“Many of the opportunities you have in your life are generated by the energy you create around you.” —Ken Robinson and Lou Aronica

1: It’s Tuesday.  Time to take on the day.

There is, however, a hidden enemy working against us.

“Every time we switch tasks,” Dan Martell writes in his book Buy Back Your Time, our “brains have to switch focus.”

The technical term for this is “context … continue reading

1: To perform at the highest level, we must tap into our intrinsic motivation, Steven Kotler writes in his book The Art of Impossible.

Intrinsic motivation refers to behaviors that are driven by internal rewards. We engage in activities because we find them exciting and internally satisfying. 

Steven identifies five intrinsic drivers: Curiosity, passion, purpose, autonomy, and mastery.

2: One of my goals for 2024 is to be intentional … continue reading

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 … continue reading

1: Our goal?    Peak performance.

In the final chapter of The Art of Impossible, Steven Kotler gives us “a meta-strategy for consistent peak performance.” 

There are steps to this process, and we must follow the steps in a specific order.

We begin by aligning our intrinsic drivers or motivators: curiosity, passion, purpose, autonomy, and mastery.  

Steven writes: “Because of the nature of intrinsic motivation, we have to start … continue reading

1: It was 1968, and the executives at NASA had a problem.   

“The space agency had a lot of smart people on staff, but smart and creative were different things,” Steven Kotler writes in his brilliant book The Art of Impossible.

“NASA’s lifeblood was innovation.    They desperately needed their most creative engineers working their most difficult challenges,” Steven notes.    ”  Yet telling the Picassos from the … continue reading

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.

For many years, my go-to recovery activity after a long day was television. Along with a cold beer or a glass of wine.

The only problem with this approach? 

It … continue reading

1: We’ve just had an intense “flow state” experience. 

We’ve been completely absorbed in the activity, losing our sense of time. Our actions and awareness have melded together, and we’ve felt a powerful sense of being in control. 

We’ve successfully traveled through the first three stages of the flow cycle: Struggle, release, and then flow.

How do we feel?

Likely, we’re wiped out. “Even the extra energy … continue reading

1: Psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi’s believed he discovered the “secret to happiness.”

He labeled it “the flow state.” It’s when we are completely absorbed in an activity. Also known as being “in the zone,” we lose our sense of time. Our actions and awareness become one in which we have a heightened sense of control. 

We enter the flow state through as part of a four-step process. So far this week, … continue reading

1: We come home from work tired.  We’ve struggled to solve a problem.  We decide to take a shower.  To wash away all our frustrations. 

Standing there, we feel the water beating against our bodies.  We relax.  Our mind wanders.

Boom.  An idea hits us like a flash of lightning. 

What just happened?  We’ve moved through three of the four stages of the flow cycle: from “struggle” to … continue reading

1: We’ve all experienced the joy of “being in the zone.” 

We’re entirely focused on the task at hand. We have a heightened sense of clarity and creativity. We’re focused, deliberate, intentional. Time slows down. There’s a sense of peace and a feeling of being in control. 

The psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi first coined the phrase “flow state” in 1975. Mihaly, known as the “father of flow,” defines it as “a … continue reading