OPTIMIZE with Brian Johnson | More Wisdom in Less Time

In our last +1, we talked about an exercise to get a little more clarity on the trade-offs you might be making in regard to your top priorities and your tech usage.

Continuing our focus on how to conquer digital addiction, let’s talk about a super simple way to get a little more clarity on the trade-offs you might be making and create a little more motivation to rock it.

In our last +1, we talked about all the zeroes (12 of them!) in the Attention Economy. Today I’d like to talk a little more about addiction. Specifically, let’s talk about the etymology of the word. Do you know where it comes from?

A couple +1s ago, while celebrating Yuval Noah Harari’s lack of a smartphone, I mentioned the fact that we don’t need to become smashing Luddites in response to the tsunami of technology that hammers us all day every day. But… We ALSO want to make sure we don’t become addicted users. The best solution? Be an Optimizite. Let’s make the best use of technology to sculpt the best possible version of yourself. (Recall that Optimize comes from the Latin optimus which literally means “the best.”)

In our last +1, we talked about the fact that Yuval Noah Harari doesn’t have a smartphone. He’s basically written an algorithm that helps him get to the bottom of things rather than be Mr. On Top of Things. (How’re you doing with those algorithms?)

In our last +1, we talked about the humble algorithm and Professor Harari’s point that it is, arguably, the single most important concept in our world today. We also did a quick audit of the algorithms in your life. (You get to work uninstalling a sub-optimal one and installing an optimal one in its place?!)

Continuing our tour through Professor Harari’s big brain and its vision of our future, let’s talk about what he considers “arguably the single most important concept in our world.” What would you guess?

Continuing our exploration of wisdom gleaned from Yuval Noah Harari's big brain and two bestselling books, let’s talk about how to live forever. (This one will be more like a +11 as it’ll run on the longer side…)

In our last +1, we talked about Professor Harari’s two world maps—one before The Scientific Revolution that was all filled in (including areas they knew NOTHING about) and one after that had plenty of empty spaces (accounting for all they things they didn’t know).

In our last +1, we talked about the fact that, as per the brilliant Professor Harari, The Scientific Revolution that kicked off 500 years ago and so profoundly changed the world was started by a bunch of ignoramuses who were willing to admit all that they DIDN’T know.