1: 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.

Sitting in traffic stinks.

The research backs up what we all know to be true: “Our study shows that the longer people spend commuting in cars, the worse their … continue reading

1: Remember the 1980s TV show MacGyver or the hilarious Saturday Night Live send-up of it?

The show’s central theme involved MacGyver’s creative ability to solve complex problems.

Turns out MacGyver’s creator Lee Zlotoff was also an excellent solver of problems himself. 

“To write episodic TV,” Lee explains, “I had to produce an enormous amount of creative material under very tight deadlines.  There was no time to get stuck.” 

Lee … continue reading

1: Author Steven Kotler starts his writing sessions each morning at 4 AM.

Why so early?

“‘Non-time’ is my term for it,” he writes in The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer: “That vast stretch of emptiness between 4:00 AM, when I start my morning writing session, and 7:30 AM, when the rest of the world wakes up. 

“This is non-time, a pitch blackness that belongs to no … continue reading

1: No matter our role or position, the ability to think creatively is a key driver of our success.

This week we are exploring strategies to boost our creativity as outlined by Steven Kotler in his powerful book The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer.

Yesterday, we looked at the impact our mood has on our creativity.  A good mood provides a necessary starting point.  A bad … continue reading

1: The answer is simpler than we think.

“When researchers talk about creativity,” Steven Kotler writes in The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer, “one of the most frequent topics of conversation is the phenomenon is known as insight.”

So what exactly is insight? 

“The experience of sudden comprehension,” he writes, “that aha moment when we get a joke, solve a puzzle, or resolve an ambiguous situation.”

The … continue reading

1: The rowing team from Great Britain had not won an Olympic gold medal since 1912. 

“By all measures, they didn’t have a good rowing program,” Dan Sullivan and Ben Hardy write in their book The Gap and The Gain: The High Achiever’s Guide to Happiness, Confidence, and Success.

Then everything changed. 

During the training for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, the members of the British rowing team began … continue reading

1: Author Steven Kotler has spent over thirty years as a journalist. 

One of the job requirements? Become a “semi-expert” on new topics. Fast.

This week we are doing a deep dive into learning. 

Over the years, Steven has developed “Five Not-So-Easy Steps” for learning almost anything. 

Yesterday, we looked at step one: Read five books.

“Once we’re done reading those five books, our notebooks should be filled with … continue reading

1: “When do I feel like I know enough about a subject to write about that subject for a major magazine or newspaper?” was the question author and journalist Steven Kotler was asked by a college student while riding a mountain biking chairlift in northern New Mexico.

In Steven’s case, he had worked for over a hundred different publications over the past thirty years. He’s covered “everything from hard science … continue reading

1: “Consistent peak performance requires constant learning,” Steven Kotler writes in The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer. 

Our goal? Learn how to learn faster. 

But how?

“Learning is an invisible skill,” Steven writes. “For the most part, we’re bad until we’re better.”

Of course, we can decide to learn something and then double down and demonstrate the grit and persistence to stay with it.

But how do … continue reading

1: The answer?

Self-coaching. Then, coaching others to coach themselves. Who coach others to coach themselves.  

I learned about self-coaching from my friend, mentor, and coach, Dr. Danny Friedland, who passed away 18 months ago after a year-long battle with brain cancer. He wrote a brilliant book Leading Well from Within.

So far this week, we’ve examined the power of: (1) asking questions and (2) starting with purpose… continue reading