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

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: Author Steven Kotler wakes up every day at 4 am and starts writing.  

“Does this demand grit?” he asks in his book The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer.

“Occasionally,” he writes. “But mostly, grit takes care of itself because I have curiosity, passion, and purpose. When I wake up, I’m excited to see where the words will take me. Even on those crappy nights when I … continue reading