"Shitty flow" is real, and most people are drowning in it | Brad Stulberg: Full Interview

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Become a Big Think member to unlock expert classes, premium print issues, exclusive events and more: https://bigthink.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=membership&utm_content=bt-ytdesc-text-fi-stulberg-qbw38tHCUh4 Subscribe to Big Think on YouTube ► https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg?sub_confirmation=1 Up next, What 85 years of research says is the real key to happiness | Robert Waldinger: Full Interview ► https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CxmzkYPvsg Most people chasing excellence are chasing the wrong thing entirely. Brad Stulberg argues that the 4am routines, optimization stacks, and recovery scores are just elaborate performance passed off as “excellence.” Stulberg breaks down the biology, philosophy, and psychology behind genuine excellence and how to reach it. 0:00 Chapter 1: What is excellence 2:44 Values, mastery, and mattering 5:00 The hidden biology driving our need to improve 8:55 The four phases of competence 11:13 What excellence is not 12:09 Chapter 2: The barriers to excellence 12:43 Barrier 1: Dysevolution 14:35 Barrier 2: Optimization culture 17:22 Barrier 3: “Shitty flow” 21:22 Barrier 4: Zombie burnout 27:05 Barrier 5: Happiness industrial complex 31:01 Barrier 6: Excellence as a standard 32:40 Chapter 3: Three key factors in the pursuit of excellence 33:51 How to set the right goals that actually work 39:20 Why consistency beats intensity 46:42 The long game of patience, plateaus, and breakthroughs Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/excellence-stulberg/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description © Freethink Media Inc., All Rights Reserved. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Go Deeper with Big Think: ►Become a Big Think Youtube Member Get exclusive classes and early, ad-free access to new releases without leaving Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/@bigthink/membership/ ►Become a Big Think Web Member Get the entire Big Think Class library, premium print issues, live events, and more. https://bigthink.com/membership/ ►Subscribe to Big Think on Substack Get all of your favorite Big Think content delivered to your inbox. https://bigthinkmedia.substack.com/subscribe/ ►Listen to Big Think Interviews on Spotify Insights from the world's biggest thinkers, now as a podcast https://open.spotify.com/show/7KRYoRD1NdF2aoQcBMyPlb ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Brad Stulberg: Brad Stulberg is the author of Master of Change, The Practice of Groundedness, and The Way of Excellence. He has written for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic, among many other publications. He is on faculty at the University of Michigan School of Public Health.