Optimize With Brian Johnson | More Wisdom In Less Time

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 "Atomic Habits" by James Clear. Hope you enjoy! James Clear has a super-popular website (jamesclear.com). Millions of people visit it every month and hundreds of thousands subscribe to his email newsletter. After reading this book, I can see why. He's a great writer and distills the essence of habit formation into, well, its fundamental components—the "atomic" structure if you will—while showing us how those TINY little incremental improvements add up to MIGHTY results. I rarely say a book is a must-read but this one's as close as it gets. Big Ideas we explore include: The math behind 1% gains compounding over a year (and a decade!), navigating the Plateau of Latent Potential (ever given up on a habit? Take note!), the importance (and etymology) of our Identity (get this: it *literally* means 'repeated being

In our last +1, we met one of my heroes, Mrs. Kristie Kuehnast. I smile with joy (and in awe) every time I imagine her fifth-grade students coming back into the classroom after their mile run to sit down and watch a new +1 or PNTV.    High fives, Kristie. We appreciate you. (Oh! Please walk through a cloning machine about 50 million times. Thank you.)   We also briefly touched on Yuval Noah Harari's perspective on the subject of Education. Today I want to revisit some more wisdom from his new book.   As we discussed, Yuval shines a spotlight on 21 of the biggest challenges facing humanity in the 21st century. With the rise of artificial intelligence, information technology and biotechnology, things are changing at an incomprehensible speed. And, it's only going to speed up, not slow down.   He tells us: "The danger is that if we invest too much in developing AI and too little in developing human consciousness, the very sophisticated artificial intelligence of computers mi

Weight. It matters. A lot. Although I'm obviously not a weight-loss guy, as I prepped for Energy 101 I realized that we needed to talk about Optimizing our weight. Enter, this class—which could more accurately be called Optimal METABOLISM 101. Fact is, if our weight is off, our METABOLISM is off. Specifically, our insulin levels (which disrupts another hormone called leptin that regulates our appetite). In this class, we take a quick look at why it's so hard to Optimize our weight and how to make it easy (or at least a lot easier!). 

A few +1s ago, we talked about Walter Russell and the sound of joy.    Today I'd like to talk about another one of his powerful insights.   Here it is.    He tells us: "Mediocrity is self-inflicted. Genius is self-bestowed."   Here's the slightly longer version: "I believe that every man has consummate genius within him. Some appear to have it more than others only because they are aware of it more than others are, and the awareness or unawareness of it is what makes each one of them into masters or holds them down to mediocrity. I believe that mediocrity is self-inflicted and that genius is self-bestowed."   Today's +1 is very simple.   Are you bestowing genius upon yourself or inflicting mediocrity?   Well, which is it?   Genius. Mediocrity.   I agree with Walter (and countless other teachers). We ALL have "consummate" (Golden Buddha!) genius within ourselves.    Can you see it?

This is Steven Pressfield's 19th book. It's the 10th book of his I've read and it's the 4th book on which I've done a Note. As with all of his books, this one is written in his inimitable, pithy style. (In fact, as I consulted my dictionary for the precise definition of the word pithy, I realized just how much his style epitomizes that word. Pithy means "concise and forcefully expressive.") Big Ideas we explore include defining the artist's journey (vis-a-vis the hero's journey; note: we all live both journeys!!), our #1 job (say hello to your muse), the superconsciousness (shuttle back and forth!), destiny acorns (daimon meet genius), how to let your soul shine (hint: SHOW UP!), Jay-Z in his studio (enter: 10,000 micro hero's journeys), and: Ready or not (you're called!!).

Jeff Volek and Stephen Phinney are both academic researchers and professors who have been studying sports nutrition, ketogenic diets and peak performance for decades. To put it in perspective, Dr. Stephen Phinney (with his MD from Stanford and PhD from MIT) coined the phrase "keto-adapted" in 1980. Big Ideas we explore include: the accepted dogma (vs. compelling data), two fuel tanks (you want to go hours or days?), veto-adaptation (how to), protein (necessary but in moderation), fat (your most important fuel; the good and bad!), and the macro breakdown (here it is!).

