{"id":3001,"date":"2026-10-23T20:15:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T20:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/avivratzman.com\/?p=3001"},"modified":"2026-10-23T20:20:38","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T20:20:38","slug":"how-a-mentor-spots-flow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/avivratzman.com\/en\/how-a-mentor-spots-flow\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Mentor Spots Someone Else’s Flow"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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In short:<\/strong> Flow is the state in which we’re completely absorbed in a task and time simply disappears. Most people can’t say exactly what puts them in that state \u2013 but you can hear it in the way they talk. A good mentor listens for the signs, asks the right questions, and helps people build their work around their passion: a founder whose company has grown and who no longer does what he loves, an employee in the wrong role, or someone looking for the next step in their career.<\/p>\r\n

The concept of Flow was coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. According to his research, Flow happens when there’s a balance between challenge and skill: the task is hard enough to stretch us, but we have the tools to handle it. A challenge that’s too high creates anxiety. Too low \u2013 boredom.<\/p>\r\n

And what usually gets us there is passion. Passion isn’t a clich\u00e9 for “dream chasers” \u2013 it’s the fuel. It creates intrinsic motivation, motivation leads to Flow, and Flow creates persistence and deep learning. Over time, that’s what turns people into experts in their field.<\/p>\r\n

But there’s a problem here: most people don’t ask themselves what their passion is or when they’re in Flow. They ask what’s expected of them, what pays off, what “makes sense.” And the answers to those questions don’t always lead to the same place.<\/p>\r\n

What it feels like from the inside<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n

I know this state well. When we founded Highcon, we were in an incredible Flow.<\/p>\r\n

We interviewed potential customers, distilled the challenge, and started thinking about a solution. We ran around raising money to fund development, searched for parts in scrapyards, and built a prototype. That period flew by, and we didn’t even feel it. The challenge was huge, but every day we learned something new, and every small step moved us forward. I wrote about that period in my book, “Light and Shadow \u2013 A Mental Journey of Entrepreneurship”<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

But at the time, I didn’t call it Flow. We just worked. Only in hindsight did I understand how rare that state is, and how much it was our fuel.<\/p>\r\n

That’s exactly why, more often than not, the one who spots someone’s Flow is actually someone on the outside.<\/p>\r\n

The signs: what you hear when someone talks about their passion<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n

When people talk about something they do out of passion, something changes. Not in what they say \u2013 in how they say it:<\/p>\r\n