You Are Heroic with Brian Johnson

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My Top 3 BEST Books of All Time (+ a Life-Changing Idea From Each!) Oct 12, 2020

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Here are my Top 3 BEST Books of All Time: #1: The Tools by Phil Stutz and Barry Michels #2: Deep Work by Cal Newport #3: Happy Together by Suzie and James Pawelski LISTEN for More on why + a Big-Idea from each of those books!

+1: The Optimize Food Rules | The Big 3 (+1!) (#1285) Oct 11, 2020

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One of my favorite parts about creating our Optimize Mastery Series is that it forced me to go to the next level of clarity on the most important aspects of our Optimize philosophy. This was true from Day 1 of the program and I found it to be especially powerful with our Eating Fundamental (which is day 200-something!) in which I integrated the wisdom from dozens of books and our Optimal Nutrition 101 and Optimal Metabolism 101 classes into what I called our Optimize Food Rules. Of course, join Optimize Coach and check out that session for the full download. Today we're going to take a quick look at our Big 3 (+1!) Optimize Food Rules. Here we go… Rule #1: Quit Drinking Your Sugar. This is inspired by a number of great teachers (including Robert Lustig in Fat Chance and John Ratey in Go Wild) but Mark Hyman brought the point home powerfully as his #1 rec in Food Fix. Note: If you're currently drinking sodas or fruit juices or any liquid with sugar, this is arguably THE fastest and easiest way to take your nutrition to the next level—and, as a by-product, take huge steps forward in Optimizing your metabolism ("Hi, insulin!") so you can move to your optimal weight. (Note: I just had a flashback of the Science Says data we collected. One of the highlights was how many Optimizers now feel they can easily follow their nutritional philosophy and maintain their Optimal weight.) (Check out the sketch on it below.) So… Are YOU drinking your sugar? If so, STOP!! (Hah. Seriously.) Note: Soda is obviously not a health food but… Parents: Fruit juice is NOT a health food either. Rule #2: Eat Real Food and Throw Out the Factory Food. In the Mastery Series session, we discuss the fact that we want to get rid of three different types of Factory Food including:

Factory-made ultraprocessed carbage with ingredients you can't pronounce, don't have in your pantry and didn't evolve to consume;
Factory-farmed animals for ethical, health and environmental reasons; and,
Factory fat including vegetable oils like soybean, safflower, corn, and canola oils—none of which existed pre-Industrial revolution and all of which disrupt our Omega 3:6 ratios and create inflammation. (Note: Socrates was all about the olive oil—that's been around for over 5,000 years!)

Quick check in: How are you doing there? Rule #3: Eating Sunsets (Aka: Give Yourself the Night Off!) Let your glymph get to work by restricting your eating to a window that gives you AT LEAST 13 hours between your last meal and first meal. We explore some fascinating research on cancer, etc. As you know if you've been following along, we have a last-input "digital sunset." I say we need a last-input "eating sunset"!! In fact, science says: We want to eat AT LEAST two hours before we go to bed and target FOUR hours before we go to bed if we're playing the Professional Optimizing game. (It's crazy for me to see the resting heart rate and heart rate variability data on my Oura ring show me the difference when I play in too short of an eating window!) So… When was your last meal last night? When was your first meal Today? How many hours were there in between? Let's get to 13+ and know that if you have a hard time going that long between meals, it's probably because we need to work on some metabolic flexibility issues. See Rules #1 and #2 for support there. And, finally, my favorite Rule… Rule +1: Eat Like Your Favorite Philosopher (who lived at least 300 years ago). Perhaps the simplest, wisest advice is to simply eat like your great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents ate before all the factories. I like to tweak that a bit to have fun helping you channel your favorite philosopher or spiritual teacher—whether that's Jesus or Mohammed or Moses or Buddha or Lao Tzu. For me? It's Epictetus. Guess what? Our favorite old-school Philosophers didn't (and couldn't) drink their sugar because it didn't exist. And all they could eat was non-factory produced food because factories didn't exist yet. And they couldn't eat all day every day because that wonderful invention we call the fridge didn't exist. There ya go. The Optimize Food Rules in a nutshell. Here's to changing our lives (and our families' lives) one bite at a time. TODAY.

