The Art of Impossible

Aristotle noticed that setting goals—that is, the establishment of a desired outcome or target—was one of the primary motivators of human behavior.1 He called goals one of the four foundational “causes” or big drivers of change in the world. It was a groundbreaking insight but one that’s taken us a very long time to understand.

controls. And it’s not just lumberjacks. In dozens of studies in dozens of fields, Latham and Locke found that setting goals increased performance and productivity 11 to 25 percent. That’s a fairly extraordinary boost.

If this isn’t possible in your life today, start with the 3M plan: devote 15 percent of your time to a project that aligns with your core passion and purpose. Fifteen percent is about an afternoon a week, though you can easily split this into a pair of two-and-a-half-hour blocks and get similar results.

This is another reason why peak performance is an infinite game. But it’s also why the quartet of skills at the heart of this book matters so much. Motivation is what gets you into this game; learning is what helps you continue to play; creativity is how you steer; and flow is how you turbo-boost the results beyond all rational standards and reason

The technical language that surrounds a subject is the second place to put your attention. Why? Jargon, while annoying, is annoyingly precise.

Infinite games are the opposite. They have no clear winners or losers, no established time frame for play, and no fixed rules. In infinite games, the field of play is mutable, the number of participants keeps changing, and the only goal is to keep on playing. Art, science, and love are infinite games. Most important: so is peak performance.

Yet to increase your chances of making those connections, pay attention to two sets of details: both the history of the subject and the technical language used to describe that subject.

Serotonin is a calming, peaceful chemical that provides a gentle lift in mood.13 It’s that satiated feeling that comes after a good meal or a great orgasm, and it’s partially responsible for that post-meal/post-coital urge to take a nap.

Excellence requires repetition. Even if you’ve got passion and purpose perfectly aligned and completely love what you do, what you do is often reduced to a daily checklist. This means a portion of peak performance is always sculpted out of Wallace’s hallmarks of adult life: boredom, routine, and petty frustration.

Burnout is identified by three symptoms: exhaustion, depression, and cynicism.43 It is the by-product of repeated and prolonged stress.