Ha r al d P h ili p p Harald Philipp is a mountaineer on a bike. His trails are mountain tracks and via ferratas. As a mountain bike professional he doesn’t compete against other bikers, he rides with them. He has written a book—“Flow”— together with sports scientist Dr. Simon Sirch and gives presentations about his bike adventures. www.summitride.com
At this point flow isn’t connected to sports anymore. Sports is just one way of achieving it. But there is one condition that is essential for experiencing flow. “There are a lot of things that can give you a great experience. But it can’t go on ad infinitum: that’s when the activity itself is too simple. There needs to be a new component, you have to go one step further, give a little more than the last time. You won’t find today’s flow in what you were doing yesterday.” If you stick to familiar routines, you’ll miss the chance to experience flow. If you don’t go to the edge of your comfort zone from time to time, you’ll begin to notice that your comfort zone actually starts to shrink. This is deeply personal matter—everyone’s borders are unique. Even Harald knows what this feels like: “For example, I have claustrophobia. It’s a fear that I’m not facing. And that’s why it’s getting bigger and bigger”. There is not just “fear”. You’ll always find a certain type of fear: of an activity, some kind of condition, an object or even a person. The flow state cannot make fear disappear, but it can push it back, little by little. If you’re aiming for too much too fast, the bubble will burst, to use Harald’s diagram. When you manage to softly touch the ultra-thin, rainbow-colored layer, you’ve found flow. “If you’re keeping fear at bay, you’ll gain freedom. If you’re feeling the fear, you’ve already gone too far.”
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