How to Find Flow and Achieve Peak Performance (feat. Steven Kotler)
Have you ever dreamed of doing the impossible? When you’re always motivated to grow, push your boundaries and get outside your comfort zone?
My guest, Steven Kotler, says that doing the impossible is possible. After studying elite athletes, artists, CEOs, scientists, and more, Steven found that we can be consistently unstoppable even when faced with unexpected setbacks and adversity.
Steven will tell us what it really takes to maximize our potential and achieve peak performance.
Steven Kotler is a NYT bestselling author, an award-winning journalist, and one of the world’s leading experts on human performance. He is the author of ten bestsellers (out of fourteen books), including “The Art of Impossible.” His work has been nominated for two Pulitzer Prizes, translated into over 50 languages, and has appeared in over 100 publications, including the New York Times Magazine, Wall Street Journal, TIME, and the Harvard Business Review.
In this interview, Steven shares his expertise on flow state and how to enter and sustain it so that we can stretch ourselves and achieve impossible feats. He also talks about his new sci-fi thriller, “The Devil’s Dictionary,” and the inspiration behind its message about animal rights.
Interview time stamps:
00:55 ︳Steven shares what’s motivated him to achieve peak performance in his life and career
10:05 ︳What is flow state and are the signs of being in flow state
14:27 ︳Why the secret to high-performance lies not in our personality but in our biology (how to get our biology to work for us rather than against us)
14:27 ︳How to improve cognitive peak performance
16:44 ︳How to overcome resistance (tiredness, lack of motivation, unfavorable circumstances, aging) so that we can stretch ourselves and accomplish impossible feats
20:07 ︳Steven’s recommended tools for anxiety which blocks us from reaching flow state
21:19 ︳The keys to achieving peak performance if you didn’t grow up in a supportive environment
26:50 ︳Why leaning into life's challenges and getting comfortable with being uncomfortable is essential for flow (and how to use the five motivators to do this)
35:39 ︳Steven explains the inspiration behind his new book “The Devil's Dictionary “and the protagonist’s empathic powers
40:45 ︳Steven explains why he believes that empathy is at the core of how we relate to the environment and animals
Learn more about Steven Kotler and his books at his website.