Young and Profiting with Hala Taha (Entrepreneurship, Sales, Marketing)
Steven Kotler: How to Stay Sharp, Strong, and Healthy at Any Age | Mental Health | YAPClassic
09 May 2025
Most people assume that aging means inevitable decline—but health and mindset can tell a different story. At 53, Steven Kotler set out to defy the so-called “long slow rot” of aging by learning how to park ski, a feat most experts believed was biologically impossible past 35. Along the way, he uncovered that many of our mental and physical abilities are “use-it-or-lose-it” skills—ones we can actively train to extend performance, youthfulness, and joy. In this episode, Steven shares the science behind peak performance aging, how mindset shapes longevity, and why dynamic challenges like action sports may be the secret to staying young and profiting. In this episode, Hala and Steven will discuss: (00:00) Introduction (01:22) The Inspiration Behind Studying Peak Performance (02:25) Debunking the Long Slow Rot Theory (04:16) Use It or Lose It: Physical Skills (06:54) The Importance of Dynamic Activities (16:57) Mindset and Aging (21:29) Overcoming Personal Traumas (27:59) Fluid vs. Crystallized Intelligence (32:43) Advancements in Regenerative Medicine (34:07) Learning and Cognitive Health (34:52) Three Types of Thinking for Better Aging (35:42) Business Opportunities in Hiring Older Adults (37:20) The Importance of Physical and Mental Activity (42:07) The Power of Authentic Learning (50:51) Insights from the Blue Zones (56:33) The Role of Flow in Aging and Performance Steven Kotler is a New York Times bestselling author, an award-winning journalist, and the Executive Director of the Flow Research Collective. He is one of the world’s leading experts on human performance. Steven is the author of 11 bestsellers (out of fourteen books), including The Art of Impossible and The Future is Faster Than You Think. His work has been nominated for two Pulitzer Prizes, translated into over 50 languages, and has appeared in over 100 publications, including the New York Times Magazine, Wired, Atlantic Monthly, Wall Street Journal, TIME, and the Harvard Business Review. In his latest book, Gnar Country: Growing Old, Staying Rad, Steven tests his knowledge and theories on his own aging body in a quest to become an expert skier at age 53. Sponsored By: Indeed - Get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/profiting Shopify - Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at youngandprofiting.co/shopify Microsoft Teams - Stop paying for tools. Get everything you need, for free at aka.ms/profiting Mercury - Streamline your banking and finances in one place. Learn more at mercury.com/profiting OpenPhone: Streamline and scale your customer communications with OpenPhone. Get 20% off your first 6 months at openphone.com/profiting Mercury - Streamline your banking and finances in one place. Learn more at mercury.com/profiting Airbnb - Find yourself a co-host at airbnb.com/host Active Deals - youngandprofiting.com/deals Key YAP Links Reviews - ratethispodcast.com/yap Youtube - youtube.com/c/YoungandProfiting LinkedIn - linkedin.com/in/htaha/ Instagram - instagram.com/yapwithhala/ Social + Podcast Services - yapmedia.com Transcripts - youngandprofiting.com/episodes-new Entrepreneurship, entrepreneurship podcast, Business, Business podcast, Self Improvement, Self-Improvement, Personal development, Starting a business, Strategy, Investing, Sales, Selling, Psychology, Productivity, Entrepreneurs, AI, Artificial Intelligence, Technology, Marketing, Negotiation, Money, Finance, Side hustle, Startup, mental health, Career, Leadership, Mindset, Health, Growth mindset, Mental Health, Health, Psychology, Wellness, Biohacking, Motivation, Mindset, Manifestation, Productivity, Brain Health, Life Balance, Self Healing, Positivity, Happiness, Sleep, Diet
Full Episode
Today's episode is sponsored in part by Airbnb, Open Phone, Shopify, Mercury, Built, Indeed, and Microsoft Teams. As always, you can find all of our incredible deals in the show notes or at youngandprofiting.com slash deals. Hey, App Gang. One of the many things I hope listeners of this show have learned over the years is that aging doesn't mean slowing down. It means leveling up.
The key is knowing how to train your brain and body to keep growing, adapting, and performing at your best, no matter what your age. After all, we all want to stay young and profiting. In this Yab Classic episode from 2023, we're gonna revisit my interview with the peak performance expert, Stephen Kotler.
Stephen is the executive director of the Flow Research Collective, and he spent years figuring out how to sustain high performance deep into adulthood. In this conversation, he shared some of his findings about what really works, along with how deliberate play can supercharge your brain's performance, and the surprising benefits of cross-generational friendships.
So get ready to rethink everything you know about growing older. Without further ado, I give you Steven Kotler. So Stephen, I'm super looking forward to this conversation. My podcast is called Young and Profiting, but I actually have avid listeners of all ages in their 40s and 50s and beyond. And so I know they'll greatly appreciate this conversation.
And to kick it off, I figured we would start with how you got the inspiration to study peak performance. So I learned that you were really shocked by the story of Antonio Stradivaris. And he's a famous violin maker. And he had an amazing feat of creating two of his most famous violins when he was 92 years old. And this was in the 1700s, way before medical advancements.
And so I'd love to understand why his story was so shocking to you. How did he dispel the typical, you know, thoughts around traditional aging? And how did he inspire you to study peak performance aging?
So, you know, books have a lot of origin stories. There's like 11 different things that come together. I've been working, researching, looking at the field of peak performance for a while in a totally unrelated project, right? I was going to write a mystery novel and I wanted a cat burglar as a character who was going to steal musical instruments.
Who made the rarest musical instruments in history? Oh, it's Stradivarius. And then I found, figured out what you mentioned, which is he made two of the rarest and most expensive musical instruments in his 90s. And I went, well, wait a minute.
Everything I've been told about physical abilities is like the older myth about aging, which most of us believe, and I believed at the time of this, is what you could call the long, slow rot theory. It's the idea that all of our mental skills and our physical skills, they decline over time. There's nothing we can do to stop the slide.
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