01
Resistance
Sitting down to start the big project. Getting off the couch to go running. Telling a friend an uncomfortable truth. It costs energy, and it is the ticket in.
Flow psychology · Definition, research, practice
Flow psychology: what it is, what the research says, and how to apply it.
Flow psychology is the field of psychology that studies the flow state: the state of complete absorption in which people disappear into what they are doing. Mihály Csíkszentmihályi founded it in the 1970s. Applied flow psychology is the practical use of those findings in everyday life, leadership and teams. This page describes one particular approach: flow psychology built on biohacking, that is, on what health optimization and longevity research know about energy. Health as the foundation, flow as the goal, with a method.
By Max Gotzler, who combines biohacking and flow psychology, author of Die Flow-Formel (German). Last updated September 2026. Deutsche Fassung.
FlowA state in which challenge and skill are balanced, attention is fully on the task, the sense of time and self-monitoring recede, and the activity is rewarding in itself. Described by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi (1975, 1990).
Flow researchInvestigates the conditions under which flow arises, how to measure it (for example with the Flow Short Scale by Falko Rheinberg) and what it does for learning, work, health and teams. Leading names include Csíkszentmihályi, Jeanne Nakamura, Falko Rheinberg, Corinna Peifer and Stefan Engeser.
Applied flow psychologyThe practical application of those findings. Internationally represented by Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal among others, who train flow for peak performance.
Max Gotzler's approachDoes not ask what flow is, but how to produce it under real conditions: a full calendar, too little sleep, and a team that is worn out. The starting point is energy. That is why he combines flow research with classic biohacking, longevity and health optimization: health as the foundation, flow as the goal, with a method.
Core statementFlow cannot be forced. Flow happens when the prerequisites and the conditions are right. Applied flow psychology is the work on those prerequisites.
Where it sits
Three approaches to flow.
All three build on each other. The research describes the state, international applied flow psychology trains it for peak performance, and the biohacking-based approach lays the physical groundwork so that it shows up in ordinary life at all.
| Flow research | Applied flow psychology (international) | Flow psychology + biohacking (Gotzler) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guiding question | What is flow, how does it arise, how is it measured? | How do I get more flow for peak performance? Which triggers set it off? | How do people and teams get into flow under real conditions, and what does the body need for that? |
| Representatives | Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, Jeanne Nakamura; in Europe Falko Rheinberg, Corinna Peifer, Stefan Engeser | Steven Kotler, Jamie Wheal; Flow Research Collective, Flow Genome Project (USA) | Max Gotzler, Flowgrade (Munich) |
| Basis | Experience sampling, questionnaires, psychophysiology | Flow triggers, neurobiology of peak performance | The Flow Formula (four phases after Herbert Benson), the six levers (sleep, nutrition, movement, stress, relationships, environment), measurement with the FlowScore |
| Goal | Understand and explain | Increase performance | Aliveness: energy, connection, ease. Performance is a consequence, not the goal. |
| Typical setting | University, journal | Online course, coaching | Leadership team, stage, retreat, the first hour of the morning |
Applied flow psychology has existed internationally for years, above all through Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal. The research is not Max Gotzler's, and neither is the training. His contribution is the connection with classic biohacking: health and energy first, then flow, with a method you can follow and measure.
The state
How you recognise flow.
Csíkszentmihályi distilled the state from thousands of self-reports. Its markers are still the benchmark: clear goals, immediate feedback, a balance between challenge and skill, complete concentration, a sense of control, an altered sense of time, the fading of self-consciousness, and an activity that is worth doing for its own sake.
The most useful sentence for everyday life: flow lives on a narrow edge. Too much challenge produces pressure, too little produces idling. And the edge moves. Whoever gets better needs more challenge. The chart is on the speaking page.
The Flow Formula
Four phases. Always the same.
The cycle goes back to the Harvard cardiologist Herbert Benson and was popularised by Steven Kotler. In Die Flow-Formel (2025) it is the backbone of 28 days, one chapter per day.
02
Letting go
No more pushing, but being carried, the way water is pulled by gravity. The reps run. The text flows without the thought of what others will think. The surfer trusts the ocean and gets on the board.
03
Flow
Fully in. Self-forgetful, merged with the activity. It happens for its own sake; what comes out of it does not matter in that moment.
04
Renewal
Integrating the experience instead of moving straight on: sleep, journal, music, silence. Resisting the impulse to chase the moment again, so that the nervous system and the mind can reset.
The most common mistake is skipping phase four. Whoever goes from flow straight into the next flow without renewal ends up in exhaustion, and the phase that everyone is trying to reach becomes rarer, not more frequent.
Energy first
The six levers mesh like gears.
Sleep, nutrition, movement, stress, relationships, environment. There is no ranking, because they condition each other: whoever sleeps badly makes worse decisions about food. Whoever does not move is not tired in the evening and sleeps worse. Whoever is stressed strains their relationships and their surroundings. If one gear stops, it slows the others.
That is why this approach starts with the body. You need energy to meet resistance. Only then can you let go and get into flow. This is where biohacking has its place: as step one, not as an end in itself.
Sleep
2 weeks
Two weeks of six hours a night produce attention deficits equivalent to two nights without sleep. And the people affected still rate themselves as rested.
