Flow With the Go

No, the title of this post is not a typo. It is a different take on how to approach the concept of “flow.”

Yesterday, I was reading Guy Kawasaki’s The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything, and he used the phrase “Flow with the Go.” He didn’t really explain it much, but that phrase has been bouncing around in my head ever since I read it.

The traditional phrase is, of course, “go with the flow.” This may seem like a good phrase for an improviser. However, there is an implies passivity to “go with the flow.” The phrase makes it sound like you should just release and let life take you wherever it will, regardless of where you want to go. Kind of like being in a river and instead of swimming against the current, you just float along with the river.

Not a terrible philosophy, and better than struggling with resistance, but the problem with that approach is you don’t exert any control where the river (i.e. life) will take you. If you simply “go with the flow,” all the time, you may find yourself flowing right over a waterfall…

“Flow the Go,” creates a slightly different impression. Rather than going with things that are already flowing, you direct your flow with towards things that are already going. It’s the difference between letting go while in the river and choosing which river to jump into in the first place.

When you flow with the go, you find what’s going; ideally, you find what’s going towards where you want to go. Then you stop resisting and struggling against that and flow along with it.

Rather than flow being a passive response to existing conditions, it becomes and active way of using existing conditions to help you get what you want.

Question: Where is the “go” in your life? What is that little voice inside you urging you to do? What do friends keep telling you you are great at? What seemingly random coincidence keep popping up in your life as if to say, “hey dumbass, pay attention to me!”?

Stop ignoring or resisting them. Pay attention, take a deep breath, jump into the river of your choosing and “flow with the go.”

About

By Avish Parashar. As the world's only Motivational Improviser, Avish uses techniques from the world of improv comedy to engage, entertain, and educate audiences on ideas around change, creativity, and motivation. Connect with Avish on Google+

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