Optimize With Brian Johnson | More Wisdom In Less Time

As all parents know, one of the most amazing things about having kids is watching them hit new milestones—when, one day, they can do what was impossible just the day before.   This recently happened in the Johnson house.   Our little baby Eleanor went from not being able to crawl to being able to cruise all over the place in what appeared to be the span of 24 hours. Of course, that’s life changing not just for her but for mom and dad as well. (Hah!)   As a father who happens to be a lover of wisdom, I couldn’t help but notice that this huge shift in ability that seemed to be so sudden was arrived at in an incredibly incremental way.   Of course, Eleanor has been slowly developing all the requisite strength and skills to be able to crawl and then… BAM! It’s on.   But, it’s fascinating to reflect on the fact that each of the preceding micro-gains didn’t make it obvious that something so big was in the works.   And, of course, it’s the same thing with us.   We may not see any “big” results in our liv

In our last +1, Navy SEALs Jocko Willink and Leif Babin told us that leadership is all about EXTREME Ownership. No excuses. No blaming. Ever.   They tell us that, ultimately, there are no bad teams per se, only bad leaders. To bring the point home, they tell us a story about guys in boats.   Imagine Navy SEAL training. You’re already exhausted from weeks of basic training. Now it’s time for Hell Week.   One of the most brutal aspects of the training is when the aspiring SEALs are split into “boat crews”—each with seven guys. Each team gets an old-school World War II-era inflatable boat that weighs 200 pounds. They need to carry this boat up and over 20-foot-high sand berms and run with it for miles. Then they get to paddle it out to the ocean, dump it over so everyone’s out and freezing wet and then paddle it back in.   And...   They’re always competing with everyone else. If you lose, you have to go through extra, bonus brutal stuff while the winners get to take the next race off. (The instructor

In our last +1, we talked about the Cal Newport-inspired “Shut-down complete!”   First, quick check in: You win that game?   Get this: Seneca was talking about the same thing 2,000 years ago.    As you may know, Seneca was born around the time Jesus was born. He was one of history’s leading Stoic philosophers. In addition to being one of the wealthiest people of Rome and a statesman plus advisor to emperors, he was also a playwright and is considered the creator of the essay.   In one of his great books called On the Shortness of Life, Seneca talks about the importance of giving our minds time to rest.    Specifically, he says: “Our minds must relax: they will rise better and keener after a rest. Just as you must not force fertile farmland, as uninterrupted productivity will soon exhaust it, so constant effort will sap our mental vigour, while a short period of rest and relaxation will restore our powers. Unremitting effort leads to a kind of mental dullness and lethargy.”   He tells us that back i

Mark Twain tells us that twenty years from now we will be more disappointed by the things we didn't do than by the things we did do. So, he says, we should throw off the bowlines and sail away from the safe harbor—catching the trade winds in our sails.   Get this: Science agrees.    In The Myths of Happiness, Sonja Lyubomirsky walks us through the fact that we are surprisingly resilient in the face of adversity.    And, we consistently overestimate how bad we’ll feel in the future if something goes wrong.    This is one of her “myths” of happiness.    In fact, this is such a common phenomenon that scientists actually have a name for it. They say we have poor “affective forecasting” abilities.   So, back to our quote to go for it.    If you go for it and fail, odds are you’ll bounce back faster than you think.    But…   If you don’t go for it, you run the risk of torturing yourself with an infinite number of scenarios where it could have worked out. Enter: Regret.   So…   Do you have any dr

Once upon a time, no British cyclist had ever won the Tour de France. Over 100 years of trying, and, precisely, zero wins. Then a guy named Sir David Brailsford stepped in and created Team Sky. He said that a British cyclist would win the Tour within five years. People thought he was crazy. Until they won it in two years. Then, for good measure, they won four of the next five races as well.  How’d he do it? Marginal gains. He looked for all the tiny little places where he could Optimize.  Things like making sure the riders uniforms were always washed in the same skin-friendly detergent for a little more comfort.  Things like making sure the riders always slept on the same exact mattresses every night to give them the best shot at a good night of sleep.  Things like making sure the hotel rooms were always properly vacuumed to reduce potential infections. TINY little things. Any one gain wouldn’t do a whole lot, of course. But, as we know, when you aggregate and compound enough of those tiny little incremental

Continuing our theme of sharpening our saw and resting before we get tired, let’s figure out how to avoid burnout.   Tal Ben-Shahar wrote a great book on how to quit being a perfectionist. He tells us that the root cause of fatigue, anxiety, depression and burnout in the corporate world “is not hard work; the problem is insufficient recovery.”   Think about that for a moment.   The problem isn’t that we WORK too hard per se. It’s that we don’t RECOVER enough.   That’s a really powerful distinction.    Which, of course, begs the question: Are YOU recovering enough?   Tal recommends we think about recovery on three levels: Micro + Mid + Macro.   Micro-level recoveries include things like taking a 15-minute break every 60 to 90 minutes.   Mid-level recoveries include things like making sure you have a shut-down complete that helps you get 7-9 hours of sleep every night and that you take at least a day off every week.   Macro-level breaks include taking 2-4 weeks off every year.   Let’s do a

