Hacking Flow State

Tempus Fugit

People have said for years "time flies when you are having fun," even the Romans spoke of "Tempus Fugit". Devoted holy men have claimed feelings of "being one with the universe." Even athlete's like Brazilian soccer player Pele have described a state where they felt that they could not fail. All are man's attempt to describe the sensation of Transient Hypofrontality.

Welcome to Flow State 

"Flow State" is the common vernacular for Transient Hypofrontality. Literally, you temporarily have low frontal brain activity. This results in ambiguity in things like time and space. During this time your body's "firmware" takes control, and according to Steven Kotler you are in a state of "near perfect decision making". After all, one of the triggers of Flow State is the so-called "fight or flight response", an incorrect decision to fight or flee might result in your death. This state was even mentioned in the recent movie Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. About 57 minutes into the movie, Christopher Abbott's character tells Tina Fey's character the following:

“The human body produces its own heroin….in fact, when the fight or flight instinct is activated…it releases endorphin, dopamine, and norepinephrine…heroin, cocaine, amphetamine all at once.”

These are the “gateway drugs” to Flow State, that optimal state of human performance, when failure to make the right decision usually results in death, as it does in Extreme / Adventure Sports.While Steven focuses primarily on the triggers of "High Consequences" or "Risk" in his book The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance, There are in fact over a dozen triggers to Flow State which are being studied in greater detail by Jamie Wheel of the Flow Genome Project.

What if You Could Flow on Demand?

While the experience of Flow State is a neurochemical cocktail, it should be noted that these triggers are all physical and mental states available to anyone, not even a precision dose of illicit drugs can duplicate what a genuine Flow State experience is. Try incorporating one or more of these triggers in your day and see how Flow State can change your life.

Stay well engineered,

Devon

These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. These statements or products referenced are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.