OPTIMIZE with Brian Johnson | More Wisdom in Less Time

In our last +1, we talked about Zen in the Art of Spartan Spear Throwing and the recent installation of a spear throw setup in our backyard, complete with bails of hay, etc. (Yes, we’re ALL IN at the Johnson house.) How about YOU? Do you have a deep commitment to mastery in your life?

Alexandra recently got Steven Pressfield’s newest book called The Artist’s Journey. Sub-title: The Wake of the Hero’s Journey and the Lifelong Pursuit of Meaning.  (I might have swiped it before she could read it. Thanks, Babes!) This is Pressfield’s 19th book. It’s the 9th book of his I’ve read so far (and our 4th Note). It’s fantastic. Today we’re going to talk about a particular passage that jumped out and high-fived me.

The other day I was waiting in line at our local grocery store. It’s kinda like a mini-Whole Foods. Note: There were no horses tethered in the parking lot. (Hah.) As I was standing there in line pleasantly “bored” (without my smartphone) and looking forward to some micro-moments of positivity resonance with Annie, the sweet woman who knows our kids by name and gives them stickers every time we see her, I glanced at the magazines on display.

As you might have noticed, we talk a lot about tapping into the heroic best within ourselves. That kinda begs the question: Is all this Optimizing good for us? Which leads to some important distinctions and to some Joseph Campbell wisdom I’ve been meaning to share for awhile. First, a couple of distinctions...

The other day in one of our coaching sessions, Phil and I talked about “soul force.”  We arrived at that powerful phrase via a very mundane question related to the keynote I was giving later that month. I literally never do “talks” so… “To PowerPoint or not to PowerPoint?” <- That was the question. (I use a Mac so, technically, the question was “To Keynote or not to Keynote?”)

Here are 5 of my favorite Big Ideas from "Reinventing Yourself" by Steve Chandler. Hope you enjoy! I got this book years ago when I first started working with Steve Chandler. At the time, I read and listened to a ton of his stuff. Steve and I worked together one-on-one for a couple years. This is our sixth Note on his books.

In our last +1, we talked about the fact that Americans check their phones 8 BILLION times every day. (Wow.) We also talked about the fact that (at least 5 billion of) those 8 billion checks are essentially kryptonite for the love in your life. Today I want to talk about some more wisdom from Yuval Noah Harari’s new book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. But first, let’s talk about horses.

We’re going to have a hard time actualizing our potential if we have a hard time getting out of bed. Energy is SUPER important. In fact, it’s the engine for our actualization. In this class, we’ll integrate a lot of the most essential aspects of eating, moving, and sleeping. But first, we’ll start by stepping back and recognizing just how important it is that we flip the switch in our minds...

In our last +1, we talked about Love. Specifically, we talked about Love 0.0. Love 1.0. Love 2.0. And, Love 3.0. Today, we’re going to talk about what I think is the #1 thing that gets in the way of ALL of those forms of Love. Can you guess what it is? … What’s Love’s ultimate kryptonite Answer in a moment. First, quick context.

In our last few +1s, we talked about MMA Champ Champs, Olympic pankration fighters and Teddy Roosevelt’s Optimizer in the Arena. Today we’re going to shift gears a bit and talk about Love. Specifically, let’s talk about Love 0.0 + Love 1.0 + Love 2.0 + Love 3.0.