OPTIMIZE with Brian Johnson | More Wisdom in Less Time

Penguin Random House recently sent me an advanced copy of a book called An Audience of One. It’s great. Check out the Notes on it. Thank you, Penguin Random House! As I was reading it, a quote from Stuart Wilde jumped off the page and grabbed me by my shoulders (flashback to my mom! lol).

In our last +1, we talked about Eric Maisel’s powerful question: “How can I make myself proud?” That was part of his existential, meaning-making process in which we imagine the ideal version of ourselves—the person we would most like to be. And then we ACT like that version of ourselves now and… voila! We’re proud of ourselves.

In our last +1, we talked about wisdom from my mom and Thomas Carlyle. Here’s the quick recap:  Mom: “God gave you gifts. You must give them to the world!!!”  Tom: “The man without a purpose is like a ship without a rudder; a waif, a nothing, a no-man. Have a purpose in life, and having it, throw such strength of mind and muscle into your work as God has given you.”

Continuing our underwater theme for a moment longer, have you ever heard of hagfish? They’re pretty creepy. (I apologize in advance for the visual image here but I think it’s worth it…)

Yesterday we talked about unicorns and where to find them. Today we’re going to talk about merpeople and where to find them. Well, not really. But maybe kind of. (Hah.)

In our last +1, we talked about Joseph Campbell’s thoughts on Bliss AND Pain. Short story there, if you’re ONLY experiencing fun and excitement (and accompanying sunshine and rainbows and unicorns!) then you’re doing it wrong.

Continuing our work and play theme, let’s tap into some more wisdom from leading play researcher Stuart Brown and his brilliant book Play and invite Joseph Campbell to the party.

In our last +1, we talked about Abraham Maslow and the fact that self-actualizers dissolve the (apparent!) dichotomy between work and play. Then we enjoyed James Michener genius thoughts from his autobiography regarding the master in the art of living.

In our last +1, we talked about W.H. Auden’s (genius) quip that routine, in an intelligent person, is a sign of ambition. (I laugh with joy every time I type that.) Then we did a quick check in on your ambition. And, hopefully, we dialed it up a notch and made sure that your routines were reflecting that strong desire to Optimize and actualize in service to your family, community and world. Today I want to talk about work and play.

Daily Rituals is a fascinating book that features brief vignettes of the idiosyncratic habits of 161 of history’s most iconoclastic writers, scientists and other great thinkers—ranging from W.H. Auden, Charles Darwin and Carl Jung to Stephen King, Benjamin Franklin and Mozart.