[Adam]

It seems that I enter into a flow state as easily as Steve. I'll start in on a project, then look up to realize that it is past midnight. When I'm really deep into the creative process, sometimes not even my cigarette cravings will wake me up.

For me, it really is just as easy as setting up the environment, picking a topic (or some functionality to add to a program), and starting it. I don't notice what triggers the lack of consciousness, because, well, I'm unconscious to all except what I'm creating. One moment, I'm happily typing away, and the next, I'm sitting back, smiling at myself, and I glance at the clock, which shocks me back to the present.

If anyone has been hypnotized before, that seems like the best way to explain it. The hypnotist guides your thoughts down a path, and you're free to explore that path within your own consciousness, but everything outside disappears. Just like hypnosis, if something goes against what you expect, then you can easily snap out of it, but sometimes waking up is very jarring, and you can do things during the transition that you aren't aware of, such as yell at whoever it was that distracted you.

I'm also easily hypnotized. Perhaps that has something to do with entering the creative flow state easily. Being easily hypnotized can be trained, just like any other skill, so why can't the flow state be trained as well?