OPTIMIZE with Brian Johnson | More Wisdom in Less Time

In our last +1, we talked about the importance of Virtue Management vis-a-vis Energy Management and Time Management. At the end of that I invited you to join us for our 2020 Mastery Series and Optimize Coach programs. Today I want to tell you a little more about one of the key components of the program (the Soul Force Forge!) and introduce you to one of my new favorite words (and phrases).

Last night as I was falling asleep, I was reflecting on the wonderful time I spent with a dear friend who came up to Ojai for a hike to chat about his next hero’s journey.

The other day I celebrated the 9-month anniversary of my little bionic-arm-creating injury. I celebrated by doing 300 burpees. Then, 6 days later, I celebrated the 9-month anniversary of the surgery. I celebrated by doing another 300 burpees.

Not too long ago, we shared a +1 on what I called “Thought Alchemy.” It was all about “How to Change One Thought for Another.”

The other day I was revisiting my Masterpiece Day. I’m pretty much constantly tweaking it on a micro +1 level and, when needed, revisiting it for a deeper architectural analysis of what’s working and what can use some work.

In our last +1, we spent some time with Emily Fletcher and reflected on her meditation wisdom that thoughts are not our enemies.

Emily Fletcher was a Broadway performer living the dream. Only…

Her hair was graying at 27, she was always stressed and had chronic insomnia. One of her fellow Broadway performers was always super calm and confident. Emily asked her how she did it. The woman told her that she meditated. Emily rolled her eyes. Then she decided to give meditation a try.

The other day we chatted about my recent staycation with my Stoic friends. (btw: Laughing as I type this but you know what I do when I’m feeling a little too fragmented with inputs and need a little clear-my-mind break? I go on a staycation—locking myself up in my no-inputs hermitage so I can read and write and think. … Which just so happens to be the most important part of my Job so… Note to self: Keep on doing that.)

Nir Eyal wrote the playbook that pretty much all of the major tech companies use to create their super-compelling (addictive/Irresistible?) web sites, apps, etc. The book is called Hooked.

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been having fun hanging out with some Stoics—some modern guys and some ancient ones. It started with a day hanging out with William B. Irvine. Professor Irvine is a rare species—an academic professor of philosophy AND an actual practitioner of (Stoic) philosophy. He and I had fun spending some time together as I read his brilliant book The Stoic Challenge.