FLOW: unlock focus on demand (video)

Rian Doris; Steven Kotler (Big Think); Pat Macpherson, Dhr. Seven (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

How to unlock insane focus on command

(Rian Doris) May 8, 2023. Subscribe if you want to use flow states to sharpen your focus, triple your productivity, and reach your goals in record time.

What is a flow state?

How to enter ‘flow state’ on command | Steven Kotler

(Big Think) May 1, 2022. Peak performance mind hack explained in seven minutes. Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► bigthink. Up Next ► The Neurochemistry of Flow States. Flow is described as a state of "effortless effort," where we feel like we're propelled through an activity, and everything else seems to disappear. More specifically, flow refers to any moments of rapt attention and total absorption [jhana]. One is so focused on the task at hand -- such as the breath in meditation -- that everything else seems to disappear.

Researchers have discovered 22 catalysts that can help us prepare our environment and quickly drop into a flow state. A few of these include distraction management, dopamine triggering, and concentration [although serotonin is probably better for the long term, as Dr. Robert Lustig has discovered].

• Video transcript ► bigthink.com/series/the-big-think...

ABOUT: Steven Kotler is a New York Times bestselling author, an award-winning journalist, and the executive director of the Flow Research Collective. He is one of the world’s leading experts on human performance and the author of ten bestsellers (out of 13 books total), including The Art of Impossible, The Future is Faster Than You Think, Stealing Fire, The Rise of Superman, Bold, and Abundance. His work has been nominated for two Pulitzer Prizes, translated into over 40 languages, and appeared in over 100 publications, including the New York Times Magazine, Wired, Atlantic Monthly, TIME, and the Harvard Business Review. Kotler is also the cohost of Flow Research Collective Radio, a Top 10 iTunes science podcast. Along with his wife, author Joy Nicholson, he is the cofounder of the Rancho de Chihuahua, a hospice and special needs dog sanctuary. Read more stories on flow:

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• How Pete Holmes creates comedic flow: Try micro-visualization ► bigthink.com/neuropsych/goal-... 

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ABOUT: Rian Doris is the co-founder and CEO of Flow Research Collective, the world’s leading peak performance research and training institute focused on decoding the neuroscience of flow states and helping leaders and their teams unlock flow states consistently. Clients include Accenture, Audi, Facebook, Bain, and the US Airforce.

Along with being listed on Forbes 30 Under 30, Rian Doris' thought leadership has been featured in Fast Company, PBS, and Big Think. And he hosts Flow Research Collective Radio, an iTunes Top 10 science podcast.

He is also the executive chairman and owner of consulting.com — whose mission is to make entrepreneurship learnable so that anyone can start their own business.

On the side, he does some angel investing in health and performance companies like Levels Health, Neurohacker Collective, and Myodetox. He holds a degree in philosophy, politics, economics (PPE) from Trinity College Dublin, an MSc. in neuroscience from King's College, London, and an MBA.

He is currently pursuing a PhD. from the University of Birmingham in applied ethics — focusing on issues in effective altruism, specifically longtermism, and the question of what our ethical obligation is to future generations.

Prior to co-founding Flow Research Collective with Steven Kotler, he worked with New York Times bestselling author Keith Ferazzi and 12X bestselling author Dr. Dan Siegel, distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.