When is the best you get to feel on this planet?

Steven Kotler was wildly burned out after nine years without a vacation. Over that time, he’d built himself a stellar reputation as an expert on human performance and as a repeat New York Times bestselling author. But his mind was fried, and he was desperate for a break. He had planned a month off to go skiing but then Covid hit, and the resort slopes were closed. His anger and frustration went through the roof.

Steven Kotler’s latest book,?Gnar Country, is a worthy tale. He creates a personal quest for himself to become an expert skier at 53 and test his expertise on peak performance aging on himself. Me being 56 and a big fan of Kotler’s work, I was naturally curious to read this.

Here’s what hit me:

?1.????“Skiing is the best I get to feel on this planet.” What is it for you???

He adds: “This isn’t about pleasure...this is about meaning. When I’m skiing,?when I push myself beyond the blurry edges of my abilities, life means more.”?

Look, the main reason I'm sharing this entire piece today is in the hopes the above lines get you to pause and reflect on what comes closest for you.

It’s not primarily about the dopamine high. He jokes that he tested “the ever-living bejesus” out of the sex, drugs and rock and roll experiments.

“From a peak performance perspective...if we can figure out the thing that makes us feel the very best on this planet, we can use this information to steer…Those things to which we say yes; those things to which we say no; the very algorithm that determines the quality of our days.”?

When is the best you get to feel on this planet? What do you do that gives you the most meaning - and does it feel GREAT 10/10 or just ‘pretty good’??Don’t wait to figure this out.

2.????Identify your ‘filters’ so you only spend your precious time on what truly matters?

Kotler encourages us to make our decisions on how we spend our time through ‘filters.’ His filters are skiing, writing, flow research, family, friends, and making the world a better place for animals. This way you prioritize your life on the filters that matter and do not spend time on things that don’t.

I know it sounds so simple but applying this every day is another matter entirely when the outside world is doing everything to interrupt us with its agenda: pop ups on your screen, spam texts, spam calls, spam emails, unexpected demands from and events in your family and life, surprising weather, plus all the hundreds of other people in your world getting in touch with their own needs. No wonder Kotler, an expert on flow research and finding flow, lives in the middle of nowhere Nevada and has no kids! Fewer distractions.?

“From a peak performance standpoint, filters like this save us massive amounts of time. They allow us to avoid a considerable amount of decision fatigue and truly align our lives with the three pillars of wellbeing: passion, purpose and meaning.”?

3.????Work for the boss?

“Who’s the boss? The boss is the version of myself who creates the goals and sets the rules.”?Because there is no peak performance without goals.?

4.????“I’d just learned two tricks in under a minute. I’d never learned two tricks in a year before. I felt like I’d been shot through a wormhole and was currently violating the space-time continuum.”?

This is a great reminder that we don’t know what we are capable of until we push boundaries. A couple of months ago I wrote about 42-year-old Jessie Itzler who spent a month with David Goggins living in his home and being his personal trainer. Towards the end of the month, he did 1000 push-ups in one day (scattered throughout the day). When I read that I was awed and rather jealous. I’d never done more than 200 push-ups in one day. I remember thinking, “Well, Itzler was 42 and an ultra-marathon runner at the time. And he had David Goggins training and pushing him every day.” All these excuses came into my head.?

On Friday I did 1000 push-ups in less than 8 hours. Good form ones too. And it was a workday, so I still had meetings and other things going on. It wasn’t that hard in the end. I worked up by adding 100 every few days. It was more time consuming than anything. I’m not trying to boast merely make the point that when I read about Itzler doing it, my knee-jerk reaction was “no way! I could never do that!” In his book, Itzler writes about how his arms wouldn’t function afterwards. I expected to wake up with incredible aching in my shoulders and arms – they were fine. All these stories I told myself and none of them were true.

Until you push, you don’t know what you’re capable of.

We are all selling ourselves short too often.

?To quote Kotler again:?“when I push myself beyond the blurry edges of my abilities, life means more.”?And it will for you too.?The best reason is because life is short and time is ticking so do everything you can to spend it on what and who you love.?Pick something you thought was out of your league and see where it takes you.

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To Gnar Country!

Matt

Copyright Matt Anderson 2023.