Dr Sue Jackson

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Dr Sue Jackson

Sue is an experienced psychologist and expert in flow and high performance.

Sue Jackson is a sport and exercise psychologist with a passion for Flow: the optimal psychological state popularly known as being in the zone. Sue has a background of researching the flow concept for over 25 years, and the combination of her research and her applied work has helped to make the flow state both understandable and accessible to all levels of performers, from weekend warriors to Olympic champions. You can find links to her first book on flow, Flow in Sports, plus to her recently released book, Experiencing Flow: Life Beyond Boredom and Anxiety, and to the self-report scales she has developed to assess flow, at www.drsuejackson.com

If you want to develop your ability to be totally present in what you are doing, contact Sue regarding her mindfulness workshops, performance psychology consulting, and mindfulness-meditation classes, all tailored to meet your individual or corporate goals.

If you want to develop your ability to be totally present in what you are doing, contact Sue regarding her mindfulness workshops, performance psychology consulting, and mindfulness-meditation classes, all tailored to meet your individual or corporate goals.

11/03/2026

In the late 1980s, I was a grad student who had just discovered the work of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi — the psychologist who first identified and named the flow state.

What happened next shaped the entire direction of my research. ➡️

09/03/2026

What do Olympic athletes teach us about peak performance? 🏂

Preparation builds trust.
Trust enables focus.
Joy sustains excellence.

Research on flow shows that when skill, challenge, and intrinsic motivation align, extraordinary performance becomes possible. The Winter Olympics offer a powerful reminder that excellence is not driven by pressure alone.

Often, it emerges when performers are fully immersed in the activity itself.

🔗What do Olympic athletes teach us about peak performance? 🏂

Preparation builds trust.
Trust enables focus.
Joy sustains excellence.

Research on flow shows that when skill, challenge, and intrinsic motivation align, extraordinary performance becomes possible. The Winter Olympics offer a powerful reminder that excellence is not driven by pressure alone.

Often, it emerges when performers are fully immersed in the activity itself.

🔗 https://drsuejackson.com/preparation-trust-and-joy-what-the-milan-cortina-winter-olympics-revealed-about-flow-and-high-performance/

07/03/2026

Ever seen a team perform so in sync it looks effortless, almost automatic?

That’s not just teamwork – it may be team flow.

Movements sync up. Decisions happen instantly.

In my research with elite athletes, some described moments where flow wasn’t just individual, but also shared with a partner or team. They valued it even more because of the deep synchronicity involved. Recent investigations have been exploring this phenomenon more directly. Jef van den Hout has been examining how “team flow” may emerge in work teams when performance is grounded in a collective ambition.

With the Formula 1 season restarting this weekend in Melbourne, it’s a great place to watch for both.

🏎️ Individual flow behind the wheel.
🔧 And extraordinary team coordination in the pit lane.

That’s team flow in action.

Sources
Jackson, S. A. (1995). Journal of Applied Sport Psychology
van den Hout, J. et al. (2026.) Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries

04/03/2026

Between stimulus and response, awareness changes everything. When we bring awareness to the present moment, we let go of unhelpful thoughts and feelings. Flow is possible only when are fully in the present moment.

📘 Learn more about being open to our present moment experience in my book, Experiencing Flow

02/03/2026

In a 1997 interview for the documentary, Inspirations, the great musician and visionary artist, David Bowie, described the creative process as going “a little bit out of your depth” — far enough that you feel your feet aren’t quite touching the ground.

From a performance psychology perspective, that image is remarkably accurate.

Flow does not emerge in complete safety or rigid control.
Nor does it emerge in chaos.

It occurs when challenge stretches skill — when you are extended, but not overwhelmed.

That feeling of a bit of uncertainty or nervousness is often the signal that you are working near your edge. With the right preparation and capability, that edge is not a threat. It is an opportunity.

The question is not whether you feel uncertain.
The question is whether your skills are ready to meet the challenge.

27/02/2026

One Winter Olympic athlete has drawn a lot of media attention — and deservedly so. Alysa Liu's performances, and presence, at these Olympics have created positive change.

Much of the commentary on Alysa Liu has focused on mindset, and how Alysa handles pressure.

From a flow perspective, something else stands out.

When she said, “That was so much fun,” she was describing a state of optimal experience.

In my early research with elite figure skaters, enjoyment consistently ranked highest in peak performances (Jackson, 1992).

Sustainable excellence is not driven only by how well a performer manages pressure. It is driven by engagement; by the love of the journey and the performance itself.

25/02/2026

What does total focus actually look like?

Australian snowboarder Josie Baff described her mindset at the start gate before her gold medal run at the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics:

"I look straight down the course, blocking out anything in my periphery. Just focusing on me and my breath, trusting in the work I've already done."

Preparation creates trust. Trust enables focus. When the work runs deep enough, the mind can quieten.

Josie said after the race: "I would like to say I can't believe it, but I kind of can. I put in a lot of hard work, so I knew I could do it."

That's not arrogance. That's earned confidence.

Flow isn't luck. It's what can happen when preparation is deep enough that you can be fully present.

📹: Age of Sports (YouTube)
📹: (Instagram)

20/02/2026

The more we recognise what enables flow, the more accessible it becomes.

Awareness turns moments into opportunities.

📖 Learn about the conditions to flow in my book, Experiencing Flow.

15/02/2026

In flow research, we talk about the challenge-skill balance. When the challenge is high, skill matches it, and there's deep trust in the process that brought you there — flow becomes possible.

Another key element? Intrinsic motivation. Not performing to prove something, but genuinely wanting to be there — even when it's hard.

Watching Alex Honnold free solo Taipei 101 on January 25 brought both of these to life. The challenge was extraordinary. So were his skills and his visible enjoyment of the climb.

My colleague Hazel Findlay , who I interviewed for Experiencing Flow, describes it this way:

"The challenge, and how I respond to it, is the biggest determining factor in whether I access flow."

Flow doesn't come from comfort. It comes from how we meet the challenge.

13/02/2026

Openness to challenge builds capability, and capability sets the stage for flow. Growth is an active, ongoing process.

📖 Read about examples of being open to challenging situations in my book, Experiencing Flow.

10/02/2026

Flow gets talked about a lot. Often as something mystical, rare, or random. In reality, it’s much more precise than that.

In this conversation, we touch on three ideas I come back to often in my work
- Why anxiety doesn’t need to disappear
- Why the moment you start evaluating flow, you’ve usually stepped out of it
- And why flow doesn’t have to be random, but something that emerges when the right conditions are in place.

This is a short selection from my first conversation on the Vrss-Fightgear podcast.

The full episode is available on Spotify, YouTube, and Apple Podcasts.

02/02/2026

Flow is enjoyable because something drops away.

When you are in flow, your attention is fully on the task. And when that happens, the running self-commentary fades. The checking. The doubting. The quiet questioning of whether you are doing it right or doing it well enough.

Self-consciousness steps aside.

Watch the full episode on the Supporting Champions podcast channels 🎧

Address

Brisbane, QLD

Website

http://www.drsuejackson.com/

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