FLOW PROFILES

UNPACKED
A breakdown of the four Flow Profiles:

CROWD FLOW HARD DEEP

PLEASER GOER CHARGER THINKER
WELCOME!
Congratulations on taking your Flow Profile! Now you’re ready to take the next
step and learn a little more about what makes you feel and perform your best.

If you’re like us, one of the first thoughts you had when you figured out which
profile you were—the Hard Charger, the Flow Goer, the Crowd Pleaser, or the
Deep Thinker—was “but that’s not all I am—sometimes I get into Flow
differently.”

And you’d be exactly right. None of us are just one single profile, and in fact,
how we get into the zone depends on what we’re doing, who we’re with, and
even what stage of life we’re in.

So take a look through all four profiles presented here, reread the primary one
you tested as, and then see which other ones might also be true for you.

Then you’ll have an even more refined sense of what fires you up, what focuses
you, and exactly how you can spend more time at the top of your game!
 Three
Three Things
Things You
You Need To Need to
Know
Know AboutAbout
Flow Flow.

1) Flow creates powerful intrinsic motivation–

1) Flow creates powerful intrinsic motivation–
by releasing the most addictive
by releasing the most addictive
neurochemicals in our bodies.
neurochemicals in our bodies.

2) Flow cuts the path to mastery in half and

accelerates performance up to 500%.
2) Flow cuts the path to mastery in half and
accelerates performance up to 500%.
3) People with the most flow in their lives are
the happiest people on earth.
3) People with the most flow in their lives are
the happiest people on earth.
 CROWD PLEASER

Favorite Website: Core piece of equipment: Catch phrase we wish you didn't ever say:
facebook.com Cameraphone “FOMO", “YOLO”, or pretty much any emoticon, ever

You're most at home in the thick of it—hanging with

friends, going to the big game, concerts, conferences,
and anywhere you can thrive on the energy and Typical Flow Hacks:
inspiration of interacting with others.
• Festivals, conferences, social/
You typically find your flow while lost in the moment in political causes, nightlife, sports
the company of friends and like-minded folks. A classic teams (playing and watching), social
extrovert, you gain a charge from intense events, but media, managing organizational
unlike your Hard Charging flow cousin, that intensity teams
for you comes more from the power of the shared
experience than from the risks involved.
 CROWD PLEASER

Further Learning
Special Caution: As a Crowd Pleaser, you should pay special
attention to the “Hedonic Treadmill”—where More, Better, Bigger
does not always get you back to that initial hit of flow that fired Check out our videos to to learn more
you up in the first place. And rallying more people to the "cause" about Group Flow, Hedonic
Engineering, and the Neurochemistry
can backfire, leaving you trapped repeating behaviors that
of Flow.
actually take you further from the struggle, focus and deep
reward of a fully dimensioned flow state (see: Frat Boys, Ravers,
Learn More
Facebook junkies).

Pro Tip: Flow, as T.S. Eliot once said "costs not less than everything"
Want to go deeper?
and if you want more of it, you may need to tone down the
compulsive socializing, go deeper in your training and practices, Check out our online and in-person
and when you do come back online with your crew? You'll be trainings and adventure programs
leading everyone to higher heights than ever before (and if you're to level-up your Flow game!
into alcohol, MDMA and other common social lubricants, consider
laying off so you can more clearly assess the value of how and with
Train Your Game
whom you're spending your time) .
 FLOW GOER

Favorite Website: Core piece of equipment: Catch phrase we wish you didn't ever say:
yogaglo.com, gaiam.com LuluLemon ButtHuggers “Namaste”

Alright—out of all the Flow Profiles, you're the flowiest! And by that,
we don't mean that you actually have more Flow than everyone
else, but your life, your attitude, your activities, hell, even your Typical Flow Hacks:
clothing all reinforce to yourself and others that being in Flow is a
central part of who you are. You've done some soul-searching to
Yoga, meditation, ecstatic dance,
get here too—either taking the road less traveled from the get go,
new circus, internal martial arts,
or burning out in the Rat Race and bravely rebuilding a second act
eco-tourism, personal growth
that's more aligned for you.
retreats
Where the other profiles tend to find flow at special times under
specific conditions, you seek a life that is in flow all the time. You
may believe in serendipity, synchronicity and that everything
happens for a reason.
 FLOW GOER

Special Caution: In your admirable effort to minimize struggle, conflict

and stress in your life, you can overshoot and lose the grit that makes Further Learning
the pearl. Beware the Bliss Junkie!!! The paradox of flow is that all of
that "effortless effort" takes A LOT of work! And it's an incredibly fine
line between "going with the flow”—only doing things when it's Check out our videos to to learn more
about Grit, Mindsets, Zen to Done,
effortless and easy—and just being plain old flakey. And be vigilant of
and Expert Performance Theory..
any of your behaviors that keep life in fuzzy soft focus—especially self-
medicating.
Learn More
Pro-Tip: Train your off-side. Be impeccable with your commitments. Be
on time. Create a catchment system for all of your meetings, ToDos,
and finances (Getting Things Done is a great place to start, and the Want to go deeper?
iTunes/Android app stores). You've already worked so hard to create a
lifestyle around flow, and paradoxically, you will find even more flow in Check out our online and in-person
trainings and adventure programs
your life by tackling head-on the least flow-y parts of your life (and
to level-up your Flow game!
everyone else’s). Practice having crucial conversations and getting
comfortable resolving conflict cleanly. Nail your finances. As hard and
counterintuitive as this sounds, you've already done the even harder Train Your Game
part—building your life around flow in the first place. All you've got to
do now is close the open loops and surrender fully into your bliss!
(namaste!)
 HARD CHARGER

