Peak Performing Flow with Steven Kotler

Steven Kotler is a New York Times-bestselling author, an award-winning journalist and the founder and executive director of the Flow Research Collective. He is the author of thirteen books, including The Art of Impossible and The Future is Faster Than You Think. His work has been nominated for two Pulitzer Prizes, translated into over 40 languages, and has appeared in over 100 publications, including the New York Times Magazine, Wired, Wall Street Journal, TIME and the Harvard Business Review. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. BetterHelp offers you access to your own licensed professional therapist – all from the comfort of wherever you are. You can arrange weekly video chats or phone calls, text with your carefully curated counsellor, and do so at an affordable price. And anything you share is confidential. I’ve been using BetterHelp for a while and I am highly impressed. It’s been a huge help for me and I know it can be the same for you. Start living a happier life today with BetterHelp. As a listener, you’ll get 10% off your first month by visiting https://betterhelp.com/timecrafting (betterhelp.com/timecrafting). Give BetterHelp a try today.This episode is sponsored by Setapp, a large collection of 200+ powerful Mac apps, for almost any task, available by subscription. It’s the best way to discover new, quality apps so you can get all the tools you need to be productive. Plans start from $9.99 per month. With this flat monthly fee you get access to full-featured pro versions of apps, including Ulysses, MindNode and CleanMyMacX. Head over to https://setapp.com/?utm_source=sponsorship&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=productivityist (Setapp.com) for a one week free trial today. In this conversation, we explore his latest book, The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer. We talk about outcome versus process goals, what is the flow state and why it’s trainable, running towards yourself – and Steven being an old school punk rocker.  Talking Points Why you need to be more specific with your goals (11:34) Stepping away from ‘hacks’ (17:54) The habit of ferocity (20:33) Work schedules and autonomy (34:36) Gmail frustrations (44:58) Embrace your creativity in all situations (49:01) What is a flow state and its primary activities? (54:57) Quote "People can’t make work for you before you do your work first." Helpful Links https://www.amazon.com/Art-Impossible-Peak-Performance-Primer/dp/B087D7QC2Q/ (‘The Art of Impossible’ by Steven Kotler) https://www.amazon.com/Flow-Sports-optimal-experiences-performances/dp/0880118768/ (‘Flow in Sports’ by Susan Jackson and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi) https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11916302/ (Derek DelGaudio's In & Of Itself (2020)) https://profiles.stanford.edu/andrew-huberman (Andrew D. Huberman) https://frontapp.com/ (Front) https://www.amazon.com/The-Rise-of-Superman-audiobook/dp/B00I9IGP68/ (‘The Rise of Superman’ by Steven Kotler) https://www.flowresearchcollective.com/ (FlowResearchCollective.com) https://www.stevenkotler.com/ (StevenKotler.com) Want to discover some of the books mentioned on the podcast? https://www.scribd.com/g/9a8d8 (Check out Scribd, my reading app of choice.) Podcast Theme Song: https://www.epidemicsound.com/track/eFDGyraN87 (Nothing at All by Fictions (courtesy of Epidemic Sound)) If you enjoyed the episode, please leave a rating and/or review wherever you listened to the episode. And if you want to have easy access to the archives of the show and ensure you don't miss the new episodes to come then subscribe to the podcast in the app you're using – or you can do so on a variety of podcast platforms by clicking https://productivityist.captivate.fm/listen (here).