OPTIMIZE with Brian Johnson | More Wisdom in Less Time

Richard Rohr is one of my new favorite teachers. Alexandra got me his book called Falling Upward after I told her how much I loved David Brooks’ The Second Mountain. Apparently it’s recommended alongside that book on Amazon. With 1,400+ reviews, Alexandra thought I might like it.

In our last +1, we talked about using data as a flashlight not a hammer. With the right (read: GROWTH) mindset, there’s no such thing as “bad” data. We’re experimenters. The data’s all neutral.

Today we’re going to return to David Brooks’ great book The Second Mountain for a little more wisdom. Let’s flip open our copies of the book to page 294.

In our last couple +1s, we’ve been talking about Jon Gottman and his wisdom on how to make a marriage work. We’ve been focused on one aspect of the third of his seven principles: Turning toward our partners by responding to their bids.

In our last +1, we hung out with Jon Gottman and learned that successful marriages feature partners responding to one another’s bids. (Did you do your quick, napkin Relationship Bid Math?)

In our last +1, we talked about being Efficient vs. Effective. Efficiency? It’s GREAT for managing our time and completing tasks. Not so great for creating EFFECTIVE relationships with people.

In our last +1, we talked about David Brooks’ wisdom that the word "altruism” is an invention of the 18th century. Before that?Being kind and generous and selfless WAS JUST HOW PEOPLE LIVED.

Today we’re going to tap into some more wisdom from David Brooks’ The Second Mountain. Let’s flip our copies of the book open to page sixty-four. David is in the middle of describing the second mountain to us—telling us that it’s a life filled with moral joy that is a by-product of deep commitments to our marriages, vocation, faith and communities.

As we discussed in our +1 on The Puzzle of Life, Emerson and I recently got into puzzles. These days we’ve been having fun with the Ravensburger series of escape puzzles. We started with the Vampire’s Castle. Then we had fun with the Witch’s Kitchen and then it was on to the Space Observatory.

In our last +1, we wrapped up the tour of my notes from a recent chat with Phil.