Ever believed you had to sacrifice well-being for success? Jim Steele shatters this myth in "Unashamedly Superhuman."

Steele isn't claiming to be superhuman in the comic book sense. He's talking about tapping into abilities we all possess but rarely access intentionally. After testing techniques from business titans like Richard Branson and scientific minds like Stanford's Professor Huberman, he delivers a roadmap structured in three powerful sections: BETTER (aka expanding potential), SMARTER (aka rewiring mindset), and STRONGER (aka optimizing physiology).

As his colleague Oliver Medill notes, the strategies have been "hard-earned by the author himself. This isn't just theory or research." Whether you want to unlock your potential or wish you could perform at higher levels sustainably, this book promises one thing: applied properly, it will change your life. Starting now!

Remember when you were a kid and absolutely believed you could fly, control the weather, or lift a car? Jim Steele starts his book by tapping into this childhood fascination with superpowers. He's been asking adults at conferences worldwide which superpower they'd choose if they could have just one. The results? Flight consistently wins first place, followed by super strength, elemental control (weather manipulation), mind control, and a tie between shapeshifting and invisibility.But as we said earlier, Steele isn't selling some fantasy about developing X-Men abilities. Unashamedly Superhuman has nothing to do with "wishing for an impossible, miraculous, and freakish ability." So what is it then?Steele explores the Wikipedia definition of "superhuman" - enhanced qualities and abilities beyond what's naturally found in humans. These can be acquired through unique abilities (which Steele rules out), technological aids (like our smartphones that give us instant access to information), OR... through self-actualization!This last path - self-actualization - is our focus. We know, we know! Terms like "realizing your full potential" often sound empty and abstract. Steele's inner critic would "wake up and laugh loudly" whenever motivational speakers used such phrases. Yet when he asks people to rate what percentage of their potential they're currently using, nobody ever answers 100%. This universal belief that we have untapped capacity forms the foundation of his approach.A little detour here:The concept took shape when a senior leader at a major accounting firm asked Steele to develop training that would achieve two seemingly contradictory outcomes: high performance AND well-being. This combination appeared impossible in a corporate culture where burnout was once considered "a badge of honor" and staying late was the ticket to advancement. Steele accepted this challenge, seeking strategies that could help people "drive productivity to new levels of achievement, whilst at the same time factoring in longevity and sustainability." His solutions needed to work both for ambitious professionals pushing their limits and for those simply wanting more energy left after work for their families.To test these principles personally, Steele embarked on what corporate circles call a "BHAG" - a Big Hairy Audacious Goal. He decided to train for an IRONMAN triathlon despite having no athletic background whatsoever. In fact, his starting point was quite the opposite - he enjoyed "fine wines and Marlborough Lights" and had undergone multiple surgeries including spinal fusion that left him with "two six-inch titanium rods screwed either side of my spine."For...

Let's start with a quick experiment. Raise your arm as high as you possibly can. Got it there?Now... raise it a tiny bit higher.You just did it, didn't you? That extra inch wasn't impossible after all. That small space between "I can't" and "I just did" is exactly where your untapped potential lives. It's always been there, waiting for the right circumstances to reveal itself. And the ADAPT framework breaks down the process of accessing this hidden potential into five straightforward steps that anyone can follow. No mystical thinking required – just practical psychology backed by real experience.1) A is for Accept the AdventureThe journey begins with acceptance. Not the defeatist kind where you shrug and say "that's life," but the empowering kind where you acknowledge the challenge ahead and decide to embrace and explore the hell out of it! This acceptance is the critical turning point on the Kübler-Ross Change Curve. The curve of change, btw, goes like this: shock, denial, frustration, depression, and finally acceptance through experiment, decision, and integration. So, acceptance is where we stop fighting against reality and start working with it. When the pandemic hit in 2020, we all traveled through this curve simultaneously. Some people got stuck in denial or anger, while others moved more quickly to acceptance and began adapting.One woman at a workshop in Hong Kong couldn't accept a difficult colleague's behavior but also felt powerless to change it. She was stuck in frustration limbo until the group brainstormed specific actions she could take. The lesson? Either find a way to change the situation or find a way to make peace with it – the middle ground only drains your resources.2) D is for Direct the Seeking SystemOnce you've accepted your challenge, it's time to point your brain in the right direction. Your ventral striatum (or "seeking system") is literally a part of your brain designed to help you explore and learn new things. When activated, it releases dopamine – making you feel more alive and focused.How do you switch it on? By establishing what Phil Jones MBE calls your "DOT" – your Direction Of Travel – a clear sense of where you're headed. How? By adopting the identity of the person you want to become BEFORE achieving your goal. This activates your seeking system to spot opportunities and information relevant to success. This identity shift is powerful but must be believable....

