It is essential to learn to enjoy life. It really does not make sense to go through the motions of existence if… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
If an enterprise does not aspire to be the best of its kind, it will attract second-rate employees, and it will be… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
It is amazing how little effort most people make to improve control of their attention. If reading a book seems too difficult,… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
The downside, of course, is that over time religions become encrusted with precepts and ideas that are the antithesis of soul, as… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
...if we expended all our energies solely on taking care of our own needs we would stop growing. In that respect what… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
If I had to express in one word what makes their [creative individuals'] personalities different from others, it's complexity. They show tendencies… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
If you're alone with nothing to do, the quality of your experience really plummets. — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
Each of us is born with two contradictory sets of instructions: a conservative tendency, made up of instincts for self-preservation, self-aggrandizement, and… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
To know oneself is the first step toward making flow a part of one's entire life. But just as there is no… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
If we agree that the bottom line of life is happiness, not success, then it makes perfect sense to say that it… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
I have devoted 30 years of research to how creative people live and work, to make more understandable the mysterious process by… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
If the firms that employ an increasing majority of the population are driven solely to satisfy the owner's greed at the expense… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
I have a naive trust in the universe - that at some level it all makes sense, and we can get glimpses… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
Repeatedly we question the necessity of our actions and evaluate critically the reasons for carrying them out. But in flow there is… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
If a leader demonstrates that his purpose is noble, that the work will enable people to connect with something large - more… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
It is as if evolution has built a safety device in our nervous system that allows us to experience full happiness only… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
If you do anything well, it becomes enjoyable. To keep enjoying something, you need to increase its complexity. — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
If there is one word that makes creative people different from others, it is the word complexity. Instead of being an individual,… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
Jane Fonda, who divided her life into three acts, decided after her sixtieth birthday that she was now facing the final act,… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
Whatever the composition of a firm, if it is to do good business it should be a place where everyone is encouraged… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
Act as if the future of the universe depends on what you do, while laughing at yourself for thinking that your actions… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
“Entropy is the normal state of consciousness—a condition that is neither useful nor enjoyable. To avoid this condition, people are naturally eager to fill… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
Most enjoyable activities are not natural; they demand an effort that initially one is reluctant to make. But once the interaction starts to provide… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
People without an internalized symbolic system can all too easily become captives of the media. — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
Through learning we grow, becoming more than we were before, and in that sense learning is unselfish, because it results in the transformation of… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
“Unfortunately, many people find the only challenges they can respond to are violence, gambling, random sex, or drugs. Some of these experiences can be… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
It is essential to learn to enjoy life. It really does not make sense to go through the motions of existence if one does… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
“It is usual to explain the motivation of those who enjoy dangerous activities as some sort of pathological need: they are trying to exorcise… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
“Wisdom and integrity cannot be found in any single domain. A broader viewpoint that breaks across disciplinary boundaries is needed, a way of understanding… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
For better or worse, our future will be determined in large part by our dreams and by the struggle to make them real. — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
Many business leaders today view their jobs as entailing responsibility for the welfare of the wider community. These individuals do not define themselves as… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
The rules themselves are clear enough, and within everyone’s reach. But many forces, both within ourselves and in the environment, stand in the way.… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
When each of these three elements of vision-concern for excellence, for people and for the wider environment-are present, business is transformed from a tool… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
