Stephen Collar

Can we learn from this? What is this? And The 90s was really cool because not only did the neuroscience start getting laid down, but flow in the beginning when we started in the 60s, it was just like, how do we define it? Oh, we define it as an optimal state of consciousness where we feel our best and we perform our best. Then it expanded from that.

Can we learn from this? What is this? And The 90s was really cool because not only did the neuroscience start getting laid down, but flow in the beginning when we started in the 60s, it was just like, how do we define it? Oh, we define it as an optimal state of consciousness where we feel our best and we perform our best. Then it expanded from that.

Oh, flow refers to any of those moments of rapt attention and total absorption. It's so focused on what you're doing. Everything else just starts to melt away and disappear automatically. Sense of self goes away. Time passes strangely. You know, the common experience is you just get so sucked into what you're doing, right? Five hours go by. It feels like five seconds.

Oh, flow refers to any of those moments of rapt attention and total absorption. It's so focused on what you're doing. Everything else just starts to melt away and disappear automatically. Sense of self goes away. Time passes strangely. You know, the common experience is you just get so sucked into what you're doing, right? Five hours go by. It feels like five seconds.

And all aspects of performance, physical, mental, and emotional go through the roof. Now, back in the early days, all the work had been done on athletes. So we sort of knew, okay, fast twitch muscle response increases in flow, strength increases in flow, stamina increases in flow. We didn't know how those things worked or why those things happened. We just knew that they were happening.

And all aspects of performance, physical, mental, and emotional go through the roof. Now, back in the early days, all the work had been done on athletes. So we sort of knew, okay, fast twitch muscle response increases in flow, strength increases in flow, stamina increases in flow. We didn't know how those things worked or why those things happened. We just knew that they were happening.

And then Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and myself also, both of us, not only were we interested in sports, we were also creatives. I was a writer, he was a writer, and a lot of our friends were artists or whatever. And we started to realize, oh, artists, we were doing this in our art too. It's getting into these low-grade flow states while I was writing.

And then Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and myself also, both of us, not only were we interested in sports, we were also creatives. I was a writer, he was a writer, and a lot of our friends were artists or whatever. And we started to realize, oh, artists, we were doing this in our art too. It's getting into these low-grade flow states while I was writing.

And when I was in like a low-grade flow state, as you just pointed out, productivity goes through. If the number you gave that 500% above baseline, McKinsey, the business consultancy, they went around the globe. They talked to leaders, like CEOs of major companies for 10 years. And they said, how much more productive are you in

And when I was in like a low-grade flow state, as you just pointed out, productivity goes through. If the number you gave that 500% above baseline, McKinsey, the business consultancy, they went around the globe. They talked to leaders, like CEOs of major companies for 10 years. And they said, how much more productive are you in

You always got to take it with a grain of salt because it's like a self-reported thing, right? They were asking questions. We've studied it at more length and gotten better numbers, but it's still pretty accurate. The average was 500% more productive. You got to put that in context. That means you go to work on Monday. It's been Monday in a flow state.

You always got to take it with a grain of salt because it's like a self-reported thing, right? They were asking questions. We've studied it at more length and gotten better numbers, but it's still pretty accurate. The average was 500% more productive. You got to put that in context. That means you go to work on Monday. It's been Monday in a flow state.

You can take Tuesday through Friday off, and you're going to get as much done as everybody else in the company out of flow in one day that takes them five days to get. So that's what was happening in my writing. Like something I was sit down to write and I produce a whole chapter where before I would produce a tiny little, you know, paragraph. And I was like, okay, this is kind of amazing.

You can take Tuesday through Friday off, and you're going to get as much done as everybody else in the company out of flow in one day that takes them five days to get. So that's what was happening in my writing. Like something I was sit down to write and I produce a whole chapter where before I would produce a tiny little, you know, paragraph. And I was like, okay, this is kind of amazing.

Like productivity is going through the roof and other things followed. We now started to figure out, okay, it's not just physical, it's cognitive. And now we know it's emotional. So when we talk about optimal performance, it optimizes physically, mentally. and emotionally. All three of them are lifted as high as they can go in humans. This is literally us performing at our very best.

Like productivity is going through the roof and other things followed. We now started to figure out, okay, it's not just physical, it's cognitive. And now we know it's emotional. So when we talk about optimal performance, it optimizes physically, mentally. and emotionally. All three of them are lifted as high as they can go in humans. This is literally us performing at our very best.

Because it's neurobiologically based, we're all hardwired for it. So everybody listening to this podcast can get into flow for free. This is like biohackers are spending $2,000 a month on supplements and blah, blah, blah. No, no, no. This is hardwired into everybody. It's yours for free. Just figure out how it works and you can get more of it. Get as much as you want. It's untapped.

Because it's neurobiologically based, we're all hardwired for it. So everybody listening to this podcast can get into flow for free. This is like biohackers are spending $2,000 a month on supplements and blah, blah, blah. No, no, no. This is hardwired into everybody. It's yours for free. Just figure out how it works and you can get more of it. Get as much as you want. It's untapped.

You can't live in a flow state because it's a cycle, right? We used to think it was a binary, like a light switch. You're in the zone, you're out of the zone. It doesn't actually work that way. Most things in the body are a cycle. So you've got these four stages. You've got to move through all those stages to get back into flow.

You can't live in a flow state because it's a cycle, right? We used to think it was a binary, like a light switch. You're in the zone, you're out of the zone. It doesn't actually work that way. Most things in the body are a cycle. So you've got these four stages. You've got to move through all those stages to get back into flow.