OPTIMIZE with Brian Johnson | More Wisdom in Less Time

In our last +1 we talked about those two 50-pound sandbags I got to carry back to the car yesterday after someone decided to go Beastmode on me and borrow my bag for the day. (Hah! Go them!!) I briefly mentioned that it was raining when I was training.

In our last few +1s, we’ve been having fun hanging out with Spartan Race Founder/CEO Joe De Sena, his son Jack and his cast-iron friend Leo. We also met my new sweatband Leonidas. Today I’d like to talk about 100 pounds of sand.

In our last +1, we met Joe De Sena’s kettlebell named Leo. (I laugh as I type that.) As you may recall, little Leonidas goes everywhere Joe goes. Traveling around the world? Mr. Leo gets checked in. Heading to the office in the morning. Leo’s going, too.

In our last +1, we met Spartan Race Founder/CEO Joe De Sena’s son Jack. As you may recall, at six years old he had the willpower of an ancient Spartan warrior!

Joe De Sena’s newest book is called The Spartan Way. It’s all about the ten Spartan virtues. It’s awesome. (Quick recap for those who might not have been following along: Joe’s first book Spartan Up! got me to do my first Spartan Race. His second book Spartan Fit! got me to step up my game. And, well, now I’m ALL IN.)

In our last couple of +1s, we had fun looking at how to cut 15 minutes off the time it takes us to fall asleep by popping the magical meditation pill. Let’s pull the meditation thread for a moment longer, shall we?

Cal Newport joins us as a guest teacher for this class! He is one of my favorite thinkers. He got his Ph.D. in Computer Science from MIT and is now a Professor at Georgetown. He’s also a bestselling author of a number of books.

In our last +1, we talked about meditation’s instant ROI. Quick recap: Stanford science says that if you have trouble sleeping, you can fall asleep TWICE as fast if you’re a meditator than if you’re not (going from taking 33 minutes to fall asleep to falling asleep in 15 minutes) — basically giving you an instant ROI on that 15 minutes of meditation you do today on a pure time basis, before we add in all the other benefits.

Meditation. At this point, most of us are pretty aware of the fact that it’s been proven to be pretty epic for our well-being. Congrats, high fives, curtsies, etc. if you’re rockin’ a meditation practice already. If you’re not investing a few minutes of your day into meditation yet, what’re you waiting for?! Perhaps you’re telling yourself you don’t have the time?

In our last +1, we talked about the two facets of Emotional Stamina. Recall: The WORSE you feel, the MORE committed you are to your protocol. AND… The BETTER you feel, the MORE committed you are to your protocol!!!