OPTIMIZE with Brian Johnson | More Wisdom in Less Time

I’m the kinda guy who goes to a movie with a pen and paper ready to take notes. Well, I’m actually the kinda guy who (aside from when I’m on the Trail) pretty much ALWAYS has a pen and paper ready to take notes.

In our last +1, we talked about How to Be Perfect. Wait… Can you hear the philosophical laugh track? (lol) Seriously. So, ahem. Yah.  Perfection.

As I typed out the title for this +1—“How to Be a Perfect Person”—I laughed. A perfect person? HAH!!! As we’ve discussed so many times, THERE ARE NO PERFECT PEOPLE. And, alas, (sigh), you and I won’t be the first. But…

In our last +1, we talked about falling UPWARD and the fact that life will (hate to continue to break the news to you) involve suffering.

Let’s go back to Richard Rohr and his wisdom from Falling Upward. We haven’t talked about the title of the book yet. “Falling UPWARD.” Isn’t that odd? Don’t we usually fall DOWN? Yes.

In our last +1, we talked about making a Purpose upgrade—going from a grand conception of one “big purpose” for life (Purpose 1.0) to finding micro-moments of purpose all day every day (Purpose 2.0). I promised to chat about HOW to go about doing that Today. So…

In his great little book Life’s Great Question, Tom Rath talks about how to create more meaning in our lives by creating more meaning in our work. Of course, having a sense of purpose is central to creating a life of meaning. But…

I’m a big fan of Tom Rath and his work. And... I’m not alone. His 10 books have sold over 10 million copies. Dan Pink (author of Drive and When) calls him “One of the most successful nonfiction writers of his generation.”

Let’s spend another moment or three with Franciscan mystic-monk Richard Rohr. In Falling Upward, he integrates his Catholic faith with ancient myths and modern wisdom.

The other day I was out on the Trail doing my normal warm up. As I warmed up, I was reflecting on Richard Rohr’s GREAT book Falling Upward and this GREAT line within it: “As Desmond Tutu once told me on a recent trip to Cape Town, ‘We are only the light bulbs, Richard, and our job is just to remain screwed in!’”