• Humans are driven by a deep desire to grow.
• Growth comes from challenging ourselves.
• Flow is a state of deep absorption in the task at hand.
• If we challenge ourselves with an activity that requires skill and we immerse ourselves in the activity, we enter a flow state.
• The challenge needs to be appropriate to our skill level. Too hard and it will frustrate us. Too easy, it will bore us.
• The most conducive conditions for flow include:
  • Clear goals.
  • Immediate feedback.
  • Concentration.
• Interestingly, the world systematically removes opportunities for flow for three reasons:
  • Our attention is very valuable to advertisers.
  • We give in to convenience instead of development.
  • Skill does not scale well and scale is profitable.
• We must create conditions that let us challenge ourselves, build skills, and fully engage in the task before us.

Other comments inspired by the book

• The cause-consequence relationship is sometimes difficult to determine. Is this cause or is this consequence? Why is there not a name for this phenomenon?
• Skill does not scale and, therefore, the capitalist world conspires against it.
• Speed and Scale are profitable, therefore, the capitalist world optimizes them.
  • Speed and scale are a trade-off, therefore competition is interesting. As you gain scale you lose speed. You need to find ways to be big and be fast.
  • Speed and scale destroy the experience of being human in this world. They remove us from awareness, from contemplation, from skill, from reflection.
• At what point does economic growth turn against well-being? For a long while they go hand in hand, but after a certain point humans serve the economy and not the other way around.
• Economic growth based on consumption leads to advertisement leads to a battle for attention leads to distraction by design. The revolutionary attitude is to stop consuming and start creating, start fixing.
• Evolution leads towards complexity. Complexity is created through combination of simpler parts. How can something be complex and yet sustainable? Probably death is the key. By forcing parts to be renovated with certain frequency.
• Differentiation and integration are drivers of complexity.
  • Differentiation: the pursuit of improvement and growth by an individual.
  • Integration: the perception of the individual as part of a whole.
• “Yu” is the Tao term for effortless action. When we develop and use our talents, they fall under yu. This is based on presence and will. Think Zidane.
• We need external stimuli to be centered. External stimuli in the form of:
  • Projects to deliver.
  • Problems to solve.
  • Routines to improve.
  • Responsibilities to tend to.
• A life theme is a way to tune your mind to find meaningful ideas for each of the four above.
• Life seems to be about capturing chaos and working it out so we can dissipate heat.
• Autotelic personality is achieved when:
  • We believe that our future is in our hands (“I can respond to anything”, “I’m the captain of my soul”).
  • We focus on the world outside our heads.
  • We find novel solutions, we solve problems.
• Action and reflection. Presence and will. We need time for both.