I asked Gemini about "Flow State"

I’ve been taking a little break from writing and AI to regroup and finish up my yarn inventory (I will post photos soon) and also see what outstanding craft projects I want to work on. Mid-summer, with the crazy heat around here, we’ve recently been watching a lot of Netflix and YouTube, especially some of the tech and science videos. The other day, we watched a video interview with Steven Kotler:

He’s an expert on human performance and the Executive Director of the Flow Research Collective. In the video, he breaks down the actual neuroscience of “flow states” for the Big Think channel. I asked Gemini to summarize it (you can give an AI model the link to a video, and it will take it from there!) and find the connections to crochet and knitting. I mean, we all know how we enter a different world when we really get caught up in a craft project, and the hours slip by, but now it’s backed by science.

So, as Steven Kotler explained the science behind flow states, Gemini created the following summary of the key concepts in the video (with time stamps) and their relationship to creative pursuits like knitting and crochet:

What is Flow? Flow is an optimal state of consciousness where you feel your best and perform your best (0:08:49). It is characterized by total absorption in a task, where your sense of self-consciousness diminishes, time perception distorts, and your skills are matched perfectly to the challenge at hand (0:09:55).

How Knitting and Crochet Relate to Flow - Steven Kotler explicitly mentions that activities like knitting and gardening are classic “primary flow activities” for many people (0:32:35).

• The Challenge-Skills Balance: This is the “Golden Rule” of flow (0:19:00). For knitters and crocheters, this means finding a project that is just slightly outside your comfort zone—not so easy that it becomes boring, but not so difficult that it triggers anxiety (0:21:47).

• Focusing Skill: Flow is a focusing skill (0:31:50). The rhythmic, repetitive motion of needlework acts as a natural anchor for attention, helping to quiet the “inner critic” and reduce stress (0:09:55).

• Neurochemistry: Engaging in these crafts can trigger a release of neurochemicals like dopamine and serotonin, which contribute to a sense of euphoria and life satisfaction (0:18:17, 0:45:39).

Practical Takeaways for Your Craft:

1. Protect Your Time: Kotler suggests blocking out 90 to 120 minutes of uninterrupted time for your flow activities to fully immerse yourself (0:28:08).

2. Manage Distractions: Because the brain requires deep focus to enter a flow state, silencing notifications and setting up a dedicated space for your knitting or crochet can help you reach that “zone” faster (0:29:46).

3. The “Banister Effect”: Just like runners shattering the 4-minute mile record once they believed it was possible, you can improve your skill set by witnessing or visualizing yourself completing more complex patterns, which makes the “impossible” feel achievable (0:53:06).

As you can see, Gemini came back with a clean, organized brief. Flow defined, the “golden rule” of challenge and skill, a neurochemistry section, and three practical takeaways. It even correctly flagged that Mr. Kotler names knitting and gardening as classic examples of what he calls a “primary flow activity,” something people fall into almost automatically. That part isn’t AI flattery for a crochet newsletter. It’s a real, specific claim Mr. Kotler makes, and I checked.

But, before I build a post around any AI summary, I always have another AI model check the work of the first AI model. It’s one of the best ways to really be sure you’re not getting hallucinations and not putting in more time than if you did the background work yourself. I had Claude check the work, and here’s what held up, and what didn’t.

What Gemini got right

The core definition is accurate. Mr. Kotler does describe flow as an optimal state of consciousness, the one that lets you feel and perform your best at the same time. The challenge-skills balance is real, and “golden rule” is close to how he actually talks about it. The knitting and gardening examples check out too.

What it left out

Two things that Claude fixed: it’s the “Bannister effect,” two n’s, after Roger Bannister’s four-minute mile, and the popular “impossible until he broke it” version is more legend than history since only one other runner, John Landy, went under four minutes that same season. And Mr. Kotler’s flow chemical cocktail contains five neurochemicals (dopamine, norepinephrine, endorphins, anandamide, and serotonin), not just the two Gemini named. Claude remarked that it doesn’t change what to do with the information, “but if a claim is going to borrow the authority of neuroscience, it should get the neuroscience right.”

Also, Mr. Kotler’s own framework names three baseline conditions for flow, not one: Clear goals; immediate feedback; the challenge-skills balance. Gemini gave the third one and quietly dropped the first two, and those two happen to be the more interesting ones for us crocheters and knitters specifically.

👉 A pattern is a clear-goals machine. Row 14, single crochet, turn. You’re never sitting there wondering what you’re supposed to be doing next. Mr. Kotler’s point about clear goals is that they let your attention stop scanning for direction and just work. A written pattern does that before you even pick up the hook.

👉 Immediate feedback. Immediate feedback works the same way. Mr. Kotler defines it as knowing, in real time, whether what you’re doing is working. You don’t need an app for that. You see it in the stitches. A dropped stitch, a miscount, tension pulling too tight, it shows up in the row you just made, not three steps later. That feedback loop is built into the object itself. That might be the strongest argument for why fiber craft specifically is such a reliable flow trigger, and Gemini skipped right past it.

What to actually do with this information:

Both Gemini and Claude summarized Steven Kotler’s presentation with some key takeaways geared for crocheters and knitters specifically:

1. Protect 90 to 120 minutes when you can. That’s Mr. Kotler’s number, and it roughly matches how long it takes most people to drop into a flow state and stay there.

2. Turn off phones, kill notifications and distractions, and give yourself a dedicated spot to work in. Environmental triggers are able to distract in ways that willpower cannot overcome.

3. Pick a project one skill level above where you’re comfortable, not the easiest thing in the queue and not the hardest. That’s the challenge-skills ratio in action, and it’s also just good advice for choosing your next pattern.

4. Trust that your pattern and your row counter are already doing flow-trigger work that most hobbies have to build from scratch. Enjoying this leg up puts us ahead of the goal.

That last point is the one I keep coming back to. This whole Substack is basically that principle running in the background: hand the volume work to the faster, cheaper model, then make the expensive one check its math before it goes anywhere near you. Gemini wasn’t wrong about the video. It gave me the easy 80 percent and left the useful 20 percent on the table, and that’s exactly the kind of gap you only catch by asking a second model to argue with the first one.

But, remember too, Steven Kotler, Gemini, and Claude might be able to tell you all about the neuroscience behind the flow state, but your hands, and your row counter, already knew.

🧶

Next up

The knit gauge converter app is live on the Many Creative Gifts website! Now, I’m working on a version for crochet, but that’s turning out to be a bit more challenging. Also, the instructional booklet for creating the Airtable yarn inventory and pattern library is almost ready to send out to paid subscribers and for separate purchase on Gumroad.

In the meantime, please leave comments on what topics you’d like for me to cover in future posts.