In our last couple +1s, we talked about the lead-up to a recent keynote talk I gave and some wisdom gleaned in the process—including practicing the "Bring it on!" and "I'm excited!" tools THE MOMENT I experienced doubt/fear/etc. and… Hanging towels over mirrors to reduce the ol' self-consciousness.   Today I want to talk about being a ballet dancer. (Hah.)   Well, actually, I want to talk about some of my favorite feedback from the event. I had some great conversations with the people at the event but one nice little comment really stuck.   Short story: While I was holding Eleanor while Alexandra and Emerson were enjoying a quick little hot tub session at the hotel on Friday night, a woman who attended the event strolled by. We had a nice little Love 2.0 moment.    She told me that she was trained in Russian ballet and that one of the first things she noticed when I started talking was my posture.    She said that in her ballet training, she was taught to simulta

We've been talking a fair amount about the idea that some of history's greatest creators didn't work all that much. To be clear, they worked hard and (very importantly!) CONSISTENTLY, but the fact is that it's really hard to put in any more than 4 to 6 hours of really high-quality work.   Of course, we all have our own idiosyncratic professional responsibilities. And, in addition to Deep Work, we all have (and, for the record, all of history's greatest creators had!) some Team Work and some Monkey Work to do. (Even hermits like me can't get all that to zero—as hard as I may try! lol)   But I get the fact that, for a lot of people, the idea that we can structure our lives such that we're basically hammering out four hours of deep work and then calling it a day feels a bit impossible.    Fair enough.    Maybe we can't currently (or ever!) wave our wands and instantly manifest our ideal Masterpiece Days.    But…   a) Have you actually stepp

In our last +1, we talked about the fact that we need to train our recovery the same way we train our Deep Work. We want to create nice, rhythmic waves in our lives and prioritize rest. One great way to do that? Deep Play.   I briefly mentioned the fact that, as Alex Pang tells us in his great book Rest, when we look closely at the routines of some of history's greatest, most creative and most prolific creators what we find is that they don't actually work that much.   Here's how he puts it: "Figures as different as Charles Dickens, Henri Poincaré, and Ingmar Bergman, working in disparate fields in different times, all shared a passion for their work, a terrific ambition to succeed, and an almost superhuman capacity to focus. Yet when you look closely at their daily lives, they only spent a few hours a day doing what we would recognize as their most important work. The rest of the time, they were hiking mountains, taking naps, going on walks with friends, or just sitting and thinking. Their

Jordan Peterson is one of the world's leading intellectuals. He's a Canadian clinical psychologist and professor at the University of Toronto. (Before that, he taught at Harvard.) He's published over 100 scientific articles and he's super-popular on YouTube. This book is wonderfully intense and equally thoughtful. Peterson's integration of everything from evolutionary psychology, politics, religion and morality is astounding. After taking a super-quick look at all 12 Rules, Big Ideas we cover include the importance of mastering the flow or Order + Chaos (and why RULES are so important), Rule #1 (stand up straight, shoulders back! Remember lobsters...), Rule #2 (Treat yourself better! Remember pets...), Rule #6: Clean up your life (remember to start stopping...), and the fact that your Being is in your Becoming (which is connected to Rule #4...).

Continuing our theme of wisdom gleaned from Zen Optimize in the Art of Spartan Racing, let's talk about spiritual obstacle course racer, Sri Swami Satchidananda.   Sri Swami Satchidananda was an obstacle course racer?    Well, yah!   Satchidananda was one of the most revered Yoga Masters of the 20th century. He wrote a great book called The Golden Present. It's one of those books that has a chapter for each day of the year so you can work through the wisdom and create your greatest year ever.   Guess what wisdom he shared in Chapter #1, January 1st?    … What wisdom do you think he thought was most important to kick off your year strong?    Quick answer: How to see life as one big obstacle course.   Longer answer, in his words: "Life must be a challenge. Only then is it exciting. In an obstacle race, you are forced to surmount all the obstacles: to jump over the hurdles, go through the barrels, crawl under the rugs, climb over walls.   Wh

Here are 5 of my favorite Big Ideas from "Lead Yourself First" by Raymond M. Kethledge and Michael S. Erwin. Hope you enjoy!

