The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance

by Steven Kotler

“At the root of all fear is separation”

asking the question “Where do our limits lie?” is another way of asking, “How far can we stretch our imagination?” Here in the twenty-first century, pretty far indeed.

the relationship between imagination and physical possibility, what could be called the “Roger Bannister effect.”

We start imagining the impossible as possible. What does impossible feel like, sound like, look like. And then we start to be able to see ourselves doing the impossible—that’s the secret. There is an extremely tight link between our visual system and our physiology: once we can actually see ourselves doing the impossible, our chances of pulling it off increase significantly.”

Jacobson found that imagining oneself lifting an object triggered corresponding electrical activity in the muscles involved in the lift. Between then and now dozens and dozens of studies have born this out, repeatedly finding strong correlations between mental rehearsal—i.e., visualization—and better performance. Everything from giving a speech to running a business meeting to spinning a 1080 are all significantly enhanced by the practice.

In 2004, for example, Cleveland Clinic physiologist Guang Yue wanted to know if merely thinking about lifting weights was enough to increase strength. Study subjects were divided into four groups. One group tried to strengthen their finger muscles with physical exercise; one tried to strengthen their finger muscles by only visualizing the exercise; another tried to increase arm strength through visualization; while the last group did nothing at all. The trial lasted twelve weeks. When it was over, those who did nothing saw no gains. The group that relied on physical training saw the greatest increase in strength—at 53 percent. But it’s the mental groups where things got curious. Folks who did no physical training but merely imagined their fingers going through precise exercise motions saw a 35 percent increase in strength, while the ones who visualized arm exercises saw a 13.5 percent increase in strength. How

neuroscientists found no difference between performing an action and merely imagining oneself performing that action—the same neuronal circuits fire in either case. This means that visualization impacts a slew of cognitive processes—motor control, memory, attention, perception, planning—essentially accelerating chunking by shortening the time it takes us to learn new patterns.

Visualization also firms up aims and objectives, further amplifying flow. With an image of perfect performance fixed in our mind, the intrinsic system knows what needs to happens, keeping the extrinsic system from getting too involved. Similarly, when attempting something that’s never been done before, we’re much more likely to keep fear at bay and stay in the challenge/skill sweet spot if we’ve mentally rehearsed an action ahead of time.

While exploring the threads of his seminal research on flow, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi and his graduate students went on a quest to find the most “flow-prone” learning environments around. Montessori topped the list.

University of Virginia psychologist Angeline Lillard found Montessori kids outperformed regular students on everything from academic tests to social skills to creative abilities to executive function.

our ability to stalk elite performance has undergone a sea change.”

In the 1990s, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which had been primarily used to study the body, gave way to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which measures blood-flow activity in the brain. At Johns Hopkins, it was this technique that allowed Charles Limb to scan the brains of improv jazz musicians during flow—providing our first images of transient hypofrontality in action. At Emory, it was fMRI that helped Greg Berns map the dopamine system’s relationship to flow triggers like risk and novelty. At Baylor, it was David Eagleman and time dilation. And this list goes on.

Neural feedback—the use of EEG to tra...

Dr. Leslie Sherlin and his colleagues at Neurotopia, to offer one example, have developed an EEG-based system called “BrainSport” that, unlike earlier EEG systems, uses advanced hardware and sophisticated software to filter out extraneous noise. As of now, it can record the neuroelectrical activity of ...

For the first time in history, anyone looking to push the upper edge of human performance will be able to combine the wisdom of the decades with the sprightliness of youth.

It’s been a real magical mystery tour. Danny Way jumped over the Great Wall of China on a shattered limb; Ian Walsh paddled into a wave the size of an apartment building; Dean Potter caught hold of a climbing rope while falling at terminal velocity into the Cellar of Swallows. “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic,” Arthur C. Clarke famously told us. Hopefully one thing is now clear—flow is that advanced technology.

a number of factors contribute to longevity, but one stood out far above the rest: the ability to learn faster. That was it—the secret to centuries of thriving. In an environment of turbulent change, as de Geus famously wrote: “The ability to learn faster than your competitors is the only sustainable competitive advantage.”

The US military trained snipers in flow twice as fast as normal. McKinsey established that executives in flow are five times more effective than their steady-state peers. This is exactly what 150 years of flow research has revealed; this is what the recent revolution in action and adventure sports clearly demonstrates, flow brings out the very best in us—and for certain, it’s that very best we’ll need to create a world of abundance.

the most interesting thing about an acorn is that it contains a whole oak. But the most interesting thing about a human—well, we’re not exactly sure. We do not know the full measure of what we might contain. We cannot yet leap tall buildings in a single bound, but the boldest among us are already throwing backflips off of them. And