Flow state can increase productivity by up to 1000% compared to competitors.
Flow state is not limited to top athletes or big corporations; it is a psychological state accessible to everyone.
Flow state enhances motivation, learning, and creativity, leading to significant improvements in performance and productivity.
Deep dives
Flow state and productivity
The podcast episode discusses the concept of flow state and its impact on productivity. Flow state refers to a state of optimal consciousness where individuals feel their best and perform their best. The speaker explains that during flow state, individuals are completely involved in an activity for its own sake, experiencing a sense of unity, meaningfulness, and control. The podcast emphasizes the importance of flow state for productivity, highlighting that individuals in flow state can be a thousand percent more productive than others. The speaker also mentions that Forbes identified flow state as a key management metric, and many successful companies have incorporated flow into their corporate methodologies.
Flow state for everyone
The podcast episode emphasizes that flow state is not exclusive to top athletes or big corporations. Rather, it is a psychological state that all individuals can experience. The speaker encourages leaders, knowledge workers, and entrepreneurs to explore flow state as a means to enhance their professional success while reclaiming time, space, and freedom within their personal lives. The episode introduces Zero to Dangerous, a performance training program designed to help individuals achieve flow state and join a global community of peak performers.
Flow state and the neuroscience behind it
The podcast episode delves into the neuroscience of flow state and its effects on the brain. It discusses brain waves and explains that flow typically occurs on the border between alpha and theta brain waves. This state is characterized by being calm, relaxed, but also deeply focused and engaged. The episode highlights that flow state involves a transient hypo-frontality, where the prefrontal cortex, associated with self-reflection and time perception, becomes less active, leading to a loss of sense of self and altered perception of time. Additionally, the episode mentions that flow state creates the perfect conditions for creativity and insight, with gamma brain waves being coupled with the alpha-theta state. This connection between flow state and insight explains why flow is linked to major breakthroughs in various fields.
The Story of Danny Way: Pushing the Limits and Finding Flow
This segment explores the incredible story of skateboarder Danny Way, who pushed the boundaries of what was possible in skateboarding. Way created the mega ramp, a massive structure that challenged even the most experienced skaters. Despite facing fear and physical injuries, Way accomplished incredible feats, including jumping over the Great Wall of China. His perseverance and ability to enter a flow state, where everything becomes silent and time slows down, allowed him to achieve extraordinary feats.
The Power of Flow for Motivation, Learning, and Creativity
The podcast discusses the concept of flow and its impact on motivation, learning, and creativity. Flow is described as a state of optimal performance and a source of intrinsic motivation. The engagement in flow produces a cocktail of neural chemicals, such as endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin, which amplify physical and cognitive abilities. In flow, individuals experience heightened motivation, learning abilities, and creativity, showing remarkable improvements across a range of tasks. Flow has been found to enhance performance by up to 500% in top executives, make learning significantly faster, and spike creativity by 400-700% above normal levels.
TODAY´S EPISODE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE FLOW RESEARCH COLLECTIVE
Are you an entrepreneur, a leader, or a knowledge worker, who wants to harness the power of flow so you can get more done in less time with greater ease and accomplish your boldest professional goals faster? If you´ve answered this question with “hell yes” then our peak-performance training Zero to Dangerous may be a good fit for you. If this sounds of interest to you all you need to do is go to getmoreflow.com right now, pop in your application and one of our team members will be in touch with you very soon.
---
“Two days a week in flow you are 1000% more productive than the competition.
It’s for these reasons that Forbes once pointed out that the #1 management metric people need to know, flow state percentage. Which is the amount of time people spend in flow.
“The most important thing though is it’s not just top athletes or big corporations or experts, it’s all of us.” ~ Steven Kotler
ABOUT THE GUEST:
STEVEN KOTLER is a New York Times bestselling author, award-winning journalist, and Founder and Executive Director of the Flow Research Collective. He is one of the world’s leading experts on human performance.
His books include The Art of Impossible, Stealing Fire, and The Rise of Superman. His work has been translated into over 40 languages and appeared in over 100 publications, including the New York Times Magazine, Wall Street Journal, TIME, Wired, Atlantic Monthly, The Harvard Business Review and Forbes.
---
If you order Steven's new book, The Art of Impossible, right now, you’ll get $1,500 of free bonuses immediately dropped into your inbox. They include secret chapters he has never released, masterclasses on key skills to help you jack up motivation, heighten creativity, and accelerate learning. You’ll also get an entirely free training to help you fight distraction and spend more time in flow. So click the link here, snag yourself a copy of The Art of Impossible, and let’s get after it. 👉 https://www.theartofimpossible.com/
Get the Snipd podcast app
Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
AI-powered podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode
Save any moment
Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways
Share & Export
Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more
AI-powered podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode