"?

Jan Cumps — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 17:16:27 GMT

Soldering.

RE: What tasks or activities put you in a "flow state"?

wolfgangfriedrich — Wed, 30 Sep 2026 17:06:51 GMT

Any task puts me into flow state if I can do it long enough uninterrupted. It happens quickest during soldering. The fumes might play a role here.

Why do engineers like Coffee Crisps?

dougw — Mon, 10 Mar 2025 17:33:20 GMT

Some time ago my company had an off-site meeting for about 48 managers. They divided the group into 8 tables to participate in cross-functional activities, case simulations and exercises. The method they used to assign staff to each table was they asked everyone to select their favorite chocolate bar and all those who selected the same type of chocolate bar had to sit at the same table. The idea was to put staff together who don't normally spend time together.

It turned out that all the engineering managers selected Coffee Crisps and nobody else did. It struck me that this was way beyond the statistical probability of random chance.

I do not have any idea why Engineers like Coffee Crisps, or why others don't, but it seems to be a thing in our company.

Do you like Coffee Crisps?

What is your favorite chocolate bar?

Has anyone else come across this or similar odd phenomenon? Preferences of introverts?

RE: Why do engineers like Coffee Crisps?

cstanton — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 16:19:30 GMT

They're dangerous (joking). They're definitely in the region of sweets around "honeycomb" type.

'Crunchies' are similar, but a bit tougher to chew, almost like a toffee after a few bites.

The type of centre was very popular in the victorian era where you used to be able to buy literal slabs of it as "cinder toffee" and you still can in some places.

RE: Why do engineers like Coffee Crisps?

DAB — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 19:33:51 GMT

I have never seen those before, but they do sound enticing.

RE: Why do engineers like Coffee Crisps?

DAB — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 19:32:59 GMT

I buy them to go and I get five desert servings out of each, so I can indulge over time.

RE: Why do engineers like Coffee Crisps?

beacon_dave — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 19:32:06 GMT

The second one perhaps could be enhanced into a marble run / chain reaction type machine.

RE: Why do engineers like Coffee Crisps?

Fred27 — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 18:30:27 GMT

Maltesers are awesome. Not only do they taset great, but there are some cool things you can do with them

1. Lie on your back, put a malteser to you lips and blow gently. It will hover above your mouth and you just open your mouth when you want to eat it.

2. Get a long springy metal tape measure. put one end by your mouth and get a friend to hold the other end higher. Roll the malteser along the tape and into your mouth. See how far you can manage.

I think we may need some videos to add to my explanation..

https://youtu.be/bpxHPJIuBv0?si=vozp3H8LF1mrFmtu&t=64

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEtXYX8Jy-o

RE: Why do engineers like Coffee Crisps?

wolfgangfriedrich — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 15:44:29 GMT

I have never tried them. My calories counting goal just got a re-calibration ;)

RE: Why do engineers like Coffee Crisps?

dougw — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 15:14:38 GMT

I find Maltesers to be highly addictive...

RE: Why do engineers like Coffee Crisps?

kmikemoo — Thu, 13 Mar 2025 13:02:24 GMT

dougw The Coffee Crisp arrived today and I have tried one. I like them. They are good sized and crunchy. They're a bit more subtle in taste than I expected - but that's not a bad thing. I did say to myself that Kit Kats should be that size. 😆 I'm undecided where in the spectrum of "Favorite Candy Bar" they fall. Fortunately, I have three more to help me make my decision.

RE: Why do engineers like Coffee Crisps?

beacon_dave — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 18:49:18 GMT

I suspect that you can put on weight just by looking at one of those on-line...

Looks like around 2400-2500 calories per portion.

"Second helpings anyone ?"

RE: Why do engineers like Coffee Crisps?

wolfgangfriedrich — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 18:01:26 GMT

My favourite revision of them is:

After a few of them, you stop counting and just keep going...

RE: Why do engineers like Coffee Crisps?

cstanton — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 14:21:24 GMT

I have mixed feelings.

1. I'm disappointed that these are, in fact, not 'crisps' as I know them as these:

2. Despite that, I've never seen these in England - send some over 😃

RE: Why do engineers like Coffee Crisps?

dougw — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 22:34:27 GMT

We don't even have a Longhorn here, but it sounds decadent.