Steven Kotler: Ultimate Performance

Michael Gervais (0:09)

All right, welcome back or welcome to the Finding Mastery podcast. I'm Michael Gervais. And the purpose of these conversations and podcasts is to sit down with people that are just flat out switched on. They are hungry and eager and deeply dedicated to understand the nuances of their craft. And in essence, they're people that are on the path of mastery. I want to take a minute here to announce a really exciting event that we have coming up. As you continue to navigate the challenges and opportunities of 2024, I want to pose a question. What are you doing right now to be great with stress? How are you working with stress on your pursuit towards your most important ambitions and goals? And I just want to get right to the heart of the key elements, one in particular, for what it takes to excel in today's high heat, high stakes world. Because stress is not the problem that we think it is. Stress is a synonym for change. And our ability to be agile with change, that is the real opportunity at hand. So if you're wanting to unlock extraordinary results and sustainable performance in your life, it's not about avoiding or reducing stress. And as simple as that sounds, it's very tricky to do. But it is about fundamentally changing your relationship with it. And that's why I'm so thrilled to invite you to a special event. It's a free virtual event that we're offering. And it's called The Power of Embracing Stress. It's on Wednesday, March 6th at 2 p.m. Pacific. So to sign up, just head over to findingmastery.com/training. Whether it's advancing in your career or improving your health or cultivating stronger relationships, I think a new approach to stress can be one of the most powerful unlocks for you in your life. So join us for this free virtual training, The Power of Embracing Stress, on Wednesday, March 6th at 2 p.m. Pacific. Go to findingmastery.com/training to sign up. Once again, that's findingmastery.com/training. And I'm really excited to see you there.

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And at first pass and first blush, when we were being introduced, I was excited to meet him because I was familiar with his writing and his work.

But I was also, you know, I was hesitant. And the hesitancy was, I was, it's not that I'm a loss of words here, but I'm wanting to capture my hesitancy accurately, is that people that are interested in flow state or the zone, and they tend to be authors and researchers and writers, it seems to always go into the seven steps or the secrets behind world leading performers.

And there are no secrets. And there are no seven steps, and there's no clear path of just one way to do this.

And right at the beginning of our conversation, when we met a number of years ago, I was so pleased with how curious he was about the details, the very, very deep details of the neurobiology, the thinking, the environmental facilitators and detractors from athletes getting into the most optimal state a human can be in. And that's essentially what flow state is. It's the most optimal state a human can be in, and it's highly elusive.