Episode Details

Have you ever finished a presentation, race, meeting or performance and someone asked, "How did it go?" only to realise you can barely remember it? Not because you failed but because you were completely immersed.

Dr Sue Jackson is one of the world's leading researchers on flow and co-authored the defining book on the subject alongside the man who first named it, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

Sue takes you inside one of the most sought-after and least understood states in human performance.

Why do some moments feel effortless while others feel like a grind? Why can pressure elevate performance one day and destroy it the next? And why do some of our best performances seem to happen when we stop trying so hard to force them?

Using examples ranging from Olympic athletes to Wallabies captain Harry Wilson's match-winning moment against England, Sue explores why some performances feel effortless, why pressure can either sharpen or derail us, and why trying harder isn't always the answer.

This is about attention, confidence, pressure, preparation and the hidden conditions behind extraordinary performance.

Because flow isn't something you find. It's something you allow.

00:00 Why your best performances can be the hardest to explain

02:14 The psychological state that fascinates elite performers

05:58 What athletes mean when they say "everything just clicked"

10:08 Flow vs clutch: two very different ways to perform under pressure

13:09 Harry Wilson's match-winning Wallabies moment, and what it reveals about performance

19:27 The letter that changed Sue Jackson's career

26:51 The hidden ingredients behind a flow state

28:00 The challenge-skill balance that can make or break performance

32:00 Why anxiety might be closer to flow than you think

39:03 The attention crisis nobody is talking about

42:18 Are we losing our ability to focus?

45:40 The coaching habit that can pull athletes out of the moment

48:53 Why flow feels energising instead of exhausting

50:32 Can you perform brilliantly without being in flow?

52:18 The mistake people make when they try to force flow

54:31 What extreme athletes understand about being fully present

57:19 The surprising connection between deliberate practice and effortless performance

59:00 How to experience more flow in everyday life

Dr Sue Jackson
Website: www.drsuejackson.com
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/drsuejackson
Instagram: @suejackson_flow
Facebook: drsuejacksonflow
View the 8 channel flow model: https://performanceintelligence.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/8-Channel-Flow-Model_Jackson-scaled.jpg

Books:
Flow in Sports (with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, 1999): drsuejackson.com/flow-in-sports-book
Experiencing Flow: Life Beyond Boredom and Anxiety (2024): drsuejackson.com/new-book-experiencing-flow

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