Ideation: Core Concepts
Identifying challenging moments is a great place to start — but so is thinking of moments of joy and fulfillment
In sharp contrast to our lesson on the Valley of Despair, this lesson encourages students to think of moments they have felt joy and fulfillment as a jumping-off point for their personal statement brainstorming.
But what kinds of joy?
Don’t think of joy that stems from pride (like winning an award or acing a test); rather think of a joyful feeling that bubbles up within you while you’re doing some activity (probably anything other than gaming, lol). I had one student who wrote a captivating passage about the intense joy she felt learning to ski with her grandfather.
Why joy?
Really loving something — especially something unexpected — helps show (rather than telling) your unique qualities and your personality. Joy can be interesting and compelling in a way that suffering isn’t. Think about who you’d rather have at your dinner party: a guest full of sorrowful stories or someone who finds joy in unexpected places. Obviously this explanation is overly simplistic, but I think it delivers the answer to “Why joy?”
The Flow State
In addition to thinking about joyful moments, we also want you to meditate on times when you have felt yourself attain a flow state. The flow state occurs when you feel completely “in the zone.” The flow state was coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in 1970, and he describes being in the flow as “Being completely involved in an activity for its own sake. The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you're using your skills to the utmost” (Wired.com)
Some characteristics of the flow state include feeling yourself fully immersed within an activity without any sense of anxiety, boredom or self-consciousness. Frequently time passes differently, and hours can go by but it feels like its only been minutes.
Reflect and think about moments when you achieved this optimal flow state. What were you doing? What enabled you to get so engrossed and focused? And how did you feel once you exited the flow state?
Identifying moments of flow can be an effective brainstorming strategy, as these moments provide clues about who you really are, and they give you concrete examples of what makes you tick, which then allows you to show the reader an example, rather than simply telling the reader “I am X type of person.”
This is an interesting graphic which maps task difficulty (y axis) against your skill level at a specific task (x axis).
We see that we best attain flow states when the difficulty of a task matches our skill at that task. If a task is too difficult we will become anxious; if it is too easy we will become bored.
Key Takeaways:
Think about moments where you feel unbridled joy. Rather than thinking about pride from accomplishments, reflect on times when you have felt the joy of simply being alive.
In addition to channeling your inner joy, think about moments when you have gotten into a flow state. Reflect about these moments in the “I Remember” writing activity (next lesson)
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Flow, the secret to happiness (TED Talk by Mihaly Csikszentmialyi)
Brown University Dean of Admission Jim Miller
The Role of Joy in Brainstorming for the Common App Personal Statement (Blog Post)