Optimize With Brian Johnson | More Wisdom In Less Time

After a very brief retirement, I'm back. lol. Missed you. Let's goooo! As always: Get instant (free) access to all 600+ PhilosophersNotes AND all 50 Optimal Living 101

Optimize: https://optimize.me/ (← Get Free Stuff + Free 2-Week Trial!) Optimize Coach: https://optimize.me/coach (← Join 2,000+ Optimizers from 70+ Countries!) Here are 5 of my favorite Big Ideas from The Practicing Stoic by Ward Farnsworth. Hope you enjoy! Ward Farnsworth is the Dean of the University of Texas School of Law. As you can imagine, he brings a logical precision to his discussion of Stoicism that is distinct and powerful. (Seriously. It's actually ASTONISHINGLY powerful.) I really enjoyed the book and I highly recommend it for the aspiring Practicing Stoic. Big Ideas we explore include Principle #1 of practical Stoicism (Judgment!), the good life vs. the good mood (virtue for the win!), what others think (<- pro tip: ignore it), preferred indifference (committed but not attached), and using adversity as fuel for our Optimizing (use Hermes' magic wand!). Get The Practicing Stoic on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Practicing-Stoic-Philosophical-Users-Manual/dp/1567926118/ Learn more about

In our last couple +1s, we've been chatting about Trevor Moawad's wisdom on what he calls "neutral thinking."   We started by hanging out with Russell Wilson en route to winning a Super Bowl. Then we visited the Johnson Ranch to discuss my relationship with our new chickens and their poop.   (Yes, I can't get enough of those emojis…)   So…   The morning after that chat I had with Emerson about how to approach the chicken situation either negatively, positively, or neutrally, we were doing our family workout—which currently features me chasing the kids on their bikes as we have fun going around the 1/2-mile Trail-loop we created around our property.    Only…   This morning, Emerson's bike had a flat tire.    He immediately started crying—super bummed he wouldn't be able to ride his epic lime green (lol) bike around the Trail as planned.   So…   I cruised over and said, "Buddy! Your tire's flat. That's a bummer. I get it. And.. Remember that

Today we hit the pause button on the ol' #1s as it's taking a little more Energy + Focus than I'm willing to give it vis-a-vis my truly What's Important Now targets. I think I'll be back with these near the end of the year to make sure we're wrapping up 2020 with antifragile ferocity and getting ready to make 2021 THE Greatest Year of our Lives. In the meantime, PNTVs every day thru end of year. And Top 3 kicking off October 1st. LET'S! DO!! THIS!!! As always: Get instant (free) access to all 600+ PhilosophersNotes AND all 50 Optimal Living 101 classes AND 1,000+ Optimize +1s as part of our free 2-week trial: http://optimize.me/

Admiral William H. McRaven is a Retired U.S. Navy SEAL who served for thirty-seven years and commanded at every level. As a Four-Star Admiral, his final assignment was as Commander of all U.S. Special Operations Forces. (During this time, he oversaw the covert mission that killed Osama bin Laden.) In 2014, he gave the commencement address to the graduates of the University of Texas at Austin. Millions of people wound up watching his speech on ten lessons he learned from his Navy SEAL training. This book takes a deeper look at those ten lessons. It's a super-quick read—packed with simple, yet profound wisdom along with moving stories of moral exemplars. It's FANTASTIC.

In our last +1, we spent some more time with Trevor Moawad and explored some more wisdom from his great book, It Takes What It Takes.   As you may recall, we chatted about neutral thinking.   As Trevor says: "No matter where I work, the same truth keeps emerging. Neutral thinking is the key to unlocking a set of behaviors that can turn also-rans into champions and champions into legends."   Today I want to bring that wisdom to life with a little personal example from the Johnson Ranch here outside Austin.    So…   As I was reading the book, I took a break and explained this idea to Emerson.    Here's the example I used: Our chickens. And their poop.    Quick context: As we've discussed, we just moved to the country. We got some chickens because we thought they'd be awesome. They are. The kids love them, etc.    And...    Those gals (and guy) sure know how to poop! And, they seem to especially love to do their work under ou

Today we visit the barn-studio to hang out with 500+ of my favorite books as we check out the studio set up for the upcoming Top 3 Most Life-Changing Book series! :)

As I was prepping for our upcoming Top 3 Most Life-Changing Books series, I realized I could create a little video on my Top 3 favorite teachers. Here it is!

