The Flow Triggers of Furniture Assembly

One of my greatest joys in life is putting furniture together.

Not designing and then constructing the furniture, like, with power tools. All I need is a prefabricated bookshelf that comes in a box with instructions and a bag of screws. 

The other day I had the great privilege to assemble a wardrobe I ordered online. I zoned right in and caught myself in a state of flow. 

“This is how Simone Biles must feel” I thought, as I Allen-keyed bits and bobs together on the floor of my living room. 

In flow, it’s hard not to compare one's own experience to that of an Olympic athlete. It really feels like you can do anything in that optimal state of focus. 

It’s a powerful state of peak performance that elite athletes channel frequently. And it can be generated while sitting on the floor assembling cheap furniture. 

Actually, many people experience flow during seemingly mundane activities like housecleaning, filing receipts, folding laundry, and doing dishes. 

The question is, why? What is it about these tasks that pulls us into a state of peak performance?

It turns out that these activities have a few common flow triggers. 

Flow Trigger 1: Clear & Specific Goals

When I put together a Billy bookshelf from Ikea I know exactly what that finished product is going to look like. There’s a picture right there on the box. The outcome is clearly defined which sharpens my focus on the task at hand and I find myself ready to get started almost right away.  

Neuroscience tells us that the anticipation of completing a task releases dopamine¹, a chemical that makes us feel good which enhances our motivation. Knowing what the completed task looks like and having a clear objective raises my desire to accomplish it and I eagerly jump in.

Flow Trigger 2: Immediate Feedback

Not only does the bookshelf have a clear image of the finished product on the box, but every step in the instruction manual has a corresponding picture, to help you track your progress. 

In other words, the clear and well-defined finished product is made up of a series of clear and well-defined instructions. 

Every time I finish a step and the thing I’m building matches the picture, I experience a little hit of some feel-good neurochemicals, which motivates me to the next step.  

And if my step three doesn’t look like the picture’s step three, then I know I’ve made a mistake and can correct the course quickly. This immediate feedback is another powerful flow trigger, and helps us stay in the zone of peak performance.

Flow Trigger 3: The Just-Right Amount of Challenge

We tend to quit if things feel too challenging. Who hasn’t opened a box looked at the pieces and said “nope”. If the challenge seems beyond our capabilities we don’t even try. 

We also get bored and distracted from tasks that are too easy. If something’s not challenging enough, we won’t be stimulated and our focus will stray. 

Furniture assembly, lego building, puzzle solving, cleaning, these all can trigger flow if they present the just-right amount of challenge, testing my skills and keeping my brain engaged.

What's Your Billy Bookshelf?

Clear goals, feedback at each step, the just-right amount of challenge, three ingredients to creating the conditions for flow. 

How can you apply this to something you’re working on? 

What’s your Billy bookshelf? What’s the clear and specific picture on the box that you want to create with your life? With your business? With your team? 

What are the steps required in order to accomplish this clear and specific vision? Could you take a picture of each step along the way? What does each step look like and how will you know when you’re done? 

What’s the just right level of challenge for your next task? What’s at the edge of your skill set? Or your team’s abilities? Do you need to tune the level of challenge to increase engagement? 

When you are able to get clear and specific about the goal, and each of the perfectly challenging steps along the way, you’ll drop into your optimal state of productivity and creativity, and you’ll smile as you flow.

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^{1 See Schultz W. Dopamine signals for reward value and risk: basic and recent data. Behav Brain Funct. 2010 Apr 23;6:24. doi: 10.1186/1744-9081-6-24. PMID: 20416052; PMCID: PMC2876988.}