1: The answer: Yes.
It’s what scientists call “flow” or the flow state.
Flow is defined as “an optimal state of consciousness where we feel our best and perform our best,” Steven Kotler writes in his powerful book The Art of the Impossible.
“More specifically, the term refers to those moments of rapt attention and total absorption when we get so focused on the task at hand that everything … continue reading
1: Many people are naturally “Either/or.”
“Either extroverts or introverts, competitive or cooperative, smart or naïve,” Steven Kotler writes in The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer.
However, people with long-term careers requiring creativity are not built this way.
Creatives are often “Both/and.”
“Creative people show tendencies of thought and action that in most people are segregated,” psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi writes in his masterwork, creativity. “They contain … continue reading
1: Sir Ken Robinson had the opportunity to interview George Lucas.
“Hey, George,” he asked, “why do you keep remaking all those Star Wars movies?”
“In this particular universe,” George responded, “I’m God. And God isn’t satisfied,”
Sir Ken is one of the leading proponents for creativity. “His TED Talk on the subject remains the most watched of all time,” Steven Kotler writes in The Art of Impossible: A Peak … continue reading
1: “Every morning, the writer faces a blank page, the painter an empty canvas, the innovator a dozen directions to go at once,” Steven Kotler writes in The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer.
“There is something deeply exhausting about the year-in and year-out requirements of imagination,” he notes.
How do we overcome this daily challenge?
“The advice that has helped me solve this slog came from Nobel … continue reading
When we think about creativity, we typically think about a particular type: The day-to-day creativity that we use to solve the problem at hand.
But there is a second type of creativity, Steven Kotler writes in The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer.
“Ten years ago, I started investigating a critical but rarely discussed type of creativity,” he writes, “I got curious about what it took to sustain … continue reading
