Today it’s great to chat with Steven Kotler on the podcast. Steven is a New York Times bestselling author, an award-winning journalist, and the Executive Director of the Flow Research Collective. He is one of the world’s leading experts on human performance. He is the author of nine bestsellers (out of thirteen books total), including The Art of Impossible, The Future Is Faster Than You Think, Stealing Fire, The Rise of Superman, Bold and Abundance. His work has been nominated for two Pulitzer Prizes, translated into over 40 languages, and appeared in over 100 publications, including the New York Times Magazine, Wired, Atlantic Monthly, TIME and the Harvard Business Review. Steven is also the cohost of Flow Research Collective Radio. Along with his wife, author Joy Nicholson, he is the cofounder of the Rancho de Chihuahua, a hospice and special needs dog sanctuary.
Topics
[4:04] Understanding human potential
[9:58] Why not going big is bad for us
[11:22] Insights into the flow state
[15:06] “Biology scales, personality doesn’t”
[18:44] The importance of confidence and grit
[19:05] Physical vs. psychological recovery
[20:51] Conscious vs. unconscious self-esteem
[22:49] The difference between impossible and Impossible
[25:21] How to get to Impossible
[27:39] Reflections on failure
[31:14] Steven’s thoughts on bravery
[32:51] Fear as a compass
[33:44] Exercising clarity of vision
[34:37] Confronting physical barriers to performance
[36:57] Steven’s dimensions of grit
[40:51] How practice makes confident
[43:31] How the “courage to be” may be a form of grit
[44:54] Steven’s thoughts on passion
[49:34] The role of purpose in peak performance
[53:16] How to be a high performer
[55:09] The “habit of ferocity”