[pearkes]

In my personal experience, and from watching others, the lock-in and absorption in your work comes with a succession of tasks and exertion, towards a meditation of sorts. You don't simply "fall in" to this state, but rather makes a concerted effort in reaching it.

> is it something you must be born with?

A motivation to reach this state, to keep trying and pursuing it, may be a fact of your nature. Or, it is an understanding of what your work will create. Fame, money, fulfillment – extrinsic motivators that drive you towards a definitive conclusion.

To meditate in your work might just require you to find your motivator.

[jmatthews]

To paraphrase the Bhagavad_Gita "you are not guaranteed the fruits of your labor, but you are guaranteed your labor."

For me flow is achieved most effortlessly when the problem is interesting and I have the tools necessary to attack it.

Extrinsic motivation is simply a non - factor in this case. To the degree that it may or may not exist and is immaterial to the labor at hand.

On the purpose of a tight feedback loop. The magic of the repl is a perfect implementation of a flow like feedback loop. Unfortunately my language of choice doesn't utilize it.