The famed psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, argued that great performers are intrinsically motivated and pursue great challenges while skilling up to meet them. In this state, called Flow, things slow down and performers are “in the zone,” which often results in great outcomes–scaling Mt. Everest, inventing the telephone, discovering penicillin, winning the NBA championship and launching the Mars Rover to name a few.
While the path to success is neither straightforward nor free from failure, the conditions for its creation are in your control: pursuing challenges and skilling up to meet them. Here we will meet great performers in business, education, arts, sports, government and science and talk about what motivates them, how they seek out challenges, what they do to skill up and when they are “in the zone.” Their lessons can help all of us learn how to be great performers.
