A Unique State of Mind – ElPropósito3 min de lectura

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Flying, swimming and my coaching practice are three ways I get to experience a state of flow. Steven Kotler, one of the leading voices on the subject (though perhaps not the one who discovered it), describes it as "a state of consciousness where we feel our best and perform our best." These are three big parts of my life where learning something new comes remarkably easily. Every time I do them, time literally flies, the effort feels well balanced, and when I finish, I’m left with the sense that it wasn’t really me doing it.

When we’re clearly focused on a goal, we’ll very likely find a good measure of passion and willpower to reach it. The odds of success rise when those goals come from, or line up with, a clear purpose. And results truly follow when our concentration on the work runs so deep that we reach a state of flow.

Distractions, though, are the biggest obstacle to unleashing our talent and potential when we commit to something. Setting skills or training aside, the most basic distractions come from a gap between the passion we feel for a goal and the effort we’re willing to invest. Steady focus rests on how much a goal truly matters, to us or to an organization. To know how much it matters, we have to answer one simple question: what do we want it for?

If the answer shows that it matters a great deal and fits a purpose, it usually unlocks a very high level of awareness, and with it the willingness to commit every resource needed (especially time) to reach the goal. That answer plants the seed of willpower, and willpower revolves around the state of flow we tend to reach, consciously and unconsciously, when we do what we love.

Even in the hardest, most complex moments, when great focus is required, the willpower to keep going will come from how clear we were at the start about what we ultimately hope to achieve. Our best shield against turbulence is the concentration we build on the way to the result. And the best strategy for making that journey without noise, and without fear of the dogs barking at the roadside, will always be passion for what we’re after.

Warm regards,

Rodrigo Baccaro

• P.S. This week’s VELA (what I was Watching, Listening to, Reading and Learning):
• What I was Watching: Botticelli – El infierno de Dante en el arte (Botticelli and Dante’s Inferno in art). These documentaries from the German network DW have been a great discovery. I’ve seen several, and this one is wonderful
  – What I was Listening to: Bitcoin: The future of Money?. Jordan Peterson is one of my favorite writers, and hearing him talk about Bitcoin on this great podcast was surprising and fascinating
  – What I was Reading: El libro negro de la nueva izquierda (The Black Book of the New Left). It had been years since a book captivated me like this. A solid, compelling X-ray of its subject, packed with quotes and references, and it took over my nights of reading
  – What I was Learning: How to spot a pyramid scheme. I find it interesting that there’s a TED talk on recognizing a pyramid scheme. It’s a subject I’ve wanted to study for many years

Author: Rodrigo Baccaro

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