To increase Flow - Challenge & Skill, 15Five recommends...

  • Set clear short-term goals

    Set clear short-term goals (e.g., through 15Five’s objectives feature).

  • Create skills-based learning goals

    Identify skill gaps and set skills-based learning goals (e.g., through 15Five’s self-development objectives feature).

  • Find the right amount of challenge

    Assess if goals are too challenging to avoid overwhelm. Assess if goals are not challenging enough to avoid boredom. Adjust goals accordingly.

Additional resources

Questions adapted with permission from Engeser, S., & Rheinberg, F. (2008). Flow, performance and moderators of challenge-skill balance. Motivation and Emotion, 32(3), 158-172.

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (2008)

Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1975). Beyond boredom and anxiety. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.


Rheinberg, F. (2008). Intrinsic motivation and flow-experience. In H. Heckhausen & J. Heckhausen (Eds.), Motivation and action (pp. 323–348). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.


Bigony, C. (2019). 15Five: Technology aligned to the science of thriving. (Unpublished master's thesis). University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.

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