About Rian
Rian Doris is the Co-Founder & CEO of Flow Research Collective, the world’s leading peak performance research and training institute focused on decoding the neuroscience of flow states and revolutionizing the way we approach work.
Rian has helped thousands of entrepreneurs and executives achieve peak performance; from Accenture to Audi to the co-founders of Etherium. His work has been featured in Fast Company, Forbes, and Big Think. Rian is also the host of Flow Research Collective Radio, an iTunes top 10 science podcast.
Rian holds a degree in Neurophilosophy from Trinity College Dublin, an MSc in Neuroscience at King's College, London and is currently completing an MBA at Quantic University. Rian has led research initiatives with Imperial College London, University of Southern California, University of Zurich and Deloitte. Prior to co-founding Flow Research Collective with Steven Kotler, Rian worked with NYT Bestselling Author Keith Ferazzi, and 12X NYT Bestselling Author Dr. Dan Siegel, distinguished fellow of the American Psychiatric Association.
My Backstory
I grew up in the west of Ireland. The middle of nowhere on the tip of the Atlantic. From age 1, I spent winters in an ashram in India with my parents. They were meditators before it was a thing. I learned to walk as a 1 year old in India.
That blend of rural Ireland and India developed appreciation for consistency, and hunger for the unknown.
As a kid I had lots of little businesses… Buying PlayStations on eBay, and reselling them in the local paper. Importing Abercrombie and Fitch hoodies from the U.S. and selling them in school. Buying, repairing and reselling surfboards. I was also a promising up and coming rugby player.
At age 13, I had a near-death head injury. I was on holidays with my family in Croatia and somersaulted off the bottom of a 100+ foot vertical waterslide, colliding head first into concrete.
I survived, but spent the next seven years debilitated and largely in bed. Severe amnesia, unable to remember the names of my closest friends. Blurred vision, exercise intolerance (couldn’t run, lift weights or exert for 7 years), chronic fatigue. You name it, it’s likely I had it.
Thankfully, I healed fully at age 19.
In the middle of this period I also struggled with depression, anxiety and suicidality — my damaged neurobiology distorting my psychology.
In an effort to fix myself, I devoured everything I could about how the brain works, how to elicit states of wellbeing and peak performance.
I reached out to hundreds of experts in neuroscience, offering to work for free to advance their cause.
That strategy worked.
The next summer, I connected with Keith Ferazzi, New York Times bestselling author of Never Eat Alone. I spent four months working with Keith in the Hollywood Hills, hanging out with household name tech titans and other luminaries. This expanded my horizons further.
Supplimenting my free intern work by selling ice creams in Long Beach, CA.
Finally, I came across Steven Kotler, another world-renowned author on peak performance and flow states.
I DM’d Steven on Facebook. He responded and I helped him scale his business while completing my undergrad in Neurophilosophy at Trinity College Dublin and my MSc in Applied Neuroscience at King’s College London. We traveled the world together—from opening for Barack Obama in Helsinki in front of 7500 CEOs to conducting research with Formula One in London to training thousands of leaders in Estonia.
In early 2019, after years of aggressively improving my entrepreneurial skill set, Steven and I co-founded Flow Research Collective together.
According to the World Health Organization poor worker mental health will cost the global economy $1 Trillion this year. Without intervention, 122 billion working days – or 500 million years of work – will be lost between now and 2030.
Our mission at Flow Research Collective is to solve this problem by decoding the neurobiology of flow states and helping human’s access flow states on demand.
We scaled to an 8-figure run rate within 18 months of founding with zero outside capital. So far, we’ve helped tens of thousands of leaders access flow more consistently. We’re just getting started.
Outside of working on Flow Research Collective I enjoy surfing, snowboarding, working out, traveling, consciousness exploration and the usual tech-bro biohacking shenanigans!
You can follow my website, socials and newsletter for updates and free, useful content to help you improve your performance.
What Now?
