Steven Kotler

This is our mystery: a rare and radical state of consciousness where the impossible becomes possible. This is the secret that action and adventure athletes have plumbed, the real reason ultimate performance has advanced nearly exponentially these past few decades. The zone, quite literally, is the shortest path toward superman. And this is a book about that zone.

Flow is an optimal state of consciousness, a peak state where we feel both our best and perform our best. It is a transformation available to anyone, anywhere, provided that certain initial considerations are met.

This means that flow doesn’t just provide a joyful, self-directed path toward mastery—it literally shortens the path.

This is what the self-help books don’t tell you. Fully alive and deeply committed is a risky business. Once you strip away the platitudes, a life of passion and purpose will always cost, as T.S. Eliot reminds us, ‘Not less than everything.’

This is who we are and how we’re wired. Flow is our birthright. But what do we do with that knowledge? As always, that part is up to us.

To put it another way: flow is the telephone booth where Clark Kent changes clothes, the place from where Superman emerges.