flow

Imagine if your name was Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi? You'd be calling your credit card company: "Hi, this is Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi... that's C-S-I-K-S-Z... ah, fuggetaboutit!"

Well, despite (or, maybe, because?) of all the call center problems, Mihaly wrote quite a book: "Flow". The message is simple: in the modern, Western world, we've solved most of the day-to-day problems. When they wake up in the morning, most Americans don't have to worry about going hungry or being attacked by wild boars. Yet we as a nation are still not happy. So what gives? Well, Mihaly claims that once the problems of daily existence are solved, we need another challenge to make life worthwhile. His solution: find a pursuit that will make you forget everything else, at least for a few moments. It's this state of intense concentration on something rewarding that he calls "flow".

Anyhoo, good book, go read it.