Optimize: https://optimize.me/ (← Get Free Stuff + Free 2-Week Trial!) Optimize Coach: https://optimize.me/coach (← Join 2,000+ Optimizers from 70+ Countries!) Here are 5 of my favorite Big Ideas from The 5 Second Rule by Mel Robbins. Hope you enjoy! Mel Robbins is funny, witty and wise. Her TEDx Talk (called How to stop screwing yourself over) is one of the most popular of all time, with more than 18 million views. This book is also super popular—with over 1,000 Amazon reviews. It's pretty awesome. Actually, the book is REALLY (!) good. In fact, Mel Robbins' 5 Second Rule might just be one of THE most elegantly efficient Tools we can use to close the gap between who we're CAPABLE of being and who we're ACTUALLY being. (Seriously.) Big Ideas we explore include The 5 Second Rule (and how/when to rock it), how to win the game of life (hint: start, stay in, for the long game!), excitement + anxiety (and how they feel the same in the body), managing distractions (today a good day?), and changing your life with

Get instant (free) access to all 600+ PhilosophersNotes AND all 50 Optimal Living 101 classes AND 1,000+ Optimize +1s as part of our free 2-week trial: http://optimize.me/

Optimize: https://optimize.me/ (← Get Free Stuff + Free 2-Week Trial!) Optimize Coach: https://optimize.me/coach (← Join 2,000+ Optimizers from 70+ Countries!) Here are 5 of my favorite Big Ideas from The Joy of Movement by Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D.. Hope you enjoy! I'm a big fan of Kelly McGonigal and her ability to help us apply scientific wisdom to our lives. We've covered two of her earlier books: The Willpower Instinct and The Upside of Stress. So... When I got this book, knew I'd enjoy it. But, I didn't anticipate JUST how much I'd love it. We have some great Notes on Movement (Spark, Spartan Up and No Sweat among my favorites), but Kelly's book will be our new go-to for the science of WHY exercise/movement is so essential to our well-being. It's PHENOMENAL. Reading about the SCIENCE behind stories of transformation (and how, as per the sub-title of her book: "Exercise Helps Us Find Happiness, Hope, Connection, and Courage") also made me that much more clear on the power of what we're doing with all of

Get instant (free) access to my Notes on those Top 10 books AND 600+ other ones AND all 50 Optimal Living 101 classes AND 1,000+ Optimize +1s as part of our free 2-week trial: http://optimize.me/

Scott Barry Kaufman is one of the world's leading positive psychologists.   We featured one of his earlier books called Wired to Create. So, when a bunch of our Optimizers recommended his new book called Transcend I was eager to get it. (Thank you!! Keep 'em coming, please!)   It's FANTASTIC.   In short, it's an update on Abraham Maslow's thinking—moving us beyond self-actualizing into the ULTIMATE realm of "transcending" ourselves in service to the world. Or, as Scott puts it in the sub-title to the book: "The New Science of Self-Actualization."   It's an important, wise book. If you're into the science of Optimizing and Actualizing, I think you'll love it as much as I did. Check out the Notes, get it, etc.   So…   I imagine we'll talk about a number of Big Ideas from that book. Today I want to chat about one in particular.    Have you ever heard of "The Jonah Complex"? I hadn't before Scott introduced me to it.    We meet Jonah in the

Larry King + James Pawelski interview link: https://the.positivevoices.com/live-audience-yes Optimize: https://optimize.me/ (Get Free Stuff + Free 2-Week Trial!) Optimize Coach: https://optimize.me/coach (Join 2,000+ Optimizers from 70+ Countries!)

From Notes on Jim Afremow's Champion's Mind: https://www.optimize.me/philosophers-notes/the-champions-mind-jim-afremow/https://www.optimize.me/philosophers-... "Take a minute right now to think about your performance when you did not believe a good or respectable outcome was possible but you still found a way to make it happen. There is beauty in being ugly but effective (UBE) or having a good bad day (GBD) while you are not at your finest. Keep your head in the game and grind it out." There's a powerful beauty in being ugly but effective and having good bad days. UBE + GBD. This is big. If we want to cultivate truly intense trust in ourselves, we need to know that we can pull it together when things start falling apart. Jack Nicklaus called it playing poorly well. Afremow tells us Rory McIlroy calls it "scrappy golf." Step #1 to making that happen is to KNOW that you will have x bad shots per round. It's the unhealthy perfectionists among us (*waving to my old self!*) who struggle with this the most— thinkin

Optimize: https://optimize.me/ (← Get Free Stuff + Free 2-Week Trial!) Optimize Coach: https://optimize.me/coach (← Join 2,000+ Optimizers from 70+ Countries!) Here are 5 of my favorite Big Ideas from Happy Together by Suzann Pileggi Pawelski and James Pawelski. Hope you enjoy! Suzie and James Pawelski are two of the world's leading positive psychologists. James cofounded the Master of Applied Positive Psychology program at the University of Pennsylvania with Martin Seligman while Suzie is a graduate of the program and a leading freelance writer and consultant. Together they've written an incredible book on "Using the Science of Positive Psychology to Build Love That Lasts." I've been waiting for a very long time for the book that would make me say: "READ THIS BOOK if you want to figure out how to integrate Ancient Wisdom + Modern Science + Practical Tools to Optimize your relationship." And, well, THIS book is it. I HIGHLY recommend it. In fact, it's not only my #1 Love book recommendation, it's also crac