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

by Steven Kotler

What all of this adds up to is options. Certainly, risk is needed for flow, but if you don’t want to take physical risks, take mental risks. Take social risks. Emotional risks. Creative risks. Especially creative risks.

A “rich environment” is a combination platter of novelty, unpredictability, and complexity—three elements that catch and hold our attention much like risk.

And for those of us who want to take advantage of this fact, yet have no interest in action and adventure sports? Simple: Seek out complexity, especially in nature. Go stare at the night sky. Walk in the woods. If you can’t find big nature, contemplate the small. The reasons there are so many clichés about universes inside of dewdrops is because there are universes inside of dewdrops. No dew to contemplate? Use technology to induce awe: surf your city with Google Earth or go see an IMAX movie. Next, up novelty and unpredictability. Normally, we go out of our way to avoid both. We rely on old habits, we cherish our routines. And why not? Automatic pilot is efficient. Routines save the brain energy and who hasn’t driven to work without remembering the trip? Yet vary the route next time. Brush your teeth with the wrong hand. These against-the-grain tricks increase novelty and unpredictability, demanding focus and pattern recognition, and both are the real goal.

The last external flow trigger, “deep embodiment,” is a kind of full-body awareness. Humans have sensory inputs all over the place; 50 percent of our nerve endings are in our hands, feet, and face. We have as many neurons in the gut and heart as in the brain. We also have proprioception to detect position in space, and vestibular awareness for balance. Deep embodiment means paying attention to all of these sensory inputs at once.

We’ve already seen group flow in action. When the Red Bull Air Force flew around Suicide Corner, it was this shared state that helped them survive the trip. But Sawyer discovered it’s not just action and adventure athletes having this experience. Everywhere people gather, group flow can arise. If you’ve ever sung with a church choir, played in a band, played a team sport, taken part in a play, taken part in a brainstorming session, gone dancing, gone to a rock concert, joined a startup, joined a drum circle, done improvisational anything—those highlight moments forever seared in your memory: that too is group flow in action.

And forget the highlights. Ever been so sucked into a great conversation that hours passed like seconds? So have plenty of others. Csikszentmihalyi discovered the most commonly reported instances of flow are those of group flow showing up when people are having a conversation—especially, for reasons we’ll get to, if those conversations happen at work.

And wherever group flow shows up, it leaves its mark. The same pleasure chemicals behind individual flow also arrive with the group variation—only we seem to like them more. In comparison studies run by St. Bonaventure University psychologist Charles Walker, “solitary flow” (what Doug Ammons experienced on the Stikine) was measured against “coactive flow” (this comes from individual activities done in groups, like surfers sharing a break) was measured against “interactive flow” (where interaction is inherent to the activity, like rock climbing with a part...

But Sawyer also discovered that flow states have social triggers—ten in particular—which are ways to alter social conditions to produce more group flow. A number of these social triggers are already familiar. The first three—serious concentration; shared, clear goals; good communication (i.e., lots of immediate feedback)—are the collective versions of individual preconditions identified by Csikszentmihalyi. Two more—equal participation and an element of risk (mental, physical, whatever)—are self-explanatory given what we already know about flow. The remaining five require a little more information. Familiarity, our next trigger, means the group has a common language, a shared knowledge base, and a communication style based on unspoken understandings. It means everybody is always on the same page, and, when novel insights arise, momentum is not lost due to the need for lengthy explanation. Then there’s blending egos—which is the collective version of the same sort of humility that allowed Doug Ammons to merge with the Stikine. When egos have been blended, no one’s hogging the spotlight and everyone’s thoroughly involved. A sense of control combines autonomy (being free to do what you want) and competence (being good at what you do). It’s about getting to choose your own challenges and having the necessary skills to surmount them. Close listening occurs when we’re fully engaged in the here and now. In conversation, this isn’t about thinking about what witty thing to say next...

The state of flow, like the path that bears its name, is volatile, unpredictable, and all-consuming. Flow feels like the meaning of life for good reason. The neurochemicals that underpin the state are among the most addictive drugs on earth. Equally powerful is the psychological draw. Scientists who study human motivation have lately learned that after basic survival needs have been met, the combination of autonomy (the desire to direct your own life), mastery (the desire to learn, explore, and be creative), and purpose (the desire to matter, to contribute to the world) are our most powerful intrinsic drivers—the three things that motivate us most.

In fact, when it comes to examples of the accelerated progression that results from raising children in high-flow environments, we can look much closer to home: in the classrooms, gardens, and playgrounds of Montessori schools the world over. 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. The educational philosophy pioneered by Maria Montessori in the early portion of the twentieth century is built around self-directed learning, long periods of intense concentration, and deep physicality (it’s often called “embodied education”) and has been repeatedly shown to produce far greater amounts of flow than more traditional methodologies. The results? While the data is still far from complete, a 2006 study published in the journal Science by 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. Other studies have extended these findings from the classroom to the boardroom. When professors Jeffrey Dyer of Brigham Young University and Hal Gregersen of the globe-spanning business school INSEAD surveyed over 3,000 executives and interviewed 500 people who had either started innovative companies or invented new products, they too found a Montessori connection. As Gregersen to...

Concurrently, a revolution in sensors, batteries, and connectivity has led to a flood of “quantified self” devices such as Nike Fuel band, Jawbone’s UP, and the Basis Band. These wearable gadgets monitor an expansive array of biometrics, most of which can be used to hunt flow. And there are iPhone apps that do the same. We can now track cardiac coherence—when brain waves and heart waves synch up—which has been correlated with the state (but needs more research).

He found a number of factors contribute to longevity, but one stood out far above the rest: the ability to learn faster.

As we already know, flow is the secret to learning faster. A lot faster. Data gathered everywhere from brick-and-mortar schools to virtual learning environments show that the state significantly increases positive learning attitudes and positive learning outcomes. 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.