Morning, CEO!
I’m 41, which means I have spent approximately two decades trying to force my brain to be productive by yelling at it.
It’s like trying to teach a cat algebra by screaming. The cat isn’t learning math; it just hates you.
We are currently competing with machines that have infinite focus and zero anxiety. We can’t out-grind them. We have to out-flow them.
Today, we’re looking at Stealing Fire by Steven Kotler and Jamie Wheal. It’s about how Navy SEALs and Silicon Valley mavericks hack their biology to enter altered states of consciousness.
Let’s see if we can steal a match or two.
1. Evicting the Board of Directors
Inside my head, there is a very crowded conference room. I call it the Committee of Doom.
There’s the Chief Worry Officer, who constantly reminds me that I haven’t checked my email in four minutes.
There’s the VP of Imposter Syndrome, who likes to whisper, “Everyone knows you’re just Googling the error messages, Hannah.”
And there’s the Director of Snacks, who is just... always there.
Usually, when I try to do “Deep Work,” I’m actually just refereeing a shouting match between these guys. The result? I write three lines of words, delete two, and go eat cheese.
Stealing Fire explains that the state of “Flow”—that magical zone where time vanishes and work feels effortless—is biologically known as Transient Hypofrontality.
In plain English? It means shutting down the prefrontal cortex. That’s the part of your brain that handles your personality, your sense of time, and your inner critic.
To be a genius, you have to briefly stop being you.
The authors point out that we usually try to solve problems by thinking harder. We add more beta waves (alert, anxious, logical). But logic is cheap now. Your AI staff has infinite logic.
What you bring to the table is the lateral, creative leaps that happen when the Committee of Doom shuts up.
The book suggests we stop trying to “manage” our time and start managing our state. We need to find our off-switch. For some, it’s meditation. For others, it’s running until their lungs burn.
For me? It’s accepting that I cannot logic my way into creativity. I have to lock the VP of Imposter Syndrome in the closet and let the subconscious drive the car.
2. The Jazz Band vs. The Corporate Meeting
We have all been in That Meeting.
You know the one. Someone creates a slide deck. Someone else asks a question just to prove they are awake. A third person uses the phrase “circle back” unironically.
It is the opposite of efficiency. It is where souls go to die.
Stealing Fire contrasts this corporate misery with the Navy SEALs.
When SEALs clear a building, they don’t have a meeting. They don’t have a fixed leader. They operate in Group Flow.
They have two rules:
Cut the corner: If the guy in front looks left, you look right. Automatically. You fill the gap.
Dynamic Leadership: Whoever has the best view of the threat becomes the boss for that split second.
In the corporate world, we are obsessed with hierarchy. Who is the Manager? Who signs off? And crucially: Who gets the credit?
We spend 90% of our energy signaling that we are working. We write emails to explain why we are going to write a document. We hold meetings to prepare for the pre-meeting.
The SEALs strip all of that away. They call it “The Switch.”
It’s a shift from explicit communication (talking) to implicit communication (knowing). When they breach a room, they don’t use words. Words are too slow. Words are low-bandwidth.
If you have to explain what you are doing to your teammate, you are already dead.
It is about the Cost of Explanation.
In our normal lives, we are addicted to over-explaining. We over-explain our choices to our parents, our partners, and the internet. We constantly seek validation through words.
The SEALs teach us that “High Performance” is actually “High Silence.”
It is the confidence to act without broadcasting your intention first. It is the ability to trust your own competence enough that you don’t need to narrate it for an audience.
Stop talking about the breach. Just breach.
3. Hacking the Hardware (Because the Software is Glitchy)
I am currently writing this while slumped in my chair like a depressed shrimp.
My shoulders are by my ears. My spine is a question mark.
And I am wondering, “Why do I feel low-energy and uninspired?”
It’s a mystery.
Stealing Fire dives into Embodied Cognition. This is the scientific way of saying: Your body is not just a taxi for your brain. Your body is your brain.
The book cites a famous study: If you hand someone a warm cup of coffee, they rate a stranger as “warmer” and more trustworthy. If you hand them an iced coffee, they rate the stranger as “cold” and distant.
We think we are rational decision-makers. We are not. We are biological machines influenced by the temperature of our beverages.
This is hilarious, but also a superpower.
I often try to fix my mental state with mental tools. I try to “think positive.” I try to “focus.”
But Stealing Fire argues it’s faster to hack the hardware.
If I want to feel like a confident executive who makes bold decisions, I cannot sit like a shrimp. I have to do a “Power Pose.”
(Yes, I have stood in my living room with my hands on my hips like Wonder Woman for two minutes. Yes, my dog looked at me with deep concern. Yes, it actually worked.)
If you are stuck on a problem, don’t just stare at the screen harder. That’s a software fix.
Change the hardware. Stand up. Spin around. blast cold water on your face.
Change the input to change the output.
The Bottom Line
We are entering an era where “thinking” is a commodity. The machines can think faster.
But they can’t get into Flow. They can’t feel the rush of Ecstasis. They can’t feel the warmth of a coffee cup.
That’s your edge.
Go steal some fire. (But please, remember to come back down. The book warns that Flow is addictive. Don’t burn the house down.)
Links:
https://www.stevenkotler.com
https://www.flowgenomeproject.com
https://www.amazon.com/Stealing-Fire-Maverick-Scientists-Revolutionizing/dp/0062429655
