72. How to Remove the Struggle Phase and Get into Flow Faster to Achieve 5x Productivity

00:05 Dr. Ann Tsung Are you struggling to advance your career and sacrificing time with your loved ones because of endless to-dos, low energy, and just not enough time in the day? If so, then this podcast is for you. I am your host Dr. Ann Tsung, an ER critical care and space doctor, a peak performance coach, a real estate investor, and a mother of a toddler. I am here to guide you on mastering your mind and give you the essential skills to achieve peak performance. Welcome to Productivity MD, where you can learn to master your time and achieve the five freedoms in life.

00:52 Hello. Welcome to Productivity MD Podcast, and I am your show host Dr. Ann Tsung. Today we will be diving into the flow series, and we’ll be talking about the flow cycles. There are four different distinct phases in the flow cycle. There’s struggle. There’s release. There’s flow and recovery. So in today’s series, we will be talking about specifically the struggle and the release phase, of flow, and how can we get into the struggle phase actually and stay in the struggle phase and pop out into release, so it’s easier to get into flow. So there’s various aspects of it. But long story short, we’ll be talking about how to actually free up time and space so you actually have time to get into the struggle phase, in the flow space. We are going to be talking about the flow no. Then we’re going to be talking about your calendar checkpoints, mini choke points, and then also how do you treat the flow block as a work event or as a massive event that you’re going to have singular focus on. And we’re going to be talking about the release protocol. All of this is from Steve Kotler and Rian Doris at the Flow Research Institute or the Collective that I am learning through the Performance Neuroscience Coaching Certification. So let’s go ahead and dive in.

02:15 Why do we actually care about getting into the struggle phase and the release phase? Because right after the struggle phase and the release phase, that’s the flow that you’re looking for. That’s when productivity and peak performance can actually sore. This is irregardless of your, in performance, I mean, as a knowledge worker, or perhaps this is in performance sports. So just know that when you can get into the struggle, on the other side of that, you’re on the right track, could get into flow. Now, the most common problem why we’re talking about this is that — the most common issue is that we do not give ourselves the time and space to actually struggle. Right? Often, our calendar is peppered with events that we’re saying yes to. Even though we don’t really want to go, but sometimes we feel obligated to go, or we feel bad saying yes. We feel bad. We feel guilty about not going somewhere. So in order to establish space and time for you to get to flow state is the flow no. It’s to master the art of assertiveness. Because if you really want to say no and you’re saying yes, you’re fudging. And fudging, Rian Doris says, is really the enemy of flow. Right? Because you are inauthentic to yourself. Actually, you’re basically giving your attention, your focus, and your time to other people, and you are not in control of yourself in a way. That is an enemy of flow.

03:51 So there’s a few ways, there’s a few no’s that you’re going to master to become assertive. The first one is having the mindset, the flow no, having the mindset of that it’s a blanket policy and not a no against a person. Right? So that you’re saying no to a category of things, and you’re not saying no to a specific person. They know that it’s not personal, and you know it’s not personal. If you can set your non-negotiable, set your yeses that you have, that nothing else crosses that, and then the blanket policy of categories you’re going to say no to, it’ll be a lot easier to say no to people. So, for example, if somebody invites you to a coffee break or a coffee discussion like 10, 15 minutes, you don’t want to just say yes just for the hell of it. Because even that 15 minutes that you had to prep for, that’s a choke point that we’re going to talk about. So if you could have a policy like, for example, “I’m not going to have any meetings at all whatsoever before 1 PM.” Or, for me, I will not schedule anything during the 7 to 8:15 AM time because that is the time when I’m getting my kids ready for school. We’re spending time together doing breakfast, et cetera. So nothing is scheduled between 7 to 8-ish. Also, there’s nothing scheduled from 5 PM and on for any meetings, any work-related items, unless it’s very rare occasions. Like maybe once a month, I would. But very rare occasions. It’s nothing scheduled at all so that I can have family time. Nothing scheduled on the weekends at all, so those days are free to flow. So once you have that blanket policy, it’s very easy to say no to certain items. When people have invitations, I just say no. This is the time block I have, and this is the time block that I have. And so whenever you get those invitations, essentially, you want to thank them, show gratitude, explain your situation or circumstance. “Hey, weekend is my family time. And so at this time, I’m very grateful for the invitation. Thank you for thinking of me. At this time, it is a no.”

06:11 There’s also the trade-off no. That’s a no that you say to your boss, right? Say, for example, your boss. You’re working on the product launch, et cetera, or sales launch, or perhaps another project in the clinic that you’re trying to get on board, like a system that you’re working on. Anyway, somebody else, your boss, assigns you to create a slideshow. And so you can give the decision to your boss. Like, “Here’s the trade-off. If I do this and take this on, there might be a 35% drop in sales or closing of sales if I do this. So what would you like me to do? Do you want me to go ahead and begin this other task, or do you want me to focus on this and risk the drop in sale?” You let your boss decide. But that is a way to say no in a way to kind of protect your flow time as well, so you’re not dispersing your time and energy all over and not making any progress.

