Rise of Superman by Steven Kotler – Flow Theory

When I first started listening to “The Rise of Superman” by Steven Kotler I was really hesitant to continue. The tagline for the book is “Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance”. I was a little put off by the story after story about surfers, rock climbers, skiers, and skateboarders. I didn’t think it would be what I was looking for at all. I’m so glad I kept going!

Ever since I started standing up and talking in front of people… my Demonstration Techniques class in my Home Economics major years ago (when there still was Home Ec)… I’ve had experiences that I had a hard time explaining. I get in front of people and I feel a connection… a oneness. I also feel like time stands still and I’m more aware of what is going on. The words just flow. It is an amazing feeling! Up until that point I was in that category of people where public speaking was more feared than death. I did everything I could to avoid it. In school, my parents were told I was a pretty good student but I just didn’t talk… ever.

This feeling was obviously pretty transformational. I went from never talking to now you can’t shut me up! Especially when it is something I’m passionate about. I don’t always get that amazing feeling but often I do. It is more common and I don’t even have to get in front of an audience to get it.

So back to the book. I continued listening (I LOVE Audible!) and I realized that these extreme sports fanatics the author was writing about were chasing the same thing I was! Flow.
I’ve heard it called several things. Gay Hendricks in his book “The Big Leap” talks about the “zone of genius”. Maslow (the classic hierarchy that everyone learns about in sociology classes) calls it peak performance. I’ve also heard it called “being in the zone”. But evidently it has a real name – Flow. In Kotler’s book, it is described as a state in which your senses are extremely heightened, time slowed down, you have no anxiety or pain, and there is a mental quickness that isn’t there usually. Some of the people also told about a voice – it could be called intuition or God – that gave them clear directions.

Evidently there are several ways to get into this flow state. Most people have heard of the term “runners high”. This adrenaline rush is considered to be a lower form of flow. Wonder why your kids are playing video games so much? They can get into a flow state. And you have probably gotten there to a certain extent when you surf the internet. I know I have when I’m on Facebook too long. But true flow is when you are working at your full potential and the more time the better. You can’t work at your full potential when you are constantly being interrupted.

Kotler, throughout his book, included the research of Mihaly Csikszentimihalyi. Csikszentimihalyi, considered the father of “flow”, grew up in Croatia during World War II, even spending time in a concentration camp, and saw how all the adults around him were affected by the upheaval they experienced. They couldn’t find happiness when everything they knew was taken from them. This led him on a lifelong search for how to find it and he determined that “flow” was the secret.

Through his search for happiness he discovered flow. He defines flow as “a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience is so enjoyable that people will continue to do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it” (1990). Kotler includes ten components to flow that Csikszentimhalyi found to be consistent:

Clear goals
Concentration
The loss of the feeling of self-consciousness
Distorted sense of time
Direct and immediate feedback
Balance between ability level and challenge
Sense of personal control
Intrinsically rewarding activity
Lack of awareness of bodily needs
Absorption

Clear goals, feedback, and the balance between ability and challenges are seen as “conditions of flow”. They must be present to have the flow experience but the others don’t need to be present all at the same time. Kotler also adds one more condition of flow: “the creative, problem-solving nature of the state”. He sees flow for its practical value.
In other words, you can’t experience flow unless you are willing to put yourself out there… take action.

My focus is on transforming education. How do we include this ultimate happiness into our classrooms and lessons so that the students of today can rise to be the “Superman” Kotler is talking about? Kotler talks about how the youth in extreme sports are surpassing their predecessors at an amazing rate. Can we harness this for education? Can we teach flow? While I understand the purpose of teaching parts of speech and algebra to students, they don’t have to use this information on a daily basis. Teaching them to use flow will make each individual happier and more productive. Isn’t that more important? Wouldn’t this make for a better world?

I love books that make me think and look deeper into a topic and “The Rise of Superman” definitely did!