Frequently Asked Questions

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Professor of Psychology at Claremont Graduate University, published "Flow" in 1990, the seminal text on flow state based on decades of research. In Csikszentmihalyi's words, flow state is “a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter." In flow state, anxiety and your ego drops away, and you improve your ability to direct your attention. The key to feeling in flow is to identify activities that are just challenging enough for your skill level, and progressing to bigger challenges as your skills expand.

As modern knowledge workers, we rarely get to experience flow state. Even more elusive is the sense of progression and mastery of your work. When was the last time you felt accomplished? Do you feel like you are better than you were a month ago? The pursuit of flow state reminds us to asks these questions about the work we do everyday, and Flow Club is where we gather to do it.

Ultimately Flow Club is about improving mental fitness, feeling fulfilled at work and finding more time for life. The specific benefits you will experience include but are not limited to:
- Sharpened focus
- Minimized distractions
- Heightened intentionality and awareness of your work
- Motivation on demand
- More time for deep work, side pursuits, and life
- Increased confidence through a sense of agency
- Clearer delineation between work and rest
- More restorative rest
- Inspired company of peers and hosts
- Lower stress and anxiety
- More creativity

We hate BS too, and some of these things inevitably sound like BS. Best we can do now is to show you some testimonials, but you should stay skeptical and try it out for yourself.

‍See our Wall of Love.

Sessions take place throughout the day. Each session has up to eight participants and a host. Sessions can be 60, 90, 120 minutes long.

In a typical 60-minute session:
1. For the first 5 minutes, the host welcomes everyone and asks a simple question to help everyone set their intention for the session. A typical question is simply, "what are you hoping to accomplish in this hour?"
2. For the next 50 minutes, the host will mute everyone and put on curated work playlist, and everyone dives into their work. We keep our video on for extra accountability.
3. A gong will signal the end of the session, and the host will gather the group to debrief and celebrate wins and progress.

Here's a 2-min video. It's a bit out-dated, but it'll give you a good sense of what it's like.

Flow Club’s method is based on the popular Pomodoro Technique, which millions of workers around the world practice on a daily basis. The Pomodoro Technique helps people overcome discomfort by working in small time increments of 25-minutes, followed by a 5-minute of break. In Flow Club, the most popular length of session is 50 minutes.
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Research shows that we put off work not because we are lazy or lack discipline. We do it to avoid negative feelings like overwhelm and uncertainty. We reach for distractions to soothe our negative feelings or busy work to help us feel productive. Instead, the Pomodoro Technique helps you focus by shrinking your goal down to the next few things you can do in the time allotted, making it easier for anyone to make real progress.

Our hosts are volunteers from the community. Hosts help lead each session, check in with you on your progress, and bring their music and positivity to help propel you forward. You can be a host too after 10 sessions.

Yes, as much as you can. Of course, if you need to turn off the camera, that’s okay. As a community, we keep our videos to create an energetic virtual environment for each other while we work, like working at a cafe! The video boxes are small, and no one is looking at you because everyone is focusing. In case things go wrong, we enforce our community guidelines to keep out bad behavior.

Not much at all because we gather to focus on getting stuff done. We share our goals and progress with each other to keep each other accountable, that’s all.

Flow Club’s aim is to support diverse working styles. We believe that you know what works best for you. To this end, you can use the session structure as it suits you.

Most people tend to stay for the whole duration and keep their video on, because it is helpful to them to do so. If you need to join late, hop out early, or turn off video, that is completely fine with us. This is a tool that’s here to serve you, not the other way around.

Our sessions provide the flexibility for you to:
• Join at any time as long as you have booked the session in advance.
• For new trial members, we offer even more flexibility so that you can drop in and try out a session without booking in advance.
• Turn your video and audio on and off.
• Leave a chat message to your fellow attendees if you are joining late or jumping out early.
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In Flow Club you are still working solo. What Flow Club adds is a layer of structure and external accountability to help you push yourself a little harder. It’s like going to the gym by yourself versus going to a workout class. You’ll find lots of high performers like yourself in Flow Club, and you’ll be surprised by how much more you get done.