07:04 Then also, you want to check the relationships: the boss, your bosses, your spouse perhaps, any people, like top three people that may cause some friction points for you to get into flow state, flow block during the day. So, for example, if you have a boss who likes to schedule meetings in the morning during your morning focus time, that’s time to have a conversation. If you have a spouse who doesn’t understand why you are enclosing yourself in an office during the morning time because you’re focusing, then that’s the time to have a conversation. You really want to work on this assertiveness muscle. Really, the target is, if you can, after you have your policy, your no policy, flow no policy, then if you can have an uncomfortable conversation at least once a week and to kind of practice your assertiveness muscle. Eventually, it wouldn’t feel like a struggle to be assertive about your boundaries and your time. It will be a reflex. Like, yeah. Weekends, no. Definitely not. Or like 5 to 8 PM, nope, definitely not. 7 to 8 AM, nope, definitely not. So perhaps during your gym time, that’s also definitely a no. Right? All right, so that is the flow no. The whole entire purpose is so that you can free up space, say yes to things that matter, say no to things you don’t want to go to, so you can actually have the time and space for struggle, release, flow, recovery.

08:38 Now, regarding the second point, calendar choke points. What this is is like those 10-minute meetings, 15-minute meetings, 30-minute meetings, they’re just kind of peppered throughout your day. Right? Then the breaks you have in between is too short for you to actually go through the struggle phase, which could take usually 10 to 15 minutes. Then you release and you flow. It’s about 90 minutes to 120 minutes. And so you have this 1-hour, 45-minute gap, 1-hour gap. Maybe you can get into flow, maybe not. But if you just have 30 minutes, 45 minutes, you don’t want to struggle through this because you don’t have enough time for flow later. So a lot of times, we don’t think it’s worth it to actually go through this. We distract ourselves. We do things that don’t matter. We do little things that we can check off. Right? But we never actually finish anything that moves the needle on our goals. So, really, what we want to do after you set the blanket policy, say, for example, no meetings before 1 PM, then look at your calendar the next 10 days right now. Look at, how many mini choke points do you have during the day? How many little meetups or the yeses that you have, you have peppered throughout? Do you actually have 90 minutes to 120 minutes of flow block blocked out, like free time? Because in order to flow, you need space. You need spontaneity. You need creativity, right?

10:07 So these choke points, these mini events, no matter how short, they essentially suppress flow. They block flow, right? Then if you have these meetings, first, you know that the meeting is coming up. Right? So you’re trying to focus during the day. But at the same time, you’re thinking about, okay, what do I need to prep for that meeting? What do I need to do for that meeting? Your reticular activating system is filtering out information so that you can focus on what’s coming up, which is the meeting, right, when you have maybe a presentation to do or a huge slideshow that you need to focus on. Then after the meeting, it’s hard for you to actually get into flow, because you have attention residue from that meeting of things you have to do and follow up on. So the best way is to remove all those choke points. Especially in the morning, like a big block in the morning, nothing that is pending that it could leave attention residue. And remove that the next 10 days. Reschedule, delegate, or do whatever you have to do. And just be very mindful of anything that you’re doing that may or may not be on the schedule as well. So any errands that you’re doing or anything repetitive that you’re doing that doesn’t make it to your calendar but actually takes up time and blocks you from flow, you want to make this determination whether you’re going to keep doing it, or delegating it, or just put it on the calendar so you know it’s there, so you can schedule appropriately. Move everything to later in the day, if possible.

11:39 After you do that, now, you want to treat your flow block as an event. Right? So what that means is that you want to treat it like either you’re ready about to go into battle with all the tactics and strategies. Or another way to think about it, you want to treat it like you’re in the Olympics. Like you’re, say, a swimmer. You’re ready to go. You’re just kind of waiting for the gun to go off for you to go, to jump in the water. You’re going to go full intensity. You’re going to expect the struggle. You’re going to expect that it’s hard, but you’re not going to distract yourself with your phone. So we’re opening up other tabs, et cetera. You’re just going to go full force into it until you get to the flow state. So to treat your work flow block or work block as an event, you really want to have that boundary between your home life and your work life. And if that takes you leaving the phones or personal phones outside your office door, if you need to close your office doors or something, then do that. Or telling other people that you are going to go deep. You put on your earphones, whatever you got to do to separate yourself from work and home. If you need to take a walk before or after work as your commute, you could potentially do that too, right?

13:02 You also want to minimize distractions. So what that is is that you want to fortify your work area as a fortress. You want to protect against, number one, in your environment for distractions, your tech for distractions, and your people for distractions. So you want a clean space. You don’t want any multiple tabs opening up or other things on your desk that you have to ignore. Because ignoring things also takes up cognitive load. So you just want to have a single tab open or a few tabs open for whatever that you’re working on, right? Then regarding tech, you want to minimize, of course, notifications that we’ve talked about a lot on your laptop, on your phone. You want to talk to people who may be a distractor to you. Kids, big one. That’s a little hard. Sometimes I have to plan it around the kid’s nap times. But when they’re in school, way easier. You just have to set expectations. Like from this time to this time, this is my focus time and nobody is going to come into my workspace or office. All right? And you also want to condition yourself for flow and focus.

