The Art of Impossible

So what drives us? One way to think about this question is from an evolutionary perspective. We know that scarcity drives evolution. Any problem regularly encountered on a quest to gather resources is a problem that evolution already spent millions of years driving us to solve.

For these reasons and more, we’re going to spend the rest of this book exploring a quartet of cognitive abilities—motivation, learning, creativity, and flow.

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.

Dopamine specializes in driving all the various manifestations of desire, from our sexual appetites to our quest for knowledge.

to sculpt a massively transformative purpose, you’re already dangerous.

Passion produces little wins, little wins produce dopamine, and dopamine, repeatedly, over time, cements a growth mindset into place. But because neurochemicals play a lot of different roles in the brain, this increase in dopamine also amplifies focus and drives flow. And flow over time produces grit. The reason? The ecstasy of flow redeems the ago

Now, I’m automatically walking the path toward mastery—which is also the only path that can lead us to the impossible.

we know that play is mostly designed to teach us about social rules and social interaction. When you’re playing with your little brother and Mom screams, “Don’t pick on someone smaller than you,” she’s exactly on message. The point of play is to teach us lessons like: might doesn’t make right. It’s nature’s way of instructing us in morality.

Either you have a fixed mindset, meaning you believe talent is innate and no amount of practice will ever help you improve, or you have a growth mindset, meaning you believe talent is merely a starting point and practice makes all the difference. And for sustained perseverance, the research shows, a growth mindset is indispensable.