Optimize With Brian Johnson | More Wisdom In Less Time

Optimize: https://optimize.me/ (← Get Free Stuff + Free 2-Week Trial!) Optimize Coach: https://optimize.me/coach (← Join 2,000+ Optimizers from 70+ Countries!) Here are 5 of my favorite Big Ideas from "The As If Principle" by Richard Wiseman. Hope you enjoy! William James once said: "If you want a quality, act as if you already have it." In this book, Richard Wiseman, Britain's official professor in "the Public Understanding of Psychology" walks us through the astonishing array of research that proves what he calls the "As If Principle." Big Ideas we explore include an exploration of the fact that feelings follow behavior, how to make yourself happy, the paradox of rewards, and how to create a new you. Get book here: https://www.amazon.com/As-If-Principl... Connect: https://richardwiseman.wordpress.com/ PhilosophersNote: https://www.optimize.me/philosophers-... More goodness like this: https://www.optimize.me/membership/?r...

Optimize: https://optimize.me/ (← Get Free Stuff + Free 2-Week Trial!) Optimize Coach: https://optimize.me/coach (← Join 2,000+ Optimizers from 70+ Countries!) Here are 5 of my favorite Big Ideas from "Trying Not to Try" by Edward Slingerland. Hope you enjoy! Edward Slingerland is one of the world's leading experts on both ancient Chinese thought AND modern cognitive science. This book is a melding of those two realms. It's a truly fascinating read. I read it in a day and felt like I was spending the day hanging out with a brilliant thinker—getting privileged access to twenty years of deep thinking. If you're into ancient wisdom and modern science I think you'll love the book as much as I did. Big Ideas we explore include defining wu-wei + de (one of the coolest words/concepts ever), what Confucius + Lao Tzu + Mencius + Chuang Tzu have to say about wu-wei, and the spontaneity of mirrors. Get book here: https://www.amazon.com/Trying-Not-Try... Connect: https://eslingerland.arts.ubc.ca/ PhilosophersNotes: ht

In our last +1, we had fun hanging out with your Genius.    Recall: EVERYONE in ancient Roman times was said to have their own guiding spirit, or "genius" that helped them rock it.    That reminds me of Sir Ken Robinson. In The Element, he tells us that our whole concept of "intelligence" is backward.   Rather than ask, "How intelligent are you?" we SHOULD be asking "HOW are you intelligent?"   We all have our own Geniuses. And… We all have our own different kinds of Intelligence.    So…   How are you intelligent?   As we get clarity on that, Sir Ken tells us that we all have the potential to connect to what he calls "the Element." It's that force within us that allows us to live with deeper meaning and mojo and joy.    The Element has two parts: Passion + Aptitude.   Two questions will help us +1 our clarity:   What do you LOVE to do? As in, you'd do this in your free time or even pay to do it? This is your passion.

Optimize: https://optimize.me/ (← Get Free Stuff + Free 2-Week Trial!) Optimize Coach: https://optimize.me/coach (← Join 2,000+ Optimizers from 70+ Countries!) Here are 5 of my favorite Big Ideas from "Breathe" by Dr. Belisa Vranich. Hope you enjoy! Breathing. It's obviously important. And... I'm beginning to realize *just* how important it is. In fact, breathing properly is quickly becoming my #1 fundamental. Belisa Vranich is a clinical psychologist and one of the world's leading experts on how to breathe right. In this Note, we take a quick peek at why breathing is so important, learn how to measure your Vital Lung Capacity, observe the difference between Clark Kent and Superman and get to work on training the most important and underappreciated muscle in your body (hint: your diaphragm).

Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer Prize-winning NY Times journalist (and Harvard MBA) who wrote the best-selling book The Power of Habit in which he walked us through the science of building better habits. In this book, he walks us through the science of being productive so we can be smarter, faster and better at everything we do. It's a great book packed with fascinating stories and practical applications. Big Ideas we explore include the 2 keys to motivation, how to build your focus, the best way to set goals (think: Stretch + SMART), why disfluency helps learning and how productivity is all about choices.

Martin Seligman is basically the Godfather of the Positive Psychology movement. He's written a number of seminal books on the science of well-being.   When Seligman first kicked off the Positive Psychology party, he wrote a book called Authentic Happiness. A decade later, he updated his thinking with a book called Flourish.   Short story: A good life isn't just about maintaining a positive emotional state represented by that big yellow smiley face. A good life is about moving toward your highest potential — flourishing — and that DOESN'T always feel like sunshine and rainbows.   (Of course, the ancient Greeks made a similar distinction with their two different types of "happiness": hedonia and eudaimonia. We'll save that for another discussion.)   So, Seligman tells us there are five key facets to the science of flourishing. He captures them in a handy-dandy acronym: PERMA.    Here's a quick look:   P is for Positive Emotion. Although experiencing a perman

