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

Another factor, which is part of the flow experience, is something called transient hypofrontality. What this complicated expression means is simply that for a short time (transient) your preFRONTal cortex is less (hypo) active.

The prefrontal cortex is part of the neocortex, which, in turn, is the “youngest” part of our brain, evolutionary speaking. This is where all complex thinking happens (like you crunching numbers to decide which house you want to buy), and it’s what allows us to think rationally about our feelings and be self-aware.

Another part that slows down during flow is your orientation adjustment area, the part of the brain that lets you assess your position in the world, relative to other objects around you.

This is what causes surfers to feel “as if they’re one with the wave” or writers to just “think their words onto the paper.”

Bannister was the first man to run a mile in under 4 minutes. Before he accomplished this in 1954, for decades people had thought a 4 minute mile simply wasn’t possible.

However, once he did, someone else did it just two months after him. His record was broken again twice within the next five years and ten years later a high school student ran a 4 minute mile.

Every time someone accomplishes something we think is impossible, our definition of that word changes.

Great achievements inspire us to go beyond them and achieve even more, and that’s what makes flow so important. Without it, humans would stop pushing the boundaries of performance.

Ten core components that indicate the Flow state:

• Clear goals
• Concentration
• A loss of self consciousness
• Distorted sense of time
• Direct and immediate feedback
• Balance between ability level and challenge
• A sense of personal control over the situation
• Intrinsically rewarding so action is effortless
• Lack of awareness of bodily needs
• Absorption, narrowing of awareness down to the activity.

• As flow requires focus, one of the first changes suggested by experts was the removal of cubicle farms, those open office plans that permit constant interruption.
• Studies have shown that each time a flow state is disrupted it takes fifteen minutes to get back into flow, if you can get back at all.
• A shy man need only cross the room to say hello to an attractive woman to trigger this rush.

Flow appears near the emotional midpoint between boredom and anxiety, in what scientists call the flow channel— the spot where the task is hard enough to make us stretch but not hard enough to make us snap.

How hard is that? Answers vary, but the general thinking is about 4 percent. That’s it. That’s the sweet spot. If you want to trigger flow, the challenge should be 4 percent greater than the skills.

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.