Flow – Transforming You from Ordinary to Extraordinary

We may think that top performers or successful individuals such as Elon Musk and Naomi Osaka have innate natural talents that we are simply born without. But what if the truth was simply that they have found the right way to get their biological abilities to start working for them, instead of against them?

Introducing Flow, which is defined as “an optimal state of consciousness where we feel our best and perform our best” according to Steven Kotler, New York Times Best Selling Author and author of "The Art of the Impossible"; my favourite book of this year. Often, we may think such a state of consciousness is difficult to obtain or to get to. However, Steven explains that flow is a biological state of consciousness, and it is much easier to gain access to than most people think it is. There are four skills that will help you to achieve flow, namely motivation skills, learning skills, creativity skills and flow skills. A good way to view these skills and develop them in the right order is by remembering this quote by Steven, “Motivation gets you into the game, Learning lets you play, Creativity helps you steer, and Flow amplifies everything.”

Motivation skills – which is a broad term that can be divided into two categories, internal or external motivation. Internal motivation is derived from your passion or your curiosity while external motivation is derived from factors such as fame, money, or success. What is interesting about this is that often we think we are hindered by challenging situations in our lives, such as having a traumatic childhood, toxic relationships within our families and so on. But the truth is we can actually use our hurtful past as what Steven coins “double motivation”. Every top performer Steven has ever met, including Elon Musk, is running from something in the past, while also running towards their goals of the future. Elon, for instance, is running from an abusive childhood. We might think that we lucked out by having traumatic experiences in our formative years, yet that could not be further from the truth. The truth, Steven says, is that everyone who had difficulty in their teenage years spent less time struggling later on – while those who got on just fine had difficulty transitioning. 

Very few people actually start out extraordinary – people actually work overtime to become extraordinary. While it is true that some people have brains that are wired for success, 90% of successful individuals are ordinary people who have worked for their success. The secret? We don’t push ourselves enough, or at least, not till the limits of our abilities. We tend to think success stories like Jeff Bezos are impossible for us to obtain, hence we ourselves hold ourselves BACK from even trying. “You can only figure out what you’re capable of by stretching your skills and pushing yourself to the edge of your ability,” Steven says. “No matter how limited you think the world is, you actually don’t know till you try.” 

The view we have on passion is that it is something we naturally find within ourselves. But passion is actually not something you discover, Steven says, but something that you cultivate little by little. It is also something that can be earned. You may worry that you are choosing to develop your passion in the wrong place, or find out that what you thought was your passion was actually just a phase and that you wasted all this time. With the pandemic situation, we tend to second guess our every move, making us uncertain and thus the fear of making the wrong choice keeps us stagnant. However, the key point of achieving peak performance with flow is that it is better to move forward in the wrong direction rather than stay stagnant. 

So how can we find flow to amplify everything – our motivation, our learning, our creativity? 

Steven suggests that we start the day by making a ‘clear goals’ list. The list should include every single task – from meetings to breaks, and be ordered from most difficult but most rewarding to least difficult. Then spend at least 90 uninterrupted minutes on that task – which means no devices, no calls from colleagues, nothing. At the end of the day, check off all your completed items and give yourself the feeling of victory – this will motivate you for the next day, allowing you to celebrate and relax. You’ve earned it! 

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There are so many golden nuggets from The Art of Impossible

I highly suggest you read it - apply it - and share it with others. Share what you think with me