Optimize With Brian Johnson | More Wisdom In Less Time

In our last +1, we talked about you feasting on your Hero Bars—using memories of your past success as fuel to walk through fear doors today.   (You grab three for Today?)   All of those Cookies and Hero Bars remind me of an idea from former Navy SEAL Alden Mills' great book Be Unstoppable.    I read it years ago and recently re-read it with Emerson.   It's a fantastic parable about a young captain who meets a wise, older mentor-captain who teaches him how to Optimize and actualize his potential to become a "Master and Commander."   Emerson and I loved it.   The Master Captain (who goes by Persistent Pete), has eight actions he teaches his young protégé. (One of which reminds me of the Hero Bars! We'll talk about it tomorrow.)    The Actions form the acronym UPERSIST.   Emerson can rattle them off.   In fact, let's invite him in so he can share!   Action #1: Understand Your Why Action #2: Plan Action #3: Energize to Execute (A

In our last +1, we talked about the wonderful little book-gift I received from Cal Newport and we reflected on a particular passage from that book (Leadership: In Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin) that really jumped out and grabbed me.   The essence of that passage?   Our presidential luminaries differed in many ways. But they ALL shared a "fierce ambition."   Of the heroic kind.   Today I'd like to talk about another passage from the book. This one's from page 106. I actually STARTED reading the book on this page because, in his thoughtful gift note, Cal told me that the wisdom on that particular page made him think of me and of our recent chats.   Here's how page 106 starts: "What fired in Lincoln this furious and fertile time of self-improvement? The answer lay in his readiness to gaze in the mirror and soberly scrutinize himself. Taking stock, he found himself wanting. From the beginning, young Lincoln aspired to nothing less than to inscribe his name into the

Continuing our theme of seeking/conquering fear, let's have some fun with Jon Eliot and his wisdom from Overachievement.   Here's how he (brilliantly!) puts it: "Working on techniques to manage stress is a bit like trying to win the Indy 500 by putting a governor on the engine of your race car or swapping out a powerful V-12 for a V-4 because it offers a 'quieter ride.' You wouldn't do that. Not if you were after the checkered flag. Not if you were racing star Jeff Gordon. No superstar is about to give his opponents an edge. Nor should you by trying to relax when the pressure's on."   So…   Important question.   Do you want to win the race of life?   Or…   Would you simply prefer to have a "quieter" ride?   (I say "YES!!!" to both, please! lol)   Ideally, we show up with THE most powerful engine possible AND we have fun learning how to handle that Beast as we drive at record-shattering speeds, eh?   Let's do that.   But let's agree not to

Gary Taubes wrote a great book called The Case Against Sugar.   Basic idea: If you were a detective in charge of figuring out a series of crimes and you noticed a common pattern among those crimes, you'd be smart to put the pieces together and see if you could narrow your search down to a single suspect.   Right?   Well… That's what Taubes does in his book.   The crimes? All the chronic diseases wreaking havoc on our society—from diabetes and obesity to heart disease and cancer.   Short story: All those chronic diseases are associated with metabolic dysfunction.   And the fastest way to make your metabolism dysfunctional? Sugar.   Enter: The case against it.    Remember our Nobel Prize winner Elizabeth Blackburn? She discovered telomerase—the stuff that replenishes telomeres.    Here's how she puts it in The Telomere Effect: "When we want to spot the parties responsible for metabolic disease, we point a finger at the highly processed, suga

In our last +1, we took a quick trip to Michelangelo's studio and saw the Optimus You sitting there in the uncarved marble. Then we did a little chiseling at some behaviors that might be getting in the way.   Today's +1 is another super-quick one.   Pop quiz: You know what moment Michelangelo decided to capture when he carved David?    Hint: It wasn't his moment of celebration right after he "officially" became a hero by defeating Goliath.    It was his moment of DECISION.   It was the moment he DECIDED to step up and do his best to serve profoundly and, ultimately, heroically.   That (and I have goosebumps as I type this) was what Michelangelo (rightly) considered the most heroic moment of David's life—the moment he DECIDED to step up and strive to be a hero.    Guess what?   (Echo!!)   We get to make those micro-decisions all day every day.   Here's to choosing wisely, David.

