Ruminative thoughts induced by the COVID-19 pandemic have an adverse impact on individual well-being. However, little is known about how to alleviate such a negative effect – let alone how a person can flourish during crises. The current study uses the self-determination model of flow to propose that two proactive behaviors, strength use and playful design, are positively related to the flow experience, which, in turn, is positively related to daily flourishing. Moreover, we propose that the effects of proactive behaviors on flow are stronger when individuals ruminate more about COVID-19 pandemic. Using a day reconstruction method, we collected data from university students across five consecutive days (N-person = 135, N-day = 665, N-activity = 2985). Multilevel results showed that strengths use and playful design were positively related to flow experience. In turn, flow experience was positively related to daily flourishing. Moreover, we found that COVID-19 rumination moderated the associations between proactive behaviors and flow, such that strengths use and playful design were more effective to foster flow when individuals had a higher (vs. lower) level of rumination. The results imply that in order to function well and flourish during a crisis, individuals could make use of their strengths or playfully design the activities in their daily lives. In a broader sense, we provide concrete behavioral strategies to cope with the downsides of negative events.

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Playful work design refers to the process through which employees proactively create conditions within work activities that foster enjoyment and challenge without changing the design of the job itself. Using flow theory, we propose that employees experience more work-related flow (work enjoyment, work absorption, and intrinsic work motivation) on the days when they playfully design their work – with positive implications for creative performance on these days. In addition, based on trait activation theory, we hypothesize that flow proneness strengthens the relationship of playful work design with work-related flow. A daily diary approach was employed to test the hypotheses. In total, 149 participants completed both baseline and daily questionnaires across five consecutive working days (total N = 552). Alternative Uses Task was used to measure objective creativity at work. Multilevel analysis showed that playful work design was positively associated with work-related flow, and work-related flow was significantly related to creativity – on a daily basis. In addition, employees high (vs. low) in flow proneness reported more flow and creativity when playfully designing their work. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.@en

Positive psychology postulates that using one’s strengths can facilitate employee well-being and performance at work. However, whether strengths use is associated with attentional performance has remained unanswered in the literature. Attention plays a role in job performance, and previous literature has suggested a contrasting link between well-being (i.e., positive affect) and attentional performance. We hypothesize that, within work episodes, strength use is positively associated with eudaimonic (i.e., meaningfulness and personal growth) and hedonic well-being (i.e., positive affect). Further, we test the episodic process model by arguing that strengths use and well-being during one work episode are negatively related to subsequent attentional performance. In total, 115 participants registered for the current study, and 86 participants filled out the daily questionnaire once per day across five working days (a total of 365 daily reports). Multilevel analyses showed that episodic strengths use was not directly related to subsequent attentional performance. Episodic strengths use was positively related to a higher level of meaningfulness, personal growth, and positive affect. In turn, experienced meaningfulness was negatively related to subsequent attentional performance. However, personal growth and positive affect did not explain variance in attentional performance. These findings suggest that strength use may be accompanied with higher experienced meaningfulness, although the latter may be detrimental for subsequent attentional performance. Theoretical implications and contributions are discussed.@en