When was the last time you felt in flow? You know, that magical zone where you're crushing your work and time flies by? Yeah, that one. It's awesome when you're there, but getting there isn't as simple as flipping a switch, is it? In fact, there's a whole cycle involved, and knowing it might just save you from banging your head against the wall when flow seems out of reach.So here's the deal. The flow cycle has four phases: Struggle, Release, Flow, and Recovery. Each one matters, and skipping steps doesn't work.During the struggle phase, your brain is warming up and things feel... well, struggle-y. Steele's client had a struggle experience with her book project. For months, she couldn't get started despite having all the time in the world. Then suddenly, with the deadline looming, something clicked. She couldn't stop writing! The truth is, she finally pushed through the struggle phase—that initial period of friction that most of us try to avoid.This struggle phase feels uncomfortable because your adrenaline system is firing up. Your brain is figuring out which circuits to activate, kind of like your car engine turning over on a cold morning. It needs time to warm up! During this phase, dopamine and adrenaline become your best friend again. Also, you need a growth mindset to push through struggle. If you believe you're stuck forever, guess what? You will be! So, keep a list of what works for you nearby. For Steele positive self-talk, breathing exercises and energetic music keep him in this growth mindset.Once you've struggled enough (congrats!), it's time for the release phase. This is where you deliberately stop thinking about the problem. Yes, you read that right—you stop. Go for a walk. Pull some weeds in the garden. Build a tiny ship in a bottle if that's your thing. The key is choosing something physical but not exhausting. During release, you're essentially handing the problem from your conscious mind to your subconscious. This is the tricky part for high achievers because we think more work equals more results. But here's the reframe: during release, your subconscious is solving problems for you. It's still work, just behind the scenes! Try ending your day by writing down specific challenges for tomorrow—"I need to connect these three ideas in my presentation"—and let your brain chew on it overnight.Then comes the fun stuff—flow itself! This is the productivity sweet...

We all want more energy, better performance, and the ability to crush our goals. But how do we get there? According to Steele, the answer lies in our physiology – that final, crucial piece of the superhuman puzzle.Steele says it best himself: "Although Part IV is titled 'STRONGER,' this is about more than just physical strength. It's about hacking our own biochemistry to improve our performance." No sci-fi tricks or questionable supplements here – just smart strategies tailored to your unique body.This’ll require many new habits so let's look at techniques to help you with these.Starting with habit stacking – Steele's method for making new behaviors stick. Forming habits involves both breaking bad habits and developing good ones. And habit stacking is literally stacking good habits one on top of other. Wake up early-make your bed! Combine these two habits, do them one after the other and you’ll develop them in one go - that's habit stacking. But this only works when you align both emotion and logic, then turbocharge the new habits with brain chemicals.An important aspect of habit formation is the pain-pleasure principle - the idea that we take action when the pain of not doing something outweighs the pleasure of avoiding it. Take that cereal bowl you leave in the sink instead of washing immediately. Initially, washing feels like a chore (pain), while putting it off feels easier (pleasure). But later, when those cornflakes have hardened into cement, the pain-pleasure balance flips – now cleaning is much harder! So, you should’ve got down to cleaning while it was still soft. This same principle applies to exercise, nutrition, and everything else you want to incorporate into your life.Timing matters too. Steele recommends implementing challenging new habits within the first eight hours after waking, when your willpower tank is fullest. To make this sustainable, he introduces a clever 21-day habit-forming system. This system is about picking five daily habits but only expecting to complete three or four. This built-in forgiveness is brilliant – it makes the process about consistently showing up rather than perfect execution.When it comes to maximizing physiology, Steele identifies "The Big Three to Thrive": sleep, nutrition, and exercise. Sleep tops the list! Consistent bedtimes, dark cool rooms, and avoiding screens, caffeine, and alcohol before bed all help. And of course "napping is the new performance-enhancing drug!"On nutrition, here's a simple setup to follow: define your objectives,...

Congratulations! You've just speed-read your way through Jim Steele's guide to becoming marginally less disappointing to your childhood self! Remember when you thought you'd be fighting crime in a cape by now? Well, ADAPT-ing and habit stacking aren't quite as glamorous, but hey—it's something! Now go forth and be unashamedly... well, human. With maybe just a dash of super!