Optimize: https://optimize.me/ (← Get Free Stuff + Free 2-Week Trial!) Optimize Coach: https://optimize.me/coach (← Join 2,000+ Optimizers from 70+ Countries!) Here are 5 of my favorite Big Ideas from "The Ultra Mindset" by Travis Macy with John Hanc. Hope you enjoy! Travis Macy is best known as the record-setting champion of Leadman—"a sort of six-week Grand Prix of Ultra Endurance" that consists of a jaw-dropping number of challenges. This book is a fun look at the eight principles that make up the Ultra Mindset Travis uses to do extraordinary things. Big Ideas we explore include: Your new mantra, what to do when you don't feel like it, thinking about thinking, making the choice to give up choice, and never quitting… except when you should quit (w/a great litmus test for when you should/shouldn't quit). Get book here: https://www.amazon.com/Ultra-Mindset-... Connect: http://www.travismacy.com/ + http://johnhanc.com/ PhilosophersNotes: https://www.optimize.me/philosophers-... More goodness like this: https:/

One of Stephen Covey's 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is "First Things First." He also wrote a whole book by the same name.   But you know where he got that phrase?   Peter Drucker.   It was Drucker who said "Put first things first."   And you know what he said we should do with "second things." He said we should ignore them. Specifically, he said, "First things first — and second things not at all." (He also said, "If there is one 'secret' of effectiveness, it is concentration. Effective executives do first things first and they do one thing at a time.")   Fact is, in any given moment there is only ONE most important thing to do. And, that's what the best among us do. Over and over and over and over and over again.   Of course, this doesn't just apply to executives. How about one of the greatest athletes of all time, Michael Phelps. Phelps is the most decorated Olympian in history. Over the span of five Olympics (which, in itself, is an epic achievement), he won 28 medals —

Eric Barker is the creator of the blog Barking Up the Wrong Tree, which "presents science-based answers and expert insight on how to be awesome at life." This is a REALLY engaging, well-written, compelling book. Eric takes us on a fun adventure through the science of what *really* works. And, as the sub-title suggests: How most of what you *think* works, is either a LOT more nuanced than you may have been led to believe or is just plain wrong. Big Ideas we explore include why valedictorians don't typically top the success charts, how to get more willpower, why managing your energy is so key, the power of mentors (and how to get one), and the #1 thing to remember for success.

As all parents know, one of the most amazing things about having kids is watching them hit new milestones—when, one day, they can do what was impossible just the day before.   This recently happened in the Johnson house.   Our little baby Eleanor went from not being able to crawl to being able to cruise all over the place in what appeared to be the span of 24 hours. Of course, that's life changing not just for her but for mom and dad as well. (Hah!)   As a father who happens to be a lover of wisdom, I couldn't help but notice that this huge shift in ability that seemed to be so sudden was arrived at in an incredibly incremental way.   Of course, Eleanor has been slowly developing all the requisite strength and skills to be able to crawl and then… BAM! It's on.   But, it's fascinating to reflect on the fact that each of the preceding micro-gains didn't make it obvious that something so big was in the works.   And, of course, it's the same thing with us.   We may no

In our last +1, Navy SEALs Jocko Willink and Leif Babin told us that leadership is all about EXTREME Ownership. No excuses. No blaming. Ever.   They tell us that, ultimately, there are no bad teams per se, only bad leaders. To bring the point home, they tell us a story about guys in boats.   Imagine Navy SEAL training. You're already exhausted from weeks of basic training. Now it's time for Hell Week.   One of the most brutal aspects of the training is when the aspiring SEALs are split into "boat crews"—each with seven guys. Each team gets an old-school World War II-era inflatable boat that weighs 200 pounds. They need to carry this boat up and over 20-foot-high sand berms and run with it for miles. Then they get to paddle it out to the ocean, dump it over so everyone's out and freezing wet and then paddle it back in.   And...   They're always competing with everyone else. If you lose, you have to go through extra, bonus brutal stuff while the winners get to take the next r

In our last +1, we talked about the Cal Newport-inspired "Shut-down complete!"   First, quick check in: You win that game?   Get this: Seneca was talking about the same thing 2,000 years ago.    As you may know, Seneca was born around the time Jesus was born. He was one of history's leading Stoic philosophers. In addition to being one of the wealthiest people of Rome and a statesman plus advisor to emperors, he was also a playwright and is considered the creator of the essay.   In one of his great books called On the Shortness of Life, Seneca talks about the importance of giving our minds time to rest.    Specifically, he says: "Our minds must relax: they will rise better and keener after a rest. Just as you must not force fertile farmland, as uninterrupted productivity will soon exhaust it, so constant effort will sap our mental vigour, while a short period of rest and relaxation will restore our powers. Unremitting effort leads to a kind of mental dullness and le