We’re officially on a roll with the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. We’ve covered Habit #1: Be Proactive and Habit #2: Begin with the End in Mind.   Today? Habit #3: Put First Things First.   Here’s the short story: Covey tells us that some things matter and other things don’t. Highly Effective People know the difference and they “Put First Things First.”   As Goethe said: “Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things that matter least.”   Covey shares a handy-dandy four-quadrant model to help us get clarity on what’s really important. He organizes activities by Urgency and Importance. So, something can be Important or not and Urgent or not.    In Quadrant I we have things that are both “Urgent and Important.” These are fire drill-like activities. Unfortunately, way too many activities fall into this category. We need to do a better job of reducing the amount of stuff that shows up here or we’ll be constantly stressed and burned out.   In Quadrant II we have things that are N

When Peyton Manning was released from the Indianapolis Colts after fourteen seasons, a number of teams recruited him. He picked the Denver Broncos.   Now, when he decided to go with the Broncos, he didn’t say to himself, “I hope this works out alright.”   He decided to PROVE HIMSELF RIGHT.   There’s an epically huge difference between those two perspectives.   In one, you kinda-sorta hedge and never really go all in. It’s a good way to protect yourself from the risk of being wrong but it’s also a really good way to be mediocre.   When you make a real decision, you, by definition, cut off all the other options and go ALL IN. Then you’re not interested in hedging. You’re interested in winning. So, you go to work, HUSTLING to make sure you prove yourself right.   Today’s +1.   Quick check in: What’s important to you right now? Like super important. If you could wave a wand and make THIS wildly important thing happen, what would it be?   Got it? You willing to really dream? Fantastic.   Now, are you

Legend has it that when Michelangelo stepped up to a block of marble, he could see the finished statue in his mind’s eye. His job was simple: Get rid of what was in the way. That’s a pretty powerful image. Let’s apply it to our lives. Step back from your current life for a moment. Fast-forward 5-10 years. Look within the block of marble that is you and your potential.  SEE the best version of you sitting within that block of marble. Can you see it? You at your best.  Now… What’s in the way of you expressing that heroic version of you more and more consistently?  What little habits do we need to chip away at to reveal the most beautiful version of you hidden within that marble? And, what’s the one little habit we’re going to let go of today to reveal just a little more of the awesome? Fantastic. Here’s a chisel. Let’s do this!  How? +1. +1. +1. 

William Shakespeare once told us (via Polonius in Hamlet): “This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.” For some reason, as a 15-year old in high school, I decided THAT would be the very first quote I ever wrote down and committed to memory. I can still vaguely see my handwriting on a little index card in my mind’s eye. I laugh with joy as I think of that awesome younger version of me thinking that was a quote worthy of my attention.  “This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.” To thine own self be true… Are you? Emerson echoed this wisdom centuries later when he said: “Trust thyself. Every heart vibrates to that iron string!” Trust thyself… Do you? Today’s +1. Let’s live the wise words of our dear friends Will and Ralph just a little more today.

Want this year to be the greatest year of your life? Here's how to go about making that happen. We’ll start with a quick inventory of what’s awesome. And, what needs work. Then we’ll move on to imagine THE (!) best version of you in 10 years and 25+ years (eulogy you!) while reflecting on how to make the prior best version of you your new baseline. Then… It’s all about being that version of you NOW. We’ll revisit the fundies and your Big 3 while creating Masterpiece Days, avoiding the pickles and kryptonite dust, WOOPing everything and playing the game that is our lives as well as we can.

Pierre Hadot was one of the most influential historians of ancient philosophy. In this book, he gives us an incredible look at Marcus Aurelius and his classic Meditations. You can feel Hadot’s incredible intellectual rigor and equally incredible passion for engaged philosophy. It’s inspiring. Big Ideas we explore include spiritual exercises, your inner citadel, your daimōn, amor fate, turning obstacles upside down and carpe areté.

Got problems with your soul? These days, you’d see a psychotherapist. But, back in the day, it was the philosopher who’d help you optimize—they were the preferred physician of the soul. This book is about the philosophical roots of modern psychotherapy. Specifically, it outlines the connection between cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and Stoicism. Big Ideas we explore include being a warrior of the mind vs. a librarian of the mind, your highest human purpose, getting on good terms with your inner daimon, practicing the reserve clause and modeling your ideal sage.

This book combines two of my favorite things: Stoicism + Ryan Holiday’s wisdom. Stoicism was one of the most influential philosophy of the Roman world and has continued to influence many of history’s greatest minds. As Ryan says: It’s time to bring it back as a powerful tool “in the pursuit of self-mastery, perseverance, and wisdom.” This is one of the my favorite books ever. Big Ideas we explore: the #1 thing to know about Stoicism, how to create tranquility, a good answer to “What’s the latest and greatest?!,” the 2 essential tasks in life and the art of acquiescence (aka amor fati).

In one of my coaching sessions with Phil Stutz he told me to write something down. (He often does that.

Do you know how caffeine actually works? Most of us think that caffeine gives us energy. But what it actually does is mask our fatigue—making us feel more energized than we actually are. Here’s the quick story on what’s going on behind the scenes. One of the by-products of being awake and having your neurons fire is a neurotransmitter called adenosine. As adenosine accumulates in your brain, you get tired—cueing you to go to sleep to recover. Caffeine is structurally very similar to adenosine. So similar, in fact, that it can actually sneak into those little adenosine receptors and block the adenosine from doing its job of letting us know we’re tired. And voila! You feel energized. Obviously, that’s pretty cool. (Hah.) Today’s +1: Two things we want to consider as we optimize our caffeine intake. 1. We want to know that when we use caffeine we’re “borrowing” energy. Therefore, we’d be wise to use caffeine strategically rather than habitually. If we need caffeine to get going in the morning, what we