To be clear, it’s still you who is keeping yourself accountable! There’s just no way around that. 🙂

But, it’s also clear that we are social animals. Many people work better when they are in the presence of others. The host in the room asks each participant to share their goals out loud. The act of sharing and being visible to others creates enough energy for our members to get started and to follow through.

Take a moment to think about what you need to do, and then figure out the smallest first step you can take. Then simply join a Flow Club on time to get it done.

Flow Club is a live, structured experience with specific choreography that is easy to participate and host in. As a member, you’ll find that it’s much, much easier than organizing your own group.

We've thought through details to help people focus and remove overwhelm:

Flow Club's Schedule
Flow Club’s predictable schedule helps you create consistent daily routines. You can book ahead to help you block out time.

Calendar Reminders
We send you a calendar invite so that you can make an appointment with yourself and others to remind you to show up. Your teammates will also respect your time because it appears as a meeting.
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To-do List
The To-do list doesn’t carry over, which helps you start fresh each time.
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Small Videos
Videos help people feel present. We display them in limited width and height so that they aren't overly distracting. Controls such as on/off toggles and background blur support your changing needs.

$40 / month or $33.33 / month (paid annually) to access hundreds of live sessions every week. If you become a host, you can discount the membership by 50% for hosting a certain number of sessions each month (learn more here).

Flow Club’s subscription model makes it so that you can keep up the habit consistently without attendance limits.

Do you buy coffee to be around others while you work? Do you pay for services to help you increase your productivity and focus, or address issues with distractibility? Then, Flow Club instead! $40 might be similar to the cost of a fitness class or two, and at this price you get access to unlimited sessions every month. Flow Club is mental fitness for work!

Your subscription will help pay for the constant learning and improving that our team does to provide this platform.

Yes, Flow Club usually fits under a co-working or wellness stipend. Click here to visit the resource page on how to ask.

Some people attend 6 times a day, others join 2-3 times a week. Work is so personal and different for everyone, so we recommend trying out a few approaches to see how it could serve you best.

We recommend approaching Flow Club by time, task or intention:
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Time-based
- Start the day: Fight morning grogginess and procrastination by committing to sitting down at the same time every day and take advantage of the morning energy
- Afternoon slump / food coma / energy dip: If you know you always get tired at a certain time, join Flow Club to give yourself a boost
- Before deadlines: Deadlines should already be motivating, but sometimes you need just a little extra to feel confident before the big meeting
Task-based
- Tedious tasks: Bring the work you have to do but hate doing. Email, life admin, legal documents, reading papers, etc.
- Important but not urgent: Instead of always working on what's urgent, bring the important but not urgent work that you never get around to and commit to doing them
- Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAG): Tackle ambitious and somewhat scary goals. Use Flow Club to break them into small, achievable tasks and start making progress
Intention-based
- Block time for deep work: Dictate your schedule instead of the other way around and reserve long uninterrupted time for you to get deep work done.
- "Miscellaneous" pursuits: We are a work-obsessed culture, which means it's difficult to spend time on other things that are meaningful to us. Commit time to leisure reading, trip planning, learning a new skill.

Our hosts participate in the community weekly if not daily and most host 3+ sessions a week. If you have attended at least 10 sessions and love to build community and hold space for others, you likely qualify. Hosts can also discount their membership up to 50% for hosting a certain number of sessions. More details on the program here. To become a host, email members@flow.club.

We are constantly improving our availability so that whenever there's an open time on your calendar for you to get stuff done, you can simply book last minute to make the most of that time.
Over time, you may find that it's beneficial to book sessions early as you plan out your day and week to make time for yourself.

To make the most of your time, we recommend spending a few minutes before each session mapping out your intention, identify where you’re going to start, and what you can accomplish in the time allotted. We know that isn't always possible, so the next best thing is to show up to Flow Club on time to settle into work.

Try these things:
- Close out unnecessary tabs as this can slow things down
- Quit and restart your browser
- Go through the steps in this help article
- Create a video room in this demo product to see if you can get your video working there

Flow Club is more fun when you go with people you know. Email members@flow.club to ask us about inviting a friend or your company to join.

To make schedule requests email members@flow.club. You can request specific times, session durations, types of music, work and more.