The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer

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Our servers are getting hit pretty hard right now. To continue shopping, enter the characters as they are shown Think of evolution as a video game with two main levels. To win on level one, a player must obtain more resources—food, water, shelter, mates, and so on—than the other players in the game. On level two, the player must turn those resources into children and help those children survive, either by having so many that there’s no way predators can eat them all (which is what fish do), or by keeping those children safe and teaching them how to obtain resources for themselves (which is the human method). All these changes seem to have a profound impact on our long-term health, as having a “purpose-in-life” (the technical term) has been shown to lower incidences of stroke, dementia, and cardiovascular disease.16 Additionally, from a performance standpoint, purpose boosts motivation, productivity, resilience, and focus.17 Norepinephrine is similar but different. It’s the brain’s version of adrenaline, sometimes called noradrenaline. This neurochemical produces a huge increase in energy and alertness, stimulating both hyperactivity and hypervigilance. When you’re obsessed with an idea, can’t stop working on a project, or can’t stop thinking about the person you just met, norepinephrine is responsible. Bestselling author and peak performance expert Steven Kotler decodes the secrets of those elite performers-athletes, artists, scientists, CEOs and more-who have changed our definition of the possible, teaching us how we too can stretch far beyond our capabilities, making impossible dreams much more attainable for all of us.

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Join getAbstract to access the summary! Steven Kotler The Art of Impossible A Peak Performance Primer For beginners – You’ll find this to be a good primer if you’re a learner with little or no prior experience/knowledge. Neuroanatomy describes specific brain structures: the insula or the medial prefrontal cortex. But, in the brain, structures are designed to perform specific functions. The medial prefrontal cortex, for example, aids in decision-making and the retrieval of long-term memories.7 So, if a particular “do more” message arrives in the medial prefrontal cortex, the result is more, or sometimes more finely tuned, decision-making and long-term memory retrieval.Bestselling author and peak performance expert Steven Kotler decodes the secrets of those elite performers—athletes, artists, scientists, CEOs and more—who have changed our definition of the possible, teaching us how we too can stretch far beyond our capabilities, making impossible dreams much more attainable for all of us.

The Art of Impossible | Steven Kotler | download on Z-Library The Art of Impossible | Steven Kotler | download on Z-Library

When the brain wants to motivate us, it sends out a neurochemical message via one of seven specific networks.9 These networks are ancient devices, found in all mammals, that correspond to the behavior they’re designed to produce. There is a system for fear, another for anger/rage, and a third for grief or what’s technically known as “separation distress.” The lust system drives us to procreate; the care/nurture system urges us to protect and educate our young. Yet, when we talk about drive—the psychological energy that pushes us forward—we’re really talking about the two final systems: play/social engagement and seeking/desire. Pushing the limits of impossible is the highest and the most meaningful goal to whichyou can aspire. In 1977, when Edward Deci and Richard Ryan were both young psychologists at the University of Rochester, they bumped into each other on campus.1 Deci had just become a clinical practitioner, and Ryan was still a grad student. They shared an interest in the science of motivation, which led to a long conversation, which led to a fifty-year collaboration that overturned most of the foundational ideas in that science of motivation. Now that you’ve identified the spots where curiosities overlap, play in those intersections for a little while. Devote twenty to thirty minutes a day to listening to podcasts, watching videos, reading articles, books, whatever, on any aspect of that overlap. If you’re interested in supply-chain management in the health care industry and you’re also curious about artificial intelligence, then it’s time to explore the advantages and disadvantages that artificial intelligence brings to supply-chain management in the health care industry. Start by writing down twenty-five things you’re curious about. And by curious, all I mean is that if you had a spare weekend, you’d be interested in reading a couple of books on the topic, attending a few lectures, and maybe having a conversation or two with an expert.The seeking/desire system is the second system that plays an important role in drive. Sometimes called the “reward system,” this is a general-purpose network that helps animals acquire the resources they need for survival. “In pure form, [the seeking system] provokes intense and enthusiastic exploration and . . . anticipatory excitement [and] learning,” writes Jaak Panksepp, the neuroscientist who discovered these seven systems.15 “When fully aroused, the seeking system fills the mind with interest and motivates organisms to effortlessly search for the things they need”—italics mine.

The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer eBook The Art of Impossible: A Peak Performance Primer eBook

Oxytocin produces trust, love, and friendship.12 It’s the “pro-social” neurochemical that underpins everything from loving, long-term marital bliss to cooperative, well-functioning companies. We feel its presence as joy and love. It promotes trust, underpins fidelity and empathy, and heightens cooperation and communication.When we play with information we’re curious about, we’re not forcing the brain to make new discoveries. There’s no pressure, which is helpful, since too much stress lessens our ability to learn.9 Instead, we’re seeing what connections our brains naturally make, via the incubation phase, then allowing our biology to do the hard work for us. We’re letting our pattern recognition system find connections between curiosities that make us even more curious—which is how you cultivate passion. Guilford also realized that divergent thinking wasn't entirely free wheeling: It had four core characteristics. Fluency, the ability to produce a great number of ideas in a short time-frame; flexibility, the ability to approach a problem from multiple angles; originality, the ability to produce novel ideas; elaboration, the ability to organize those ideas and execute on them.” What does it take to accomplish the impossible? What does it take to shatter our limitations, exceed our expectations, and turn our biggest dreams into our most recent achievements? We are capable of so much more than we know—that’s the message at the core of The Art of Impossible. Building upon cutting-edge neuroscience and over twenty years of research, bestselling author, peak performance expert and Executive Director of the Flow Research Collective, Steven Kotler lays out a blueprint for extreme performance improvement. Serotonin is a calming, peaceful chemical that provides a gentle lift in mood.13 It’s that satiated feeling that comes after a good meal or a great orgasm, and it’s partially responsible for that post-meal/post-coital urge to take a nap. It also appears to play a role in satisfaction and contentment, that feeling of a job well done.