Van Dongen et al., Sleep, 2003, 48 participants over 14 days
Habit
66 days
The median time it takes for a new behaviour to become automatic. The range runs from 18 to 254 days; a missed day does not break it.
Lally et al., European Journal of Social Psychology, 2010, 96 participants over 12 weeks
State
under 10 %
The share of their working time executives report spending in the state where they come into their full strength. The rest runs on the side.
Cranston & Keller, McKinsey Quarterly, 2013
At work
Flow cannot be forced. Conditions can be built.
For an individual that means energy first, then one thing at a time, then renewal. For a team it means five conditions: protected focus time, clear goals, fast feedback, room to act, and a shared picture of what the work is for. Plus energy as a team topic rather than a private matter.
A quick diagnosis: listen for how often people say "actually" and "but". "Actually I wanted to, but…" is the language of resistance that never turned into letting go. The other tell is the coffee machine: a team that never meets there by chance has lost its informal feedback loop.
The eight-week programme for teams is called flowX Teams (German), measured before and after with the FlowScore. Keynotes on the subject are available in English.
Practice
Win the morning.
The first hour decides more than the other fifteen. Five to ten minutes of daylight, two glasses of water and a few minutes of movement before the phone comes on. It costs nothing, acts on sleep, energy and mood, and it is the simplest biohack there is. Everything else builds on it.
Then one thing. Not the inbox, not the ten small tasks, but the one piece of work that matters today, with undisturbed time. Resistance is largest at the start; that is exactly where the entry into the cycle is.
Limits
When flow psychology is the wrong tool.
For people who have no energy left, the first step is not flow but rest, and sometimes medical help. For people who are ashamed of where they stand, the first step is not a method but a conversation. Flow psychology does not replace therapy, and it makes no medical promises. It works on the conditions of a state, not on a diagnosis.
Results
What you can expect.
The state itself is subjective and is measured by self-report. What can be measured before and after are the prerequisites: energy, sleep, focus, stress, self-efficacy. That is what the FlowScore does, before a programme and four weeks after it. The numbers are shared either way, including the uncomfortable ones.
Questions
Short answers.
Through the four phases, not around them: meet the resistance, let go, flow, renew. In practice that means securing energy (sleep, light, movement), winning the morning, choosing one thing and giving it undisturbed time. And not moving straight on afterwards.
Biohacking optimises the body: sleep, nutrition, movement, light, cold. Flow psychology asks what for. Biohacking is step one: it creates the energy to meet resistance. Flow psychology begins where energy is present and points it at what makes you feel alive. Biohacking is a means, not an end.
Flow research is: since Csíkszentmihályi (1975), with hundreds of studies, in Europe notably by Rheinberg, Peifer, Engeser and Keller. Applied flow psychology is practice on that basis. It makes no research claim of its own; it measures its effect with the FlowScore before and after programmes and publishes the results.
Mindfulness observes, flow absorbs. Resilience endures, flow creates. Mindset is an attitude, flow is a state with measurable conditions. All three have their value. This page is about the state and about what makes it possible.
The state itself through self-report, for example with the Flow Short Scale by Rheinberg, Vollmeyer and Engeser (2003). In practice we measure the prerequisites: energy, sleep, focus, stress, self-efficacy, before a programme and four weeks after. That is the FlowScore.
For the research, Csíkszentmihályi's Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. For the application, Die Flow-Formel (2025): 28 days, four phases, one chapter a day. It is in German; there is no English edition yet.
Max Gotzler combines biohacking and flow psychology. He is the founder of Flowgrade, author of three books, host of the Flowgrade Show and organiser of the flowFEST in Munich. He studied psychology at Boston University (bachelor's), where he played NCAA Division I basketball, and completed two master's degrees in economics and finance in Paris, with a thesis on incentive systems in teams. More on the about page.
Sources
- Csíkszentmihályi, M. (1975). Beyond Boredom and Anxiety. Jossey-Bass.
- Csíkszentmihályi, M. (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Harper & Row.
- Nakamura, J. & Csíkszentmihályi, M. (2009). Flow theory and research. In: Snyder & Lopez (eds.), Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology. Oxford University Press.
- Rheinberg, F., Vollmeyer, R. & Engeser, S. (2003). Die Erfassung des Flow-Erlebens (Flow Short Scale). Hogrefe.
- Peifer, C. & Engeser, S. (eds.) (2021). Advances in Flow Research, 2nd ed. Springer.
- Benson, H. & Proctor, W. (2003). The Breakout Principle. Scribner.
- Cranston, S. & Keller, S. (2013). Increasing the meaning quotient of work. McKinsey Quarterly.
- Van Dongen, H. P. A., Maislin, G., Mullington, J. M. & Dinges, D. F. (2003). The cumulative cost of additional wakefulness. Sleep, 26(2), 117–126.
- Lally, P., van Jaarsveld, C. H. M., Potts, H. W. W. & Wardle, J. (2010). How are habits formed. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40(6), 998–1009.
- van den Hout, J. J. J. & Davis, O. C. (2019). Team Flow: The psychology of optimal collaboration. Springer.
- Gotzler, M. (2025). Die Flow-Formel. Deutscher Wirtschaftsbuch Verlag.
Next
Bring it to your room.
Keynotes in English, 45 to 90 minutes, for conferences and leadership teams. Team programmes and retreats are held in German.
