Stephen Collar

We are limited energetically and the most expensive thing for the brain to do. Brain takes all your energy, right? It's 2% of your body weight it uses at rest. So you're not even working, you're just chilling. 25% of your energy goes to your brain. So the brain is always trying to be energy efficient. It's the first order of business.

We are limited energetically and the most expensive thing for the brain to do. Brain takes all your energy, right? It's 2% of your body weight it uses at rest. So you're not even working, you're just chilling. 25% of your energy goes to your brain. So the brain is always trying to be energy efficient. It's the first order of business.

But for people who are trying to increase their performance, if you can learn to work with fear, fear is awesome as a motivator because it gives you focus for free.

But for people who are trying to increase their performance, if you can learn to work with fear, fear is awesome as a motivator because it gives you focus for free.

you don't have to struggle to pay attention to stuff that you're scared of you can't not stop paying attention so once you get good at this and once you can go oh yeah this is scary but this also brings out the best in me and focus my attention does a lot of stuff the best of the best always they use a fear as a compass oftentimes so people will see my books and they'll be like you know you'll get that there was a communication challenge right i wanted to communicate a bunch of ideas

you don't have to struggle to pay attention to stuff that you're scared of you can't not stop paying attention so once you get good at this and once you can go oh yeah this is scary but this also brings out the best in me and focus my attention does a lot of stuff the best of the best always they use a fear as a compass oftentimes so people will see my books and they'll be like you know you'll get that there was a communication challenge right i wanted to communicate a bunch of ideas

And that's what they think the book is about. And that's fine. That's what you see. What I see in every one of my books was this impossible writing challenge that I set for myself. This like, okay, you don't know how to do this at all, but to pull this book off, you have to learn how to write like this and this and this and this and this. And they're crazy. Incredibly scary, hard goals.

And that's what they think the book is about. And that's fine. That's what you see. What I see in every one of my books was this impossible writing challenge that I set for myself. This like, okay, you don't know how to do this at all, but to pull this book off, you have to learn how to write like this and this and this and this and this. And they're crazy. Incredibly scary, hard goals.

The reason I like them is every morning when I have to face a blank page, they're scary. So I'm paying a little more attention for free. I'm not having to work so hard. So there's a lot of issues with fear. You've got to know how to control your nervous system. You've got to manicure your nervous system. We can talk more about why that is in terms of flow terms.

The reason I like them is every morning when I have to face a blank page, they're scary. So I'm paying a little more attention for free. I'm not having to work so hard. So there's a lot of issues with fear. You've got to know how to control your nervous system. You've got to manicure your nervous system. We can talk more about why that is in terms of flow terms.

But like the best of the best, we all use fear as a motivator, I think, for the exact reasons you talked about. It brings out the best in people.

But like the best of the best, we all use fear as a motivator, I think, for the exact reasons you talked about. It brings out the best in people.

The environment, Matt. what you're doing. So the answer is going to be a little bit different depending on what the situation is, but let's just back it up one step and talk high level. So you want more flow in your life? Flow states have triggers. These are preconditions that lead to more flow. This is your toolbox. There's 28 known flow triggers.

The environment, Matt. what you're doing. So the answer is going to be a little bit different depending on what the situation is, but let's just back it up one step and talk high level. So you want more flow in your life? Flow states have triggers. These are preconditions that lead to more flow. This is your toolbox. There's 28 known flow triggers.

There's probably way more, but that's what's been discovered. And as Joe pointed out, There's two varieties of flows, individual flow, me in a flow state or Tommy in a flow state. There's group flow, all three of us, right? We're in a little bit of group flow right now, right? The conversations, our focus is right here. The conversations bounce around.

There's probably way more, but that's what's been discovered. And as Joe pointed out, There's two varieties of flows, individual flow, me in a flow state or Tommy in a flow state. There's group flow, all three of us, right? We're in a little bit of group flow right now, right? The conversations, our focus is right here. The conversations bounce around.

We're sort of finishing each other's sentences and popping in a little group flow experience. So there's 16 triggers for group flow. The rest are for individual flow. So let's stay on the individual side. All the triggers do the same thing. Flow follows focus. It only shows up when all our attention is the right here, right now. So that's what all the triggers do.

We're sort of finishing each other's sentences and popping in a little group flow experience. So there's 16 triggers for group flow. The rest are for individual flow. So let's stay on the individual side. All the triggers do the same thing. Flow follows focus. It only shows up when all our attention is the right here, right now. So that's what all the triggers do.

They drive our attention into the present moment. If I wanted to get into the neuroscience, they do it a bunch of different ways. Some of them push dopamine to our system. Some of them push norepinephrine to our system. Some of them lower cognitive load. Cognitive load is just all the crap you're trying to think about at any one time.

They drive our attention into the present moment. If I wanted to get into the neuroscience, they do it a bunch of different ways. Some of them push dopamine to our system. Some of them push norepinephrine to our system. Some of them lower cognitive load. Cognitive load is just all the crap you're trying to think about at any one time.