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.    All day every day. Joe and his 44-pound cast-iron little Leo are BFFs.   Now, as I was preparing for Greatest Year Ever 2019, I was reflecting on that epic love story and thinking about the importance of having symbols to capture our most important intentions.    For Joe, that kettlebell represents his commitment to obstacle immunity and to honoring the pledge he's made to help 100 million people Optimize their lives via his Spartan Races—which I find to be SUPER inspiring.   I wondered: What symbol can I create for myself that will capture my commitment to stepping up and into the next-best version of myself as a social entrepreneur and leader—doing my part to help 100 million (!!) people Optimize their live

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. Given the fact that the fastest way to Optimize your life is to STOP doing things that are sub-optimal AND the fact that (for nearly all of us) our use of technology is the #1 thing that "Needs work!," it's SUPER important for us to figure out how to best use all the technology available to us WITHOUT becoming lost in a tsunami of inputs. Enter: Our new philosophy of technology use: Digital Minimalism.

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?   Well, we know that's a pretty flimsy excuse (hah!) but if you're not meditating and you have a tough time falling asleep at night, here's some fun little data from Arianna Huffington's The Sleep Revolution that will help us quantify the IMMEDIATE time-ROI you'll get by meditating.   Arianna tells us: "A 2009 Stanford study found that a six-week mindfulness meditation course helped people who have trouble sleeping fall asleep twice as quickly, in fifteen minutes instead of thirty-three minutes."   Recap: If you have trouble falling asleep, learning to meditate (and doing so consis

In our last +1, we talked about the Optimize Master's program (aka Optimize Coach!) and had fun with some wisdom on moving from theory to practice—reminding ourselves that the theory (although important!) is just the rudimentary stuff. The ADVANCED work is the actual PRACTICE.   Here's what was kinda weird.   As I was drafting that +1, I was doing some quick key word searches on my Mac to find the quotes I wanted to pull. I grabbed one from Ernest Holmes's Creative Mind and Success and one from Vernon Howard's The Power of Your Supermind.    But before I found the right quote from Holmes, I opened up another one of our Notes on another one of his great books The Art of Life.    (Fun note: I went through a phase where I was REALLY into understanding what all the old-school New Thought guys thought and read basically all their stuff.)   Anyway…    As I did that little searching and opened up a few PDFs, I noticed that the first Big Idea from both

In our last +1, we talked about our inaugural Optimize Coach program (there's still a little more time to sign up and join hundreds of other passionate Optimizers in making this the greatest year of our lives while helping others in our lives do the same, btw).   Specifically, we discussed the very first email we send out with the very first micro-exercise to invite Optimus Us to the party.   It goes like this:    Stand up. Expand. Relax. Pull the thread thru your head. Take a deep breath (in thru the nose, down into the belly, etc.). Chest up. Chin down. Relax a little more. Expand a little more. Smile.   "Hi, Optimus!!"   We're going to start (and end) every single one of our 43 weekly sessions together with that exercise. CONSTANTLY remembering to physically flip the switch from the not-quite-Optimus version of ourselves to the "Let's do this!!!" Optimus version of Us.   As I wrapped my brain around the importance of this little exercise and how to integra

In our last +1, we took a nice stroll down Brian's Biographical Byway—exploring the power of flipping Identity switches. (You make any distinctions? Flip any switches?)   btw: That Seneca quote with which we wrapped up that +1 always knocks my socks off: "It is not because things are difficult that you do not dare. It is because you do not dare that things are difficult."    Today I want to go back to Atomic Habits and explore an Idea that didn't make it into the Note.    It has to do with Michael Phelps. And his genes. And how they impacted his pants inseam length. And how that affected his Olympic greatness.   Get this: At this stage, we all know that Phelps is one of the greatest athletes of ALL TIME. He's won more gold medals (23!!) than anyone in the history of the Olympics.    He's a case study in grit. In his autobiography No Limits, he shares the key character traits he believes led to his astonishing success.   But…   One of the thin

