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Steven Kotler

Steven Kotler Quotes

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Famous Steven Kotler Quotes

“Yet what appears to be impossible is actually progressive. Behind each of these feats is a litany of small steps: history, technology, training — and not just physical training, mental training as well. Success in these danger-fueled activities requires requires incredible psychological and intellectual talents: grit, fortitude, courage, creativity, resilience, cooperation, critical thinking, pattern recognition, high-speed “hot” decision making — on and on, and all under some of the most extreme conditions imaginable.”

“The greatest athletes aren’t interested in the greatest risks. I mean, sometimes they’re taken, sometimes not, but those physical risks are a by-product of a much deeper desire to take creative risks. Don’t be fooled by the danger. In action and adventure sports, creativity is always the point.”

“A “rich environment” is a combination platter of novelty, unpredictability, and complexity — three elements that catch and hold our attention much like risk. Novelty means both danger and opportunity. To our forbearers, a strange scent in the wind could be prey or predator, but either way it paid to pay attention. Unpredictability means we don’t know what happens next, thus we pay extra attention to what happens next. Complexity, when there’s lots of salient information coming at us at once, does more of the same.”