1: Author Steven Kotler is a skier.  

“I started skiing when I was five years old and have never stopped,” Steven Kotler writes in The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer. “As a result, every time I head into the mountains, I am making a choice (autonomy) that is aligned with my passion and purpose.”

This week we’ve been exploring the importance of autonomy to drive peak performance. … continue reading

1: Imagine it’s 9:30 am on a Wednesday morning. We are sitting at our desk. We receive an email from a colleague: “The waves are good!”

We stop what we are doing. We close our laptop. We stand up. We go change into our surfing gear. And we run to the beach.

This happens regularly at the outdoor retailer Patagonia, where the corporate headquarters sits on the Pacific Ocean, and … continue reading

1: The year was 1977. Edward Deci and Richard Ryan were young psychologists at the University of Rochester. On the day they met, Edward had just become a clinical practitioner, and Richard was still a graduate student.

Both men “shared an interest in the science of motivation, which led to a long conversation, which led to a fifty-year collaboration that overturned most of the foundational ideas in that science of … continue reading

We’ve prepared for and held our annual planning session with our leadership team.  

We’ve articulated our long-term vision and agreed upon our HOT, our Huge, Outrageous Target.  

We’ve outlined our roadmap for the year ahead.

Now what?

Step one “is calling a company-wide meeting and sending an all-company recap video from the CEO,” Mark Moses and his co-authors write in Making Big Happen: Applying The Make Big Happen System … continue reading

Getting better at getting better is what RiseWithDrew is all about.

Monday through Thursday, we explore ideas from authors, thought leaders, and exemplary organizations. On Friday, I share something about myself or what we are working on at PCI.

This week we’ve been exploring my proven goal-setting process to make 2023 the best year of our lives.  

In his terrific book The Art of the Impossible, Steven Kotler identifies three … continue reading

Getting better at getting better is what RiseWithDrew is all about.

Monday through Thursday, we explore ideas from authors, thought leaders, and exemplary organizations. On Friday, I share something about myself or what we are working on at PCI.

This week we’ve looked at the importance of will in Ryan Holiday’s brilliant book The Obstacle is the Way. What is will? Ryan tells us will is our internal … continue reading

1: Yesterday, we discovered the mission statement for our lives.

Our Massively. Transformative. Purpose.

Now what?

High, hard goals.

“Big goals significantly outperform small goals, medium-sized goals, and vague goals,” says Psychologist Gary Latham, considered one of the godfathers of goal-setting theory along with Edwin Locke.  

High, hard goals are Gary and Edwin’s technical term for big goals. Which are the second type of goal Steven Kotler outlines in … continue reading

1: Yes, the research is clear: Goal-setting improves our performance.  

But there’s more to the story.

“Simple as the idea of goal setting might seem, there’s trouble in the particulars,” Steven Kotler writes in his brilliant book The Art of the Impossible. 

“What the research shows is that not every goal is the same, nor is every goal appropriate for every situation and—most important—the wrong goal in the wrong … continue reading

Getting better at getting better is what RiseWithDrew is all about.

Monday through Thursday, we explore ideas from authors, thought leaders, and exemplary organizations.  On Friday, I share something about myself or what we are working on at PCI.

1: This week we’ve been exploring Steven Kotler’s ideas around the importance of goal-setting to achieve high performance.  Steven quotes University of Toronto psychologist Gary Latham who says, “We found that if … continue reading

1: Lumberjacks.  

The researchers divided this ferociously independent group into teams. “Some teams were told to work smart and fast, but no pressure, do your best,” writes Steven Kotler in The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer.

“Others were given quotas. This much wood for a good week of work, this much wood for a great week,” he writes. “It’s important to note that there was zero financial … continue reading