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 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: Nearly a quarter of American adults (23%) haven’t read a book in whole or in part in the past year, whether in print, electronic or audio form, a Pew Research Center found.

“According to the National Endowment for the Arts, most adults spend an average of seven minutes a day reading for pleasure,” Steven Kotler writes in The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer.

This is bad … 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: If we are hunting high achievement (and we are), “motivation is what gets you into the game, but learning is what keeps you there,” Steven Kotler writes in The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer.

Steven cites psychologist Gary Klein’s classic book on decision-making, Sources of Power, which identifies eight specific types of knowledge “that are visible to experts yet invisible to everyone else.”

1: “My best friend, Michael Wharton, ran track in high school,” Steven Kotler writes in The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer. 

Michael’s coach had unusual protocols.  “When they went out for long runs, whenever they encountered a hill, the team had to shift their focus entirely to core running skills: long strides, strong arms, high kicks.  Note the focus wasn’t on speed or acceleration, it was on … continue reading

1: The default mode for peak performers is not recovery, rest, and relaxation. 

“If momentum matters most, sitting still feels like laziness,” Steven Kotler writes in The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer.  “And the more aligned with passion and purpose we become, the more ‘wasteful’ time off starts to feel.”

Yet, we need to prioritize recovery to avoid burnout.

“Burnout is identified by three symptoms: exhaustion, depression, … continue reading

1: The answer, according to one of the world’s leading experts on human performance?

Learning to be at our best when we are at our worst.

“And you have to train this kind of grit on its own, as a separate skill, But if we can do this, what we discover is real power. There’s real power there—and it’s power we probably didn’t know we had.” Steven Kotler writes in … continue reading