Optimize With Brian Johnson | More Wisdom In Less Time

Dan Millman (author of Way of the Peaceful Warrior and other great books) introduced me to David Reynolds's great book Constructive Living years ago as he's been deeply influenced by David's integration of Zen Buddhism and Western Psychotherapy. I like to say it's the best book you've (likely) never heard of. Join David and I for a chat about some of my favorite Big Ideas on how to live with greater self-mastery by more effectively relating to our emotions and consistently asking ourselves: "Now what needs to be done?!"

You have any impulsive behaviors you'd like to cool off? (If you're human, the answer is yes.) Then If-Then planning for hot spots is for you!

Spiritual indigestion. It comes from a lot of studying and not a lot of applying. The solution is simple - move from theory to practice by LIVING your truths! -)

Test: "I'll give you two marshmallows if you wait 20 minutes or you can have one now." How pre-schoolers responded to that predicted their SAT scores at 16, their BMI at 30 and brain health at 50. (WOW.)

Be quick!! But don't hurry. John Wooden repeated that all.the.time to his players in every.single.practice. We need to live with intensity (!), fully showing up and playing at the edge of our abilities WHILE staying centered. Andy Hill walks us through how he learned how to do that playing under Wooden during their dynasty days.

Fact - We already know. The question is - do we have the courage to trust ourselves and follow our own wisdom? Here are a few exercises and questions to help you tap into your inner wisdom and develop your intuition!

There's a sweet spot between your comfort zone and your survival zone. That's where we want to hang out as we deliberately practice and move to mastery.

Tim Sanders is awesome. He was the Chief Solutions Officer for Yahoo! back in the day and wrote the uber-cool book Love Is the Killer App. In this interview, we’ll learn how to be truly rich via powerful daily practices as we become healthy-thought nuts and POETs who practice persistence. Fun!

Want to optimize your life? Try this simple exercise to identify the top things you could *start* doing and *stop* doing that will lead to the most positive impact in your life!!

Did you know there’s an equation for Procrastination? Yep. Expectancy x Value / Impulsiveness x Delay = Motivation. Thank you, Piers Steel. In this great book, Piers (a leading researcher on the science of motivation/procrastination) walks us thru the power of that equation. Big Ideas we explore include: Mental Contrasting (and why it beats creative visualization), goal setting (3 scientific keys) and how to add a month of productivity to your year.

Want to figure out your mission in life? Here are 5 Big Ideas + 5 journal questions + 5 tips to help you rock it!!!

In The Talent Code, Dan Coyle introduced us to the power of myelin and its role in creating world-class performance. In The Little Book of Talent, he shares 52 uber-practical tips on how to improve our skills. Big Ideas we explore include how to actually deliberately practice (hint: find your sweet spot), the most important skill (hint: get good at actually practicing), playing mental movies, adopting a blue collar mind set and thinking like a gardener while acting like a carpenter.

Willpower. It's the queen of all virtues--the greatest predictor of health, happiness, wealth and all other good things. Here are 10 tips on how to build *your* willpower!!

Want to catalyze your motivation + goal attainment? Get your WOOP on! Wish + Outcome + Obstacle + Plan = magic.

Gratitude, as we know, is huge. Here's another really powerful exercise to flex your appreciation muscles and train yourself to see what's working in your life!!