Key ideas based on Brian Johnson's PhilosopherNotes:
Feel the Flow
Flow is the state you want when trying to achieve some goal.
“Flow is an optimal state of consciousness, a peak state where we both feel our best and perform our best."
“The optimal state of inner experience is one in which there is order in consciousness. This happens when psychic energy—or attention— is invested in realistic goals, and when skills match the opportunities for action. The pursuit of a goal brings order in awareness because a person must concentrate attention on the task at hand and momentarily forget everything else. These periods of struggling to overcome challenges are what people find to be the most enjoyable of their lives. A person who has achieved control over psychic energy and has invested it in consciously chosen goals cannot help but grow into a more complex being. By stretching skills, by reaching toward higher challenges, such a person becomes an increasingly extraordinary individual.”
Flow lies somewhere between boredom and anxiety (i.e.: get out of your comfort zone, but don't break yourself).
Flow also take consistency over a period of time (i.e.: habit).
A Different Take on Mastery
Mastery is the focused pursuit of a long-term goal.
Three M's of Master:
1. Mother's Theory: master needs a nurturing environment.
2. Musicians Theory: it takes at least 10,000 hours to master something.
3. Marshmallow Theory: delayed gratification is essential to achieve long-term goals.
However, unlike mastery, Flow emphasizes instant gratification in the sense that you love what you do and enjoy the journey. Everything time you work on your "Mastery" it gives you instant gratification because you love it so much.
Two People You Do Not Want to Be:
1. The Short Term Gratifier- have no long term plans and seeks random, instant pleasures that
ultimately lead no where.
2. The Long Term Grinder - intensely acts in pursuit of long-term goal, but often burns them self out
by not enjoying the journey.
"And if you’re doing what you want to do all the time, then you’re happy. You’re not going to work everyday wishing you were doing something else. I get up and go to work everyday and I’m stoked. That does not suck.”
“The master in the art of living makes little distinction between his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his information and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence at whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him, he’s always doing both.” - James Michener
Channel Fear
"When risk is a challenge, fear becomes a compass—literally pointing people in the direction they need to go next (i.e., the direction that produces more flow)."
Risk is not something to be feared, but rather challenge to be overcame.
We need to monitor what we tell ourselves is impossible.
"...But a man or woman becomes fully human only by his or her choices and his or her commitment to them. People attain worth and dignity by the multitude of decisions they make from day by day. These decisions require courage.” -Rollo May