Subtitled: A peak performance primer
This book was recommended to me and I’m so glad it was! I normally would’ve been intimidated by the title, especially the ‘impossible’ and “performance” parts. But the person who recommended it mentioned how well it would fit in with my approach – that internal factors are the key to our career and work satisfaction – so I knew I had to dig in!
I love how the author, Steven Kotler, jumps right in to define “impossible.” which is that it’s relative to each of us. It doesn’t necessarily mean achieving ground-breaking, innovative, record-setting goals. He’s essentially encouraging each of us to find our own growth zones instead of our comfort zones, to aim for what we think isn’t possible for us, as individuals. This take on it helped me feel like the impossible is actually achievable!
He uses examples of people who’ve accomplished impossible feats, analyzes these accomplishments with a ton of science and research, which gets framed up nicely into a formula for us to use. Achieving our impossible means incorporating four main elements: motivation + learning + creativity + flow.
And by the way, the flow state is the author’s main field of work as head of the Flow Research Collective.
He divides the book into sections for each of the four elements:
- motivation
- learning
- creativity
- flow
And each section is absolutely chock full of very useful nuggets, bringing what could be some vague concepts down into some concrete actionable skills.
For instance, he breaks down motivation into three skills: drive, grit and goals. Then for “drive” he cautions us against thinking it is about persistence – and that we consider leaning into our curiosity as a driver. Our natural tendencies to explore a topic or a skill can take us much farther than persistence – because it’s a natural drive – we don’t have to force it. Why not use our natural energy and go where it takes us?
Certainly there’s a lot more to achieving our own peak performance than simply following our curiosity and he gives us a solid methodology as the sections unfold.
He also gives us some gut checks along the way. Here are a few passages I found especially notable:
More meaningful does not typically mean more pleasant.
Which reminds me that in my quest to do more meaningful work, to have a meaningful impact, there will be uncomfortable moments along the way.
Passion doesn’t make us gritty. Passion makes us able to tolerate all the negative emotions produced by grit.
Which reminds us that when we believe in the work, the project, the cause, the rough moments are easier to ride out.
Flow is our reward for perseverance.
These are just a few of the ones I highlighted. There are so many other nuggets which resonated with me at this phase of my work. And I imagine when I read it again – maybe in six months or so – other nuggets will be waiting for me to discover.
Have you read this book or any other ones by Steven Kotler? If so, let me know what your top takeaways are!
