The Art of Impossible – an Interview with Steven Kotler #276
The Brian Buffini Show
Brian Buffini
4.8 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 4 May 2021
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
“Peak performance is nothing more or less than getting our biology to work for us rather than against us.” – Steven Kotler
A state of flow is an optimal state of consciousness when we both feel our best and perform our best. In this episode, Brian interviews Steven Kotler, one of the world’s leading experts on human performance. Steven shares how to achieve flow and unlock peak performance – those moments in time when the impossible becomes possible. Topics discussed include: why our biology is hardwired for three levels of goals, why practicing distraction management is key and why there is power in invisible skills.
YOU WILL LEARN:
- Why everyone can access flow.
- How to trigger flow.
- How to focus and achieve complete concentration.
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
https://www.flowresearchcollective.com/radio
“The Art of Impossible,” by Steven Kotler
“The Rise of Superman,” by Steven Kotler
“Flow,” by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES FROM THIS EPISODE:
“Whenever you see people accomplishing the impossible, you tend to see people in a state of flow.” – Steven Kotler
“Flow is a massive amplification of skills.” – Steven Kotler
“I work for the boss. The boss is who I am yesterday that made my to-do list.” – Steven Kotler
“In peak performance, motivation gets us into the game. Learning allows us to continue to play. Creativity - creative problem solving - it's how we steer. And flow, which is a state of optimal performance, is how we turbo-boost the results beyond all reasonable expectation.” – Steven Kotler
“If you use the system the way it's designed to be used, you just get farther faster with a lot less fuss.” – Steven Kotler
“You can never have too many arrows in your quiver.” – John Barth
https://www.TheBrianBuffiniShow.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brian_buffini
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brianbuffini
Twitter: https://twitter.com/brianbuffini
Theme Music: “The Cliffs of Moher” by Brogue Wave
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Music |
| 0:14.0 | Welcome to the Brian Bafini Show, where we explore the mindsets, motivation and methodologies of success. |
| 0:20.0 | Here's your coach, Brian Bafini. |
| 0:23.0 | Music |
| 0:40.0 | Well, the top of the morning, Tia, welcome to the Brian Bafini Show. |
| 0:43.0 | I'm very excited for you guys today to listen to our guest, Mr. Steven Kotler. |
| 0:48.0 | Now, Steven is a New York Times bestseller and author. He's an award-winning journalist and the executive director of the Flow Research Collective. |
| 0:57.0 | He's one of the world's leading experts on human performance. |
| 1:00.0 | He has nine bestsellers out of 13 books, which is hard to do if you've tried, including his latest, which we're going to get into today, the art of impossible. |
| 1:09.0 | The future's faster than you think, stealing fire, bolding abundance, and one that really woke me up was the rise of Superman. |
| 1:17.0 | And so he's been nominated for two Pulitzer prizes, which is phenomenal. |
| 1:21.0 | He's also the co-host of the Flow Research Collective Radio, which is the top 10 iTunes Science Podcast. |
| 1:27.0 | Now, you say, what are we bringing a scientist on here for? |
| 1:30.0 | Guys, if you've ever heard me talk about Flow, and the times I got to spend with Mihich, Executive Mihich, who wrote that book, I mean, 30 years ago, I got exposed to this concept. |
| 1:40.0 | I've infused many of these ideas into our goal-writing exercises, the things we do in our coaching program that's helped hundreds of thousands of people. |
| 1:48.0 | And so what I'm so excited about today is that Steven has taken, I don't know if this will embarrass you, Steven or not, but I feel like you've taken this thing to a whole other level here with Flow. |
| 1:58.0 | I'm so excited to have you on here today. This is subject matter that's changed my life. |
| 2:03.0 | And that we're delighted to have you on here today and give your perspective. |
| 2:07.0 | I'm delighted to be with you. I also have to, you get props from me, one, for the Pogs opening. I'm pretty sure that was the Pogs. |
| 2:14.0 | And two, you correctly pronounced Mike's name, which never happens. So well done. |
| 2:20.0 | Nice. Well, I got a chance as we were talking off air. I was doing a series of events in Chicago. |
| 2:26.0 | 30 years ago, I was there for a couple of weeks, and my good friend, Joe Nigo, who's been a regular on this show, said, hey, he had handed me the book Flow, and it just come out. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Brian Buffini, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Brian Buffini and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.