What is Flow?
Simply put, flow is the peak of human performance, maximum focus with maximum responsiveness, an optimal state of consciousness. This state of mind is accessible to anyone under the right circumstances and has huge implications to how we live, work and train.
REBEL Cast Book Club Episode 4 — The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance
In “The Rise of Superman,” Steven Kotler details the flow state through the journey of extreme sports athletes, and how these incredible human beings are utilizing flow to push the limits of their respective sports at an ever accelerating pace. Performing on the brink of life or death acts as a shortcut to achieving flow, allowing for these huge leaps in extreme sports that are rarely seen in safer, more mainstream sports.
But what about the rest of us? How can we achieve flow in a less extreme environment, much less utilize flow to become better in our everyday lives. Getting into flow is often linked with being engaged in life or death activities, something that we as ED physicians are intimately failure with on a regular basis.
In this podcast episode, three Emergency Medicine Physicians, Marco Propersi, Dan Wolf and Will Smith, discuss flow in relation to working in the ED, how it intersects with medical training, on shift performance and even in daily life outside the hospital.
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- Does the high stakes life or death environment in the ED allow us to access a flow state, even though our own lives are not at risk?
- How can you set yourself up to achieve flow?
- While on shift how does being ‘in flow’ facilitate mastery of our profession?
We will discuss these topics and many more on this episode of REBEL Reflections!
After you are done listening, leave a comment with some of your thoughts about flow or share an experience or two. Also, don’t forget to like and subscribe!
The Rise of Superman on Amazon.com
Post Authors
Will Smith, MD
EMRACast Podcast Fellow
The Socials: @WTSmithMD
Email: WTSmithMD@gmail.com
Daniel Wolf, DO
EMS Fellow – Maimonides Medical Center
Email: DWolf@maimonidesmed.org
Marco Propersi, DO FAAEM
Vice-Chair, Emergency Medicine
Assistant Emergency Medicine Program Director
Vassar Brothers Hospital, Poughkeepsie, New York
Twitter: @marco_propersi
Post Peer Reviewed By: Salim R. Rezaie, MD (Twitter: @srrezaie)
