What is the secret to entering "flow state"?

The other day was absolutely ELECTRIC

Every business owner has experienced a day exactly like this one:

Wake up - morning routine dialled

Gym - smashed it

Work - galactic focus levels

Work - more galactic focus levels

Work - even MORE galactic focus levels

Sleep

It was one of those days where everything just clicked naturally

I knew exactly what needed to be done, how to do it, and ending up doing exactly that

In other words I spend the entire day in what we commonly refer to as “flow state”

As the day comes to a close I prepare my evening routine

Sitting outside on my balcony watching the sunset

Got my journal setup, my tea ready I put the pen to paper and started reflecting on the day

Immediately something stuck out to me

I wrote down these exact words…

“Hmm, I’ve been in flow state A LOT recently”

I wrote it down almost half surprised because I historically have been someone who always had struggled with that

So I asked myself the question “why is that?”

Now, you might be thinking the answer was something like a change in environment

Or I had a cool new project I cared about

Or I had a deadline I had to meet and I “work better under pressure”

Btw, “working better under pressure” is a fancy way of saying I’m not motivated 95% of the time

BUT I digress

In truth, it wasn’t ANY of those things…

It actually came down to the fact that the tasks that would have usually given me anxiety or created hurdles for me, were now just coming easily

And I was even having fun doing them

But that answer just WASN’T good enough for me

It was too surface level

I had to understand deeper than that

“Why Tristan, why are you so productive right now??”

And at the bottom of that ladder of questioning came one macro level change I’d made in the last 6 months

I altered my internal identity

Basically the man I fundamentally believe I am at my core

Now before I explain why that caused such a monumental shift in my behavior its important to acknowledge what we USUALLY do to try to achieve the same result

The mistake most of us make is we try to hack our way into flow

We install website blockers

We put on the deep work house mix on YouTube

We try to force the action without changing the identity

Over the last six months, I simply stopped trying to force the action

Because trying that only ever led to burnout

Or a really shitty cycle of motivated -> procrastinate -> feel guilty -> repeat

Instead of living in that prison

I very brutally changed the narrative I told myself

I stopped looking at the things that needed doing as “things that needed doing"

And started looking at them as “things that I do” simply because that’s who I am

It sounds incredibly simple, almost silly really

But here is the neurological magic of that shift:

When you fundamentally believe you are someone who does something, doing that thing stops being a chore on a checklist

It becomes a byproduct of your existence

You don't do it to get it over with, you do it because that is just what you do

It’s kinda like the difference between someone who says

“I’m trying to get into running”

And someone who says

“I”m a runner”

Which of those people do you think has an easier time actually GOING for a run

And ENJOYING it too

Obviously, it’s the second person

Because for the “runner”, the act of running isn’t some massive mountain they have to climb every morning

I mean it’s literally just what they do

It's a literal byproduct of who they are

Now, bring that back to YOUR business

If you’re anything like me maybe you were (or are) just a complete and utter slave to dopamine

What used to happen to me is that

If a task felt even REMOTELY tedious... my brain would just reject it entirely

So guess what happened every time I HAD to do those tedious things?

My brain said NOPE we’re not doing that right now

And that friction right there? That is the absolute DEATH of flow state

Because flow state demands that your brain is 100% engaged in the challenge right in front of you

But if you’re spending half your mental energy just fighting your own boredom and chasing cheap dopamine because a task doesn't align with "who you think you are"…

You have zero bandwidth left to actually get in the zone

But when you flip that script…

When you decide your identity is no longer someone who needs constant stimulation, but rather “I am someone who executes the boring work relentlessly”

The resistance just… vanishes for lack of a better term

The tedious task itself isn't a mountain anymore

It's just an expression of who you are, or maybe an extension of who you are

Whichever is more fitting…

And that is the secret to sliding effortlessly into flow state almost by accident

You stop forcing it

It just happens

So if you’re constantly burning out, procrastinating, or waiting for the “pressure” to motivate you to do the needle-moving tasks…

Look at the story you’re telling yourself

Look at your internal identity

Are you a slave to dopamine fighting yourself every time you sit down at your desk?

Or is the work you need to do just a natural byproduct of the person you’ve decided to become?

That answer might help you unlock flow state on demand