You know those hours when you become so absorbed in something that the rest of the world politely disappears?
Perhaps you’re writing. Building. Fixing something. Playing music. Solving a maddening problem that turns out to be a deliciously interesting problem.
You look up. Three hours are gone.
Your coffee is cold. You forgot to check your phone. It’s almost rude how little you missed it.
And somehow you’re more alive than you were when you started.
The psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi called this kind of deep engagement flow. His research explored how challenge, skill, clear goals, and feedback can come together in experiences people find deeply rewarding.
It’s one of my favorite reminders that enjoyment isn’t always the absence of effort.
Sometimes it is the presence of just the right effort.
That distinction changed something for me. I’d spent so much time picturing freedom as an escape from work that I nearly overlooked the kind of work I’d choose to get lost in.
Which makes the idea of building a life with more choice even more interesting.
Because perhaps we don’t simply want less work.
Perhaps we want more opportunities to lose ourselves in work worth doing.
And if you’re wondering what to do when inspiration refuses to arrive with a marching band, there’s a fellow named Eugene Schwartz and his kitchen timer I’d like you to meet.
No special frequency required. Just curiosity, a manageable challenge, and somewhere to begin.
And if the beginning itself is the sticking point, I know a particularly unromantic solution involving thirty-three minutes and a kitchen timer.