Cognitive Dominance: A Brain Surgeon's Quest to Out-Think Fear

Description

"Brilliant! Paradigm-blasting and profound." - Steven Pressfield, Bestselling author of Gates of Fire and The War of Art Get a Grip. The first time he cut open a patient's skull, neurosurgeon Mark McLaughlin found himself confronting a powerful force that his fellow brain surgeons agreed was best never spoken of. Fear. But Dr. McLaughlin knew that if he couldn't find a way to cope with this formidable foe, all he had striven for as a physician would be lost. So, with a scientist's analytical precision and a philosopher's worldview, McLaughlin derived and formalized a method by which he could act rationally and confidently under the operating room's lights and in all of the complex relationships in his life, especially under fear's profound influence. With inspiration and guidance from intellectual titans like Rene Descartes, Charles Darwin, William James, Carl Jung, and contemporary thinkers like Nate Zinsser, Jordan Peterson, Iain McGilchrist, and J.K. Rowling, McLaughlin lays out his twenty-year intellectual adventure story. The payoff of his odyssey is as life-changing as it is thrilling. COGNITIVE DOMINANCE: Enhanced situational awareness that facilitates rapid and accurate decision-making under stressful conditions with limited decision-making time. Review "There's a reason why Alexander the Great used to sacrifice all night to the god Phobos. Elite performers in all fields--military, corporate, political, academic, creative--know the demon they must face before all others is FEAR. Neurosurgeon Mark McLaughlin faced his own terror in life-and- death crises under the OR's hot, pitiless lights. His answer is this brilliant, paradigm-blasting book, Cognitive Dominance, and the even deeper, more profound philosophy it defines and espouses. Cognitive Dominance takes Colonel John Boyd's OODA loop to the next level. This book is wonky. It unapologetically dissects (and even diagrams) fear and the types of paralysis and faulty decision-making it can engender. Cognitive Dominance is for fighter pilots and CEOs, for SEAL team members, Olympic athletes, and every other aspirant to the highest levels of performance and achievement. --Steven Pressfield, bestselling author of Gates of Fire and The War of Art