In our last +1, we talked about how to make yourself a quadrillion (!!!) times better. The recap there: Just let the magic of compounding 1% gains work for you. Every day. 10 years. Boom!   Of course the fine print includes the fact that, although inspiring, that's (obviously) pretty much impossible as NO ONE, not even the best among us, are perfect (thanks, Maslow!) and we won't be the first. But contemplating the sheer potential force of compounding tiny gains is pretty inspiring.   Now, as I wrapped my brain around that power and imagined each of us stepping into that next-best version of ourselves (then repeating the spiraling up again and again!), Ralph Waldo Emerson came to mind.     In Self-Reliance, he has a great line about the fact that great human beings have an aura about them. He says that it's almost as if they have a bunch of angels escorting them.    As he puts it: "The force of character is cumulative. All the foregone days of virtue work their

In our last +1, we talked about how the Peak Performance guys recommend we craft our optimal work-to-rest ratio.    Pop quiz: You recall the ratio?    Pop answer: 50 to 90 minutes ON. 7 to 20 minutes OFF. Making nice rhythmic waves…   (More importantly: You practice it yesterday?)   Today, as promised, I want to talk about the importance of creating boundaries lest we teeter into the realm of burnout and/or never leave the realm of sub-awesome performance.   First, let's talk about the boundaries required to get into true, 100% ON mode.    Guess what… All that multi-tasking? Flitting back and forth from one thing to another? That's NOT awesome. (Cap'n Obvious here with a friendly public service announcement.)    We need to create bright-line boundaries and focus on ONE Thing—the most important thing—if we want to have a shot at operating in our upper threshold of productive performance.    We all know that. (Right?)   Yet…

Continuing (and concluding) our trip through Steve Chandler's wise brain (and great book, Reinventing Yourself), let's talk about campfires.   Campfires? Yep. Campfires.    So… You're out camping. It's night time. You light a fire. It keeps you warm. You wake up the next morning. The fire is out. You'll need to light another fire tonight to get warm again.   Now, do you complain about the fact that you need to create another fire? Or, do you just accept that that's how it is?   Unless you pretty much exclusively speak Victimese, you accept that reality and simply make another fire, right?   Well… Steve tells us that the "human spirit" is JUST like that campfire. You need to re-light it EVERY SINGLE DAY.   Most people don't like that fact. They want their fire to burn all day every day from the moment they wake up until the moment they fall asleep (with pleasant dreams included as well)—with as little effort as possible.   That's called entitlement. Y

Arianna Huffington (CEO of Thrive and co-founder + editor in chief of The Huffington Post) went from being a sleep-deprived executive to a sleep evangelist after passing out and banging her head following years of a grueling work! In this book, she brilliantly walks us through the crisis we're facing, the history of sleep, the science of sleep and, most importantly, what we can do to Optimize our sleep. I highly recommend it. Big Ideas we explore include the fact that sleep is the #1 most underrated health habit, how to master sleeping well, the #1 tip (and #2-4), how much sleep the wealthiest human on the planet gets (hint: target: 8!), how athletes train their sleep (guess what time Tom Brady goes to sleep!), and why you should set a WORK-DOWN alarm so you don't need a WAKE-UP alarm.

Ready to make 2019 the Greatest Year of Your Life? Me, too. It's time to Operationalize Virtue—getting (even more) clarity on what our Optimus selves look like and getting even better at consistently showing up AS that best version of ourselves. In this class, we review why we do what we do together, take a quick trip to hell (yikes!) then to Michelangelo's studio (yay!) then we get to work sculpting our Energy, Work and Love—taking the time to wrap our souls around our Identity + Virtues + Soul Goals + Algorithms that will drive our Masterpiece Days as we Dare to step thru Fear Doors into all we're destined to be. Hope you love it and looking forward to LITERALLY making this year the greatest year of your life in an unending string of such awesome years!

Dr. Mercola is a super-popular alternative health physician who runs the equally popular site Mercola.com. In this book, we get a look at his "Mitochondrial Metabolic Therapy" program. MMT for short. As you could probably guess, this is a high-fat (+ "adequate" protein + low-carb) diet. If that approach fires you up, I think you'll love the book. If not, well… :) Big Ideas we explore include: meeting our mitochondria (the key to health), why "adequate" protein is where it's at (not low or moderate or high but "adequate"!), mTOR (the cancer switch), good fats (vs. bad ones), peak fasting, and how to win the urge war.