1: We are chasing the impossible. Peak performance is our goal.
Step one: Align our intrinsic motivators: curiosity, passion, purpose, autonomy, and mastery.
Step two: Layer in our goals.
The final piece of the puzzle? Seven daily practices and six weekly practices. These are our non-negotiables.
“If we want to sustain peak performance long enough to accomplish the impossible—whatever that is for us—we’re going to need to weave these items info our schedule,” Steven Kotler writes in The Art of Impossible.
That said, Steven warns us not to get overwhelmed.
“This doesn’t have to happen all at once,” he notes.” Start by starting. Add in what we can right now, and as these practices begin to improve our performance, they’ll end up saving us time. Now that we have a little more free time, layer in a few more of these activities.”
2: SEVEN DAILY TASKS
Daily task #1: Ninety to one hundred twenty minutes of uninterrupted concentration on our most important task.
“The one that will produce the biggest victory,” Steven writes, “the one that, once completed, will leave us feeling like we won our day.”
Our goal is 100% focus. “Turn off everything that regularly breaks our focus,” Steven suggests, “messages, alerts, email, social media, cell phone ringers, the works.”
Inside this time block, whenever possible, we look for ways to apply one of our strengths in a new way.
Also, “be sure to push ourselves during that activity, so that we’re a little outside our comfort zone and always sitting inside the challenge-skills sweet spot.”
Why? Because over time, repeatedly pushing ourselves and our skills will build grit and the habit of ferocity.
Daily task #2: Five minutes for distraction management.
We dedicate this time at the end of each day to prep for tomorrow’s uninterrupted concentration time. Once again, we plan to eliminate anything that will break our focus.
Daily task #3: Five minutes to make a clear-goals list.
This task is also done at the end of a workday to prepare for the next day’s uninterrupted concentration period. We order tasks from most difficult to least difficult. We include everything on our list that we want to get done the following day, including things like workouts and active recovery periods.
Be sure to check items off the list as we complete them.
The one rule we must not violate? “If it goes on the list, we accomplish it during the day.”
The only exceptions? When the task we’re trying to do is “just too hard,” Steven notes. “Then chunk it down, accomplish what we can today, and bump the rest onto tomorrow’s list.”
Daily task #4: Five minutes for a daily gratitude practice.
Daily task #5: Twenty minutes for release and/or twenty minutes for mindfulness.
We can choose to go longer, but twenty minutes is the minimum time needed to start getting results.
We want to “preload” the release phase with a problem or challenge so our brains can problem-solve while we are taking our mental break.
Daily task #6: Twenty-five minutes of reading outside our core area of focus to load our pattern recognition system.
Daily task #7: Seven to eight hours of sleep each night.
3: SIX WEEKLY TASKS
Weekly task #1: Two to six hours, one or two times a week: highest-flow activity (skiing, dancing, singing, whatever).
“These are the activities that often get edited out of our lives as responsibilities pile up and schedules get crowded,” Steven observes.
“But the more flow we get, the more flow we get. It’s a focusing skill.”
When involved in this activity, we want to engage as many flow triggers as possible, including pushing the challenge-skills sweet spot, being creative, taking risks, and seeking novelty, complexity, and unpredictability.
We also want to be intentional about training grit and using our core strengths in new ways.
Weekly task #2: Sixty minutes of regular exercise three times a week.
Once again, we want to push ourselves into the challenge-skills sweet spot and train grit.
Weekly task #3: Twenty to forty minutes, three times a week: active recovery (sauna, massage, long mindfulness session, light yoga, and so on).
“Use a few of our active recovery periods—a.k.a. the sauna and bath—to also practice mindfulness and/or to load the pattern recognition system” by reading, Steven recommends.
Weekly task #4: Thirty to sixty minutes, once a week: train a weakness and/or train “being our best when at our worst” and/or practice taking risks.
Note: We can stack this practice into our exercise sessions.
Weekly task #5: Thirty to sixty minutes, once a week, to seek feedback on the work we’ve been doing during our 90- to 120-minute periods of uninterrupted concentration.
Weekly task #6: One hundred and twenty minutes weekly: Social support. We need to make time for other people, especially if we’re an introvert.
“Having loving, supportive people in our lives and being a loving, supportive person ourselves helps keep us calm and happy,” Steven notes.
We can use this time to train our Emotional Intelligence skills.
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That’s the secret to chasing the impossible, to sustained peak performance over long periods of time.
Steven’s observation?
“Pretty underwhelming, right? And that’s the real rub. None of these interventions are particularly sexy. There is no nifty piece of technology to play with or unusual substance to ingest. They’re just items on a checklist.”
What’s worse? “Progress is often invisible,” Steven observes.
And yet, these simple practices provide the pathway to the highest levels of achievement.
Peak performance is quite similar to compound interest: “A little bit today, a little bit tomorrow,” he suggests, “do this for weeks and months and years and the result won’t just be a life that exceeds your expectations, it’ll be one that exceeds your imagination.”
How so?
“What impossible challenges would we tackle if we knew we could be 500 percent more productive? If we could be 600 percent more creative? If we could cut learning times in half?” he asks.
Because that’s what these practices can achieve.
More tomorrow.
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Reflection: What will I do with this information?
Action: Decide to take action. Today.
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