As the author of "The Rise of Superman" and co-founder of the Flow Genome Project, Steven Kotler is one of the world's leading experts on ultimate human performance. In this Talk, he provides a tour of the current research focusing on "flow states", or an optimal state of consciousness where we both feel our best and perform our best.

Researchers now know that flow sits at the heart of almost every athletic championship, underpins most major scientific breakthroughs, and accounts for significant progress in the arts. In business, its impact has been substantial. Coders in flow built the internet; video game designers in flow built the video game industry. "Flow state percentage" has been called the most important management metric for building great innovation teams. As a result of this, an increasing number of companies have put the cultivation of flow at the heart of their philosophies. So what is this mysterious state? How does it work its magic? And if this really is the secret to ultimate human performance, how can we get more of it in our personal and professional lives? Stay tuned to find out!

Originally published in April of 2014.

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