Here are 5 of my favorite Big Ideas from "The Nicomachean Ethics" by Aristotle. Hope you enjoy! Aristotle's writings have been extraordinarily influential since ancient times. This treatise is named after his son and is a collection of his lecture notes--imagining attending his Lyceum and listening to him teach 2,300 years ago! Of course, it's packed with culture-changing Big Ideas. Some of my favorites we cover include the ultimate end: eudaimonic happiness (vs. "happiness" as most of us think about it!), how to achieve that eudaimonia (hint: "virtuous activity of the soul" aka areté), how to win the Olympic Games (hint: you can't just show up; you need to ACT!), the doctrine of the mean (and the vice of deficiency + excess) and the virtue of magnanimity: meet YOUR great soul.

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?    Remember: Even the most mundane practices can be a portal into enlightenOptimizement.    So…    I'm in my backyard throwing my spear and thinking about Steven Pressfield's wisdom. As I had fun walking back and forth covering the 30 feet between the hay bales and my starting point, I was also thinking about some Lanny and Troy Bassham wisdom.   As we've discussed, Lanny wrote a book called With Winning in Mind. Troy wrote a book called Attainment. We briefly talked about some of their wisdom on how average vs. elite performers practice in our +1 on why Buddha kept on meditating after his enlightenment.    Short story: Lanny and Troy tell us that AVERAGE per

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. It was super fun to reread this book and dive back into Steve's down-to-earth and empowering wisdom. I love his short, to-the-point, funny style. Big Ideas we explore include the difference between being a Victim vs. an Owner (this is the #1 key on "How to Become the Person You've Always Wanted to Be), lifting real weights not the Styrofoam stuff (but only if you want to get strong!), the fact that Yes lives in the land of No, 10 things you'd do if you had no fear (pick one and go!), and campfires (they're a lot like human spirit--ya gotta re-create one every day!).

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.   I live in a small town in Southern California called Ojai. I'm pretty sure it's one of the very few places in the world where people ride their horses next to Teslas. (Hah.)   Now, of course, no one in town is getting around primarily via horses, but it's always fun to see a few people on horseback cruising through town or to see a few horses "parked" outside the local cafe.   So… The other day I saw a fresh horseshoe print on my Trail. For whatever reason, I thought of Elon Musk's talk to governors.    Note: I pretty much never watch YouTube videos or TE

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—raising our standards and TRULY committing to being our best, most energized selves so we can change the world together, one person at a time, starting with YOU and me.

In our last +1, we talked about my quest to be a Spartan champion in 2025 and how that's resulted in a lot of WINing TODAY. (How're your goals-systems?!)   Today I want to talk about being a Champ Champ Champ.    ← I laugh as I type that.    Note: This +1 is a bit ridiculous.    So…    Quick context: After one of the best mixed martial arts coaches in the world (Firas Zahabi, owner of Tristar gym and Georges St Pierre's coach) became an Optimizer then sent a note telling me how much he loved the PhilosophersNotes (thanks, Firas!), I learned more about Firas and his mastery of his craft and, in the process, paid more attention to the UFC.   In the process, I stumbled across Conor McGregor before he was the superstar he is today. It's cliché to say that I could see that he had a spark of something different about him but, well, he did. And, he does.   While embracing Maslow's wisdom that there are no perfect human beings, I've enjoyed wat

Here's a quick look at our next class: Energy 101!  (You can get instant access to dozens of archived classes, hundreds of PhilosophersNotes and Optimize +1s and this class when we release it by becoming an Optimize member: optimize.me )