14:18 So in order to condition yourself to get through the struggle phase — now you’re in, you’re diving in. You’re focused. You want to get through the struggle phase so you can get to the release phase — you want to kind of also prime yourself so that you know this is go time. So whether that is — we talked about closing the doors. I am jumping on my rebounder 30 times, doing kettlebells 10 times. There also can be like, some people burn some sort of incense stick, put on noise-canceling earphones. I listened to brain.fm and that tells my brain I’m conditioned to go, and this is my focus time. Right? So all that can help you get through the struggle phase a little bit easier and perhaps faster. Then after the struggle phase, struggle is like you pushing the boulder up the hill. Then you get to the release. That’s when you’re at the top of the hill with the boulder on top temporarily. Very, very short period. So that’s kind of when you can let go and then you get into flow. That’s more unconscious. It’s like when you struggle a little bit, you kind of like let it go, let go of the problem, whatever, like in the shower or something. Or later on, as you’re walking or something, then it becomes like you get the solution come to you, that aha moment.

15:41 Anyway, so in order to get to the release, like to pop to release, the release protocol, you can do what’s called the flow breath. Whenever you feel like you are not getting through the struggle, you want to distract yourself, things that come up that you want to do, you will have a pen, notebook, paper. I have post-its actually. Post-its right here. It’s harder to see, but here are the post-its. My top three priorities for the day, and also if I get distracted and things I need to do, I will add it on. So that’s the cognitive load dump so that you don’t have to keep trying to remember it while you’re trying to focus on things that you may have to do down the line. Then number two is the flow breath. Whenever you feel yourself getting distracted during the struggle phase, then you want to do the 3-2-10. So inhale for three through your nose, hold for two without locking your neck. Just hold with your abdomen. Then you want to release very slowly, at least 10 seconds, through your mouth. So you want to do that three times, okay? 3-2-10 three times. Now you’re in calm state, focused state, parasympathetic system is activated. It’s easier for you to get to flow state on the other side, right?

17:04 Now, I know we talked about a lot. To summarize, first, you want to free up space so that you can have space for struggle and flow. If you don’t have enough time for flow, then you’re not going to think it’s worth it to actually go through the hard part, the struggle part. If you feel yourself struggling, that means you’re on the right path to flow. You want to stay on course. You know this is it, and you’re actually on track. Once you distract yourself for whatever, with whatever task, it takes you about 23 minutes to get back into flow. Right? First, you want to be assertive. Practice the flow no, saying no to people. Practice the trade-off no, saying no or giving trade-offs to your bosses, consequences if you do this versus that. Then you want to assess the relationships that you have and to have those conversations, if it’s causing a little bit of friction into your flow blocks. Then you look at your calendar, looking for choke points, those mini meetings, meetups, calls. Number one thing actually is to collapse all of them. If you don’t have the time for a video meeting, go to a phone call, phone call to a text, text to nothing, if possible. Look at those choke points so that they’re not peppering throughout your day to block your flow. You really want to reserve at least 90 minutes to 120 minutes of free time, so you can get things done, so it’s worth it for you to struggle. Right? Then treating your flow block as an event, like a battle or an Olympic arena. So you want to make sure that your primed and conditioned. Close your doors. Put on the music. Minimize distractions from your tech, from your environment. Also, you can use caffeine as needed or anything, like L-theanine. I do matcha for that. Condition your mind for focus. Then you want to practice release. Every time, do a release protocol. Every time you feel distracted, you do a breakdown of everything, every thought that comes in, onto a notepad with pen and paper. Let it go and focus. Then do the flow breath of 3-2-10, 3-2-10 three times.

19:14 Now, what is one action that you are going to take from this? Is it going to be looking at your calendar? Is it going to be examining the things, like categories of things that you’ve been saying yeses to but you really want to say no? What about creating a blanket policy? What is your blanket policy for meetings now? I know a lot of people work at different time zones, so perhaps you can still work around that and collaborate asynchronously instead, right? And really, think about what you’re willing to sacrifice to get to the flow of state, okay? If you say yes to other people but you’re sacrificing your kid’s time, it’s not worth it. Right? Nobody is going to watch out for your time with your kids other than you, right? Or your spouse.

20:04 So again, this series, the previous episode will be talking about how to even engage and get to the struggle. A lot of people don’t even actually get to the struggle phase. So if you want to take a look at that, the engage protocol, take a look at the previous episode. We’ll be diving deep into flow neuroscience the next few episodes. This is all from the teaching of Steve Kotler and Rian Doris at the Flow Research Collective. All the show notes are going to contain all the resources mentioned. It’s going to be at productivitymd.com. And, of course, if you guys are interested in diving really deep into one-on-one coaching with me for one year, then you can go on the website and book a coaching qualification call to see if you’re actually the right fit to go full-on with me for the next year. So thank you again for your kind presence and attention. And remember that everything we need is within us now. Thank you.

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