Steven Kotler || Creativity, Skill-Mastery, and Aging
The Psychology Podcast
iHeartPodcasts
4.4 • 2K Ratings
🗓️ 23 February 2023
⏱️ 84 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today we welcome Steven Kotler, the Executive Director of the Flow Research Collective. He is an award-winning journalist and one of the world’s leading experts on human performance. Steven is the author of eleven bestsellers including The Art of Impossible, The Rise of Superman, Bold, and Abundance. His work has been nominated for two Pulitzer Prizes, translated into over 50 languages, and has appeared in over 100 publications. His latest book is called Gnar Country: Growing Old, Staying Rad.
Our moderator for this live discussion was Dr. Torrie Higgins, the Head Coach of the Flow Research Collective. Dr. Higgins is a deeply passionate, empathetic peak performance coach, consultant and educator whose coaching philosophy is rooted in the deep-seated belief that everyone has the potential to achieve success and growth. In her private practice, she has had the opportunity to coach a diverse range of clientele, from mountaineers preparing to summit Mount Everest and K2 to business leaders of Fortune 500 companies.
In this live discussion, I talked to Steven Kotler about creativity, skill-mastery, and aging. Our society views aging as a process of decline, with our physical and mental capabilities worsening over time. Steve Kotler invites us to challenge our preconceived notions about aging by engaging in “impossible” activities that cultivate mastery and creativity. When we are able to incrementally push past our limits, we change our mindset about growing old which ultimately prolongs our longevity. We also touch on the topics of exploration, play, social connection, flow, neuroscience, wisdom, and embodied cognition.
Website: stevenkotler.com
Twitter: @steven_kotler
Topics
04:55 Gnar Country: Growing Old, Staying Rad
10:46 Challenging our limiting beliefs
16:12 Narcissism vs mastery
19:40 Curiosity and exploration as motivators
22:24 Approach fear incrementally
27:18 Why we need “replacement friends”
38:44 Finding a training partner
42:54 Creativity and Aging: What We Can Make With What We Have Left
49:38 Intelligence, expertise, giftedness
52:31 “The pursuit of wisdom thrives on joy”
1:02:13 Dynamic deliberate play
1:11:25 Learning through embodied cognition
1:17:06 Flow and peak experiences
1:23:45 Creativity as a way of being
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | So even some of the stuff that we think declines over time, we're starting to find ways around it, |
| 0:05.4 | but Scott's really right, his point is, you can sort of bypass a lot of the things that decline |
| 0:11.5 | over time with sort of a flow mastery-based protocol. And if you want to fight off Alzheimer's |
| 0:17.6 | and dementia, we know that the two best ways to do it is lifelong learning and you need expertise |
| 0:22.9 | and wisdom, right? |
| 0:24.7 | Hello and welcome to the Psychology podcast. Today we welcome Stephen Kotler to the show. |
| 0:35.0 | Stephen is the executive director of the Flow Research Collective. He's an award-winning |
| 0:40.0 | journalist and one of the world's leading experts on human performance. Stephen is the author of |
| 0:44.8 | 11 bestsellers including the art of impossible, the rise of Superman, bold, and abundance. His work has |
| 0:51.6 | been nominated for two poll surprises, translated into over 50 languages, and he has appeared in |
| 0:57.3 | over a hundred publications. His latest book is called Nar Country, Growing Old Staying Rad. |
| 1:04.2 | Our moderator for this live discussion was Dr. Tori Higgins, the head coach of the Flow |
| 1:09.0 | Research Collective. Dr. Higgins is a deeply passionate empathetic peak performance coach, |
| 1:14.2 | consultant, and educator whose coaching philosophy is rooted in the deep-seated belief that everyone |
| 1:19.2 | has the potential to achieve success and growth. In her private practice, she has had the |
| 1:24.2 | opportunity to coach a diverse range of clientele, from mountaineers preparing a summit, Mount Everest, |
| 1:29.2 | and K2 to business leaders of Fortune 500 companies. In this live discussion, I talk to Stephen |
| 1:35.2 | Kotler about creativity, skill mastery, and aging. Our society views aging as a process of decline, |
| 1:41.8 | with our physical and mental capabilities worsening over time. Stephen Kotler invites us to |
| 1:46.8 | challenge our preconceived notions about aging by engaging in impossible activities that cultivate |
| 1:52.3 | mastery and creativity. When we are able to incrementally push past our limits, we change our mindset |
| 1:58.0 | about growing old, which ultimately prolongs our longevity. We also touch on the topics of exploration, |
... |
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