Flow

We have bookclub tonight (we've been meeting every two months for about 15 years) and the book tonight is Flow, a study on how we find that perfect spot between boredom and anxiety and working at our best. Mihaly (I'm not going to try and spell his last name) lays it all out pretty well and has done some amazing research on flow around the world (including the homeless and factory workers as well as artists and sports figures). I do have trouble with books that bring up generalizations again and again (we watch too much tv, people think they need big houses to be happy, etc.) I know that this is quite true in many cases, but the people I know just don't have those desires but are interested as well in ways to be happy or find flow.
Still, I have been thinking about one of the basics of flow...working at a level where you can succeed and meeting frequent successes for yourself (no matter how small). In my last work world, we just never knew what was expected and when we started down one path, we'd be told half-way through that it was the wrong one. Providing clear expectations and frequent successes (even small ones) for my colleagues will be part of my management style in the future. And for my own unreasonable personal expectations, I may even try and reduce them from "create the perfect garden" to "weed the cutting garden today." Can you have flow while pulling chickweed?
(And of course I found flow at Penland!)