OPTIMIZE with Brian Johnson | More Wisdom in Less Time

You know that Ferrari pit crew we chatted about not too long ago?

Well, I haven’t been able to get that beautiful 60-second scene out of my head.  22 guys working together so perfectly. As the description to the YouTube video puts it: “poetry in motion.”

Have you ever read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho? It’s amazing. I’ve read it a bunch of times. Guess how many copies the book has sold since Paulo wrote it over 30 years ago… 65 MILLION! (!!!)

Not too long ago, we had fun taking a quick tour through Mel Robbins’s wise and funny brain and book. We talked quite a bit about her 5 Second Rule but I realized I never formally defined it for us in her words.

In our last +1, we talked about SOUL Goals vis-a-vis SMART Goals. We established the idea that SMART Goals are fantastic for widget-making linear goals that can easily be thrown into Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic and Time-Based buckets.

In the Mastery phase of our Optimize Coach program, we recently talked about SOUL Goals vs. SMART Goals. It was part of Module IV on Heroic Quests. (Which came after Module I on Eudaimon-ology, Module II on The Big 3 (x2) and Module III on Carpe Diem.) As this stage, most of us know about SMART Goals.

The other day my friend Zac and his family visited for a wonderful hike on our favorite Trail. Emerson and his son Charlie had fun chatting about mountain climbing while giving our sandstone rocks a run for their money while the moms chatted and I learned about young Julia’s mental toughness techniques for tennis.

In our last couple +1s, we’ve had fun (at least I have!) briefly chatting about the first two steps Paul Napper and Anthony Rao encourage us to take in pursuit of cultivating our Agency such that life’s challenges are just nutritious treats fueling our hero’s journeys.

In our last +1, we had fun taking the first step in building our Agency. Pop quiz: Do you recall what that step was?  (And, MUCH more importantly: Did you take a little action to Optimize?) Recap: According to Paul Napper and Anthony Rao, the first thing we need to do if we want to cultivate our ability to take effective action on behalf of our highest selves is to “Control Stimuli.”

In our last several +1s, we’ve been talking about The Power of Agency. In our next few +1s, we’re going to talk about the Top 3 ways Paul Napper and Anthony Rao tell us we can build our agency such that we can eat all those challenges like the energy bars they’re meant to be—fueling us as we Optimize and actualize our potential in greatest service to the world.

In our last couple +1s, we’ve been talking about Agency. I promised we’d get into how The Power of Agency guys tell us we can build our agency. But, first, let’s take a quick trip down Etymology Lane.