Mark Twain tells us that twenty years from now we will be more disappointed by the things we didn't do than by the things we did do. So, he says, we should throw off the bowlines and sail away from the safe harbor—catching the trade winds in our sails.   Get this: Science agrees.    In The Myths of Happiness, Sonja Lyubomirsky walks us through the fact that we are surprisingly resilient in the face of adversity.    And, we consistently overestimate how bad we'll feel in the future if something goes wrong.    This is one of her "myths" of happiness.    In fact, this is such a common phenomenon that scientists actually have a name for it. They say we have poor "affective forecasting" abilities.   So, back to our quote to go for it.    If you go for it and fail, odds are you'll bounce back faster than you think.    But…   If you don't go for it, you run the risk of torturing yourself with an infinite number of scenarios

Once upon a time, no British cyclist had ever won the Tour de France. Over 100 years of trying, and, precisely, zero wins. Then a guy named Sir David Brailsford stepped in and created Team Sky. He said that a British cyclist would win the Tour within five years. People thought he was crazy. Until they won it in two years. Then, for good measure, they won four of the next five races as well.  How'd he do it? Marginal gains. He looked for all the tiny little places where he could Optimize.  Things like making sure the riders uniforms were always washed in the same skin-friendly detergent for a little more comfort.  Things like making sure the riders always slept on the same exact mattresses every night to give them the best shot at a good night of sleep.  Things like making sure the hotel rooms were always properly vacuumed to reduce potential infections. TINY little things. Any one gain wouldn't do a whole lot, of course. But, as we know, when you aggregate and compound enough of

Continuing our theme of sharpening our saw and resting before we get tired, let's figure out how to avoid burnout.   Tal Ben-Shahar wrote a great book on how to quit being a perfectionist. He tells us that the root cause of fatigue, anxiety, depression and burnout in the corporate world "is not hard work; the problem is insufficient recovery."   Think about that for a moment.   The problem isn't that we WORK too hard per se. It's that we don't RECOVER enough.   That's a really powerful distinction.    Which, of course, begs the question: Are YOU recovering enough?   Tal recommends we think about recovery on three levels: Micro + Mid + Macro.   Micro-level recoveries include things like taking a 15-minute break every 60 to 90 minutes.   Mid-level recoveries include things like making sure you have a shut-down complete that helps you get 7-9 hours of sleep every night and that you take at least a day off every week.   Macro-level breaks inclu

We're officially on a roll with the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. We've covered Habit #1: Be Proactive and Habit #2: Begin with the End in Mind.   Today? Habit #3: Put First Things First.   Here's the short story: Covey tells us that some things matter and other things don't. Highly Effective People know the difference and they "Put First Things First."   As Goethe said: "Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least."   Covey shares a handy-dandy four-quadrant model to help us get clarity on what's really important. He organizes activities by Urgency and Importance. So, something can be Important or not and Urgent or not.    In Quadrant I we have things that are both "Urgent and Important." These are fire drill-like activities. Unfortunately, way too many activities fall into this category. We need to do a better job of reducing the amount of stuff that shows up here or we'll be constantly stressed and burned out.   In Qua

When Peyton Manning was released from the Indianapolis Colts after fourteen seasons, a number of teams recruited him. He picked the Denver Broncos.   Now, when he decided to go with the Broncos, he didn't say to himself, "I hope this works out alright."   He decided to PROVE HIMSELF RIGHT.   There's an epically huge difference between those two perspectives.   In one, you kinda-sorta hedge and never really go all in. It's a good way to protect yourself from the risk of being wrong but it's also a really good way to be mediocre.   When you make a real decision, you, by definition, cut off all the other options and go ALL IN. Then you're not interested in hedging. You're interested in winning. So, you go to work, HUSTLING to make sure you prove yourself right.   Today's +1.   Quick check in: What's important to you right now? Like super important. If you could wave a wand and make THIS wildly important thing happen, what would it be?   Got it? You willing to r

Legend has it that when Michelangelo stepped up to a block of marble, he could see the finished statue in his mind's eye. His job was simple: Get rid of what was in the way. That's a pretty powerful image. Let's apply it to our lives. Step back from your current life for a moment. Fast-forward 5-10 years. Look within the block of marble that is you and your potential.  SEE the best version of you sitting within that block of marble. Can you see it? You at your best.  Now… What's in the way of you expressing that heroic version of you more and more consistently?  What little habits do we need to chip away at to reveal the most beautiful version of you hidden within that marble? And, what's the one little habit we're going to let go of today to reveal just a little more of the awesome? Fantastic. Here's a chisel. Let's do this!  How? +1. +1. +1. 

William Shakespeare once told us (via Polonius in Hamlet): "This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man." For some reason, as a 15-year old in high school, I decided THAT would be the very first quote I ever wrote down and committed to memory. I can still vaguely see my handwriting on a little index card in my mind's eye. I laugh with joy as I think of that awesome younger version of me thinking that was a quote worthy of my attention.  "This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man." To thine own self be true… Are you? Emerson echoed this wisdom centuries later when he said: "Trust thyself. Every heart vibrates to that iron string!" Trust thyself… Do you? Today's +1. Let's live the wise words of our dear friends Will and Ralph just a little more today.