Customer Reviews

Flow in Sports: The keys to optimal experiences and performances

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Flow in Sports by Susan A. Jackson is a well written, clear, practical manual that offers well grounded advice to any level athlete. This is the best book I have seen on the topic since the original classic by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi because it delivers the concepts without fanfare. Flow is just another practical took for the modern day athlete, the same as good nutrition and dedicated practice schedules. This tone and the plentiful, flow-accurate blurbs from atheltes in several different sports, make for a fun and exciting read. Every athelete will identify with the concepts and find inspiration to expand on the methods in their own specific sports training.

Jackson and Csikszentmihalyi tackle the topic of how athletes -- from would-be champs to afterwork gym rats -- achieve that wonderful altered state of flow where the muscles work smoothly and you feel great about your workout. This book offers an unusually clear exposition of exactly HOW you can get enter flow in sports. It describes what's necessary, such as challenge, feedback, and focus on the present, and suggests ways to incorporate these elements into your sport. Lots of quotes from athletes involved in various sports help bring the text alive. There are notes, too, so you know they've done their research. Quite inspiring.

The full title of the book is "Flow in Sports: The Key to Optimal Experiences and Performances". The book truly lives up to its title. It provides practical advice for developing the training regimen and mental mindset that lead to the state of "flow" that is key to doing well (and having fun) in sports. I also found the advice in this book to be applicable to other aspects of my life, such as work and studies. The book was co-authored by Dr. Csikszentmihalyi, a world renowned expert in this field, so you know that the advice in this book is based on solid academic research. The only problem I had with the book is the dry writing style, which reminds me of a college term paper.

I recently went on a binge of "mental training" books. This one came highly recommended, and I have to be honest, I am not very impressed. The main problem is the style of writing is, well, boring. I found myself constantly reading, then re-reading pages. ZZZzzzzzzz.... I am going to re-read the book - it does have some good info in it - maybe a second read through will be easier.

This is a good book. It is very interesting subject, and the qualifactions of the authors is without doubt. But. There is a but. It is not great. It could be more readable, it could cover more ground, it could have a lot more examples than 'simon' who is some never identified cyclist. If you search for flow, zone, deep play, inner game and sports you will find plenty of books that are not just good, but great.

Flow in Sports: The keys to optimal experiences and performances by Jackson and Csikszentmihalyi.

This book is a great introduction to a key aspect of performance: Flow.

In this very readable book the authors define the key dimensions of Flow as:
1. Challenge-skills balance
2. Action-awareness merging
3. Clear goals
4. Unambiguous feedback
5. Concentration on the task in hand
6. Sense of control
7. Loss of self-consciousness
8. Transformation of time
9. Autotelic experience. (Jackson & Csikszentmihalyi, 1999, p. 16)

These dimensions are build on almost 40 years of Csikszentmihalyi's work on this topic and it was interesting that in their recent research Beard and Hoy (2010) confirmed what they called the Jackson-Marsh model.

This is a rich area of interest for the athlete and the researchers alike, and the payoff, Flow, is an addictive motivator.

For the readers who are interested in this topic Jackson, S.A., & Eklund, R.C. (2004). The flow scales manual (Morgantown, WV: Fitness Information Technology, Inc.) is worth reading.

The rewarding aspects of Flow in a variety of situations demonstrate the nature of the positive psychology of human endeavor. This book is a must read.

bought the book for a school project, and it turned out to be helpful. helfpul/intersting insights on ones mental state in sport

Flow in Sports was a very straight forward and easy to understand book that has helped me imensly with my sport performance. They give you all the information; all you have to do is apply it!

Wow, this book has it all, and really hits home. It does a great job of helping the athlete learn about flow and more importantly, learn how to get into flow.

Jackson and Csikszentmihalyi tackle the topic of how athletes -- from would-be champs to afterwork gym rats -- achieve that wonderful altered state of flow where the muscles work smoothly and you feel great about your workout. This book offers an unusually clear exposition of exactly HOW you can get enter flow in sports (similar to what I found to be the way writers enter flow in my own bestseller WRITING IN FLOW). It describes what's necessary, such as challenge, feedback, and focus on the present, and suggests ways to incorporate these elements into your sport. Lots of quotes from athletes involved in various sports help bring the text alive. There are notes, too, so you know they've done their research. Quite inspiring.