It does not seem to be true that work necessarily needs to be unpleasant. It may always have to be hard, or… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
Whatever the dictates of fashion, it seems that those who take the trouble to gain mastery over what happens in consciousness do… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
People generally report higher levels of stress, depression, and tension after watching TV. It seems that TV's main virtue is that it… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
The happiest people spend much time in a state of flow - the state in which people are so involved in an… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
Why is it that, despite having achieved previously undreamed-of miracles of progress, we seem more helpless in facing life than our less… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
The foremost reason that happiness is so hard to achieve is that the universe was not designed with the comfort of human… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share Image
You yourself are in an ecstatic state to such a point that you feel as though you almost don't exist. I've experienced… — 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, instead of sharpening concentration we tend to set it aside and instead turn on the television, which not only requires minimal attention, but in fact tends to diffuse what little it commands with choppy editing, commercial interruptions, and… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share
What does this contradictory pattern mean?one conclusion seems inevitable: when it comes to work, people do not heed the evidence of their… — 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 their minds with whatever information is readily available, as long as it distracts attention from turning inward and dwelling on negative feelings. This explains why such a huge proportion of time is invested in watching television,… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share
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 a deep-seated fear, they are compensating, they are compulsively reenacting an Oedipal fixation, they are “sensation seekers.” While such motives may be occasionally involved, what is most striking, when one actually speaks to specialists in risk,… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share
“Wisdom and integrity cannot be found in any single domain. A broader viewpoint that breaks across disciplinary boundaries is needed, a way of understanding that combines knowing and sensing, feeling and judging. In facing this task one cannot expect to succeed in the public eye, as one can when a field of culture recognizes one’s contributions to art, business, or… — Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi Copy Share
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