Favorite Website: Core piece of equipment: Catch phrase we wish you didn't ever say:
RedBull.com NorthFace Jacket “Bro”, “Stoke", “Gnarly", “Epic”

You tend to be a focused go-getter who craves intensity in your Typical Flow Hacks:
personal and professional life. You get bored easily with "run of the
• Adventure sports: skiing,
mill" and seek experiences that have high challenge and high
snowboarding, surfing, skydiving,
impact. When you learn a new skill, you often seek out accelerated
mountain biking, MMA, rock
training from the best of the best, or you put your head down and
climbing, race driving, paintball
hyper-focus until you figure it out yourself. Either way, "slow and
steady" middle-of-the-pack progress is not for you.
• Non-traditional travel: loose
itineraries, unusual destinations,
The same intensity and focus that pushes you to seek such high-
cultural immersion
impact experiences, tends to feed a pretty relentless inner critic
that is always pushing you to raise the bar—others may experience
• Substance Use: stimulants,
this as intimidating or hyper-critical, but what they don't always
intoxicants and euphoriants that
know is that you judge yourself first and most harshly. For you, flow
alternately deliver increased
offers one of the few escapes from that unforgiving scorecard, and
intensity or dampen down your
when you do find activities that offer you this calm and relief, you
RPM
often put them at the top of your list.
 HARD CHARGER

Special caution: Due to your wiring for intensity and your persistent need
Further Learning
to silence your inner critic, you are often more willing to take risks than
many of your peers. Harnessed positively, this can result in you crafting a Check out our videos to learn more
"life as a daring adventure"—rich and full of travel, adventure and new about the Challenge-Skills Equation,
experiences—but it can also lead to "wrecklessness" in the realms of Transient Hypofrontality (how the
brain shuts down our inner critic) and
substance use, sexuality, adrenaline sports, and other edgy behaviors.
Hedonic Engineering (how we can
reproduce the feel-good
Pro-tip: In seeking flow as a Hard Charger, pay close attention to where neurochemicals of a flow state).
the risk/reward equation gets upside down, and stay on the recoverable
side of that line. Rather than always going bigger and faster, try going Learn More
deeper. Slow down, take time to develop discipline and mine your given
pursuits for all they offer. Self-handicap so that you don't have to keep
Want to go deeper?
upping the ante on the Challenge line of the Challenge/Skills Equation.
Lateralize—if you are already hucking 20' cliffs on alpine skis, try Check out our online and in-person
telemarking. If you're surfing big waves, try SUPing. If you're trainings and adventure programs
a PUA, try practicing with a single partner. If you're a hard partying to level-up your Flow game!
clubber, try mindfulness training.
Train Your Game
Once you learn the mechanics of reverse-engineering your Flow states,
you can realize that you've got more options and combinations to safely
and sustainably get most of the goods without taking all of the risks!
 DEEP THINKER

Favorite Website: Core piece of equipment: Catch phrase we wish you didn't ever say:
stackexchange.com, etsy.com My “Away Room” “Not tonight…”

Your flow dream date consists of you, yourself and you, Typical Flow Hacks:
getting (finally!) uninterrupted time to do what you love
most. You tend to seek Flow through creative, reflective, How you personally express your
often soothingly repetitive work that lets your mind Flow profile can range widely and
wander, lets your nervous system relax deeply, and lets defies easy categorization. You may
your muse come through with something delightful. engage in the classical arts
painting, pottery, or music. You
While you can tolerate and even succeed in the hustle may have found a home in more
and bustle of daily life, a part of you is always off in your contemporary expressions, like
sanctuary, or biding your time until you can return to digital photography, gaming
recharge your batteries. You may also find yourself or coding or “making." You may
seeking out times of day—early mornings or late evenings seek out a kinder, gentler form of
—where you can feel free of conflicting demands and get Nature than your Flow cousin the
that uninterrupted concentration you thrive on. Hard Charger—preferring hiking,
gardening, birding, or working with
animals to unplug from daily life.
 DEEP THINKER

Special Caution: Your nervous system may be particularly sensitive and

Further Learning
mismatched to contemporary "always-on" society, and it may require
dedicated effort for you to carve out and protect those experiences that
give you the restorative flow you so deeply need. What's more, in this age Check out our videos to to learn more
of hyper-commercialization, you may feel like you need to defend your about Embodied Cognition, Flow and
Creativity, and the Neurochemistry of
pursuits if they're not earning you large sums of money or recognition.
Flow.
It's OK to write poetry even if you're not published. It's OK to throw pots
or ride horses even if they never "win" you anything. Know that your
passions are serving an essential purpose in helping keep you balanced Learn More
and energized in life—they increase your resilience, your immunity, your
creativity, and your optimism—not only is that enough, it's everything!
Want to go deeper?
Pro-Tip: Given your relatively gentle nature and rich inner life, you "may" Check out our online and in-person
find yourself less than fully embodied. You might not have excelled in trainings and adventure programs
organized sports, and you may shun the vigorous and challenging in to level-up your Flow game!
favor of the more contemplative and restorative. Consider boosting your
resilience by easing into cardio and strength training, sign up for a fun Train Your Game
race, test your boundaries (mentally) build some muscle (physically) and
not only will you find yourself more resilient, you'll also be rewarded with
more Flow when you do return to your happy place!
 How big do you want to play?

“If your life’s work can be accomplished in your lifetime,

you’re not thinking big enough.”

– Dr. Wes Jackson, McArthur Fellow

 Looking to Optimize Your
Relationship to Flow?
And the foundations of achieving peak states?

Flow Fundamentals is a 6-week self-paced online training

program that gives you specific direction for finding more
Flow in your life. 76% more to be exact.

So what would you do with that much more time, energy

and focus?

Learn more here

www.flowgenomeproject.com