Welcome to the Top 3 Books Series Oct 11, 2020

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PNTV: Fearless by Eric Blehm (#419) Oct 10, 2020

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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 Fearless by Eric Blehm. Hope you enjoy! I got this book after my friend, retired Navy SEAL Captain Bob Schoultz, recommended it to me. It's ASTONISHINGLY good. As per the sub-title, this book is about "The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL Team SIX Operator Adam Brown." It's a humbling, inspiring story "of an American hero who bravely gave permission in his final written requests to share his journey, from small-town America to gutter to jail to Jesus to war to the top tier of the U.S. military: SEAL Team Six." Get Fearless on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Fearless-Undaunted-Ultimate-Sacrifice-Operator/dp/0307730700 Learn more about Eric Blehm: https://www.optimize.me/authors/eric-blehm/ ► RELATED RESOURCES: Big Idea 1: THE BULLIES - Captain Bob's Book Notes → https://bobsbeenreading.wordpress.com/ - PNTV: Can't Hurt Me by David Goggins → https://www.optimize.me/philosophers-notes/cant-hurt-me-david-goggins/ - PNTV: Discipline Equals Freedom by Jocko Willink → https://www.optimize.me/philosophers-notes/discipline-equals-freedom-jocko-willink/ - PNTV: Staring Down the Wolf by Mark Divine → https://www.optimize.me/philosophers-notes/staring-down-the-wolf-mark-divine/ - PN: Make Your Bed by Admiral William McRaven → https://www.optimize.me/philosophers-notes/make-your-bed-admiral-william-mcraven/ - +1: Begin With the End in Mind | Habit #2 of Highly Effective People (#219) → https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/begin-with-the-end-in-mind/ Big Idea 2: THE PRODIGAL SON - PN: Discover the Power Within You by Eric Butterworth → https://www.optimize.me/philosophers-notes/discover-the-power-within-you-eric-butterworth/ - PN: Falling Upward by Richard Rohr, OFM → https://www.optimize.me/philosophers-notes/falling-upward-richard-rohr-ofm/ - +1: We're Only the Light Bulbs | Our Job Is to Remain Screwed In! (#1090) → https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/were-only-the-light-bulbs/ Big Idea 3: THE TRIDENT - #1: TGIM!!! Let's goooo! Time to earn our Trident. TODAY! (#28) → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gX5zUZNvUD0 Big Idea 4: THE BEST - Optimize Mastery Series Module O: Optimize = Optimus = Best = Eudaimon = Hero → https://www.optimize.me/mastery-modules/module-o-optimize-optimus-best-eudaimon-hero/ - +1: How to High Five God | And Plug Into Divine Power Today (#1279) → https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/how-to-high-five-god/ Big Idea 5: FALLEN HERO - +1: OMMS | The Hero's Mantra (#41) → https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/omms/ - +1: Hērōs | Building Strength for 2 (#107) → https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/heros/

► FREE 14-DAY TRIAL: Get the PhilosophersNote on The World According to Mister Rogers and 600+ other books by starting a Free 14-Day trial membership to Optimize: https://www.optimize.me/trial/ ► MORE GOODNESS: - Get the Optimize App for iPhone & iPad: https://www.optimize.me/apps/ - Get the Optimize App for Android: https://www.optimize.me/apps/ - Subscribe to the Optimize Podcast: https://optimize.me/podcast/ - Follow Optimize on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BriantheOptimizer/ - Follow Optimize on Instagram: https://instagram.com/optimize.me/

+1: How to Be a Success | Wisdom from Two World-Class Coaches Named Phil (#1280) Oct 06, 2020

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In our last +1, we drew some Venn circles with my Yoda and had fun high fiving God by giving ALL we've got. Today I want to chat about what we talked about at the VERY end of our time together on August 10th, 2020. After recapping the importance of showing up moment to moment to moment to keep my Soul Force powered by Divine Energy, Phil said—almost in a mantra-kinda way: "APPLY THIS!!!" "APPLY THIS!!!" "APPLY THIS!!!" It was one of those goosebumpy kinda moments. I wrote it down in huge letters on the third page of that day's notes and then said, "YES!!" Then I said, "It's funny because tomorrow morning I'm hitting the studio to film the very last session for our Mastery Series for our Coach program. It's Module VII but we also call it Module Infinity (as in: Repeat this forever!). It's called Optimus You: Practicing Your Philosophy. The whole point of that class? We need to APPLY THIS WISDOM to our lives TODAY!!" So, I told him, "I'm DEFINITELY going to share our chat as I make the point." Then, he said, "I love you son. I'm proud of you." To which I replied, "I love you father. I appreciate you." (As we've discussed, Phil is my spiritual Godfather. I'm his spiritual son. We end nearly every one of our chats with that. Enter: Pure joy.) As I reflected on his mantra, "APPLY THIS!!" I felt an even deeper commitment to making him proud and serving you and my family as profoundly as I can. That was 5:50 PM Central Time. I had 10 minutes to go before I transitioned to Deep Love time and gave Alexandra some time for herself while I enjoyed my PM session of 1-on-2 time with the kids. Now, I don't do non-essential technology inputs these days as I've -1 to +1-ed it for the +3 win (which is one of the reasons I'm crushing it). So, I hopped on our PEMF machine and plugged in the NanoVi thing to recover while meditating. At 6:00, I headed out of the office. The house was quiet. (Which, if you have kids, you know is VERY unusual. lol) Hmmm… The car wasn't there. Alexandra must have taken the kids out. So… I might have dashed back to the office, hopped back on the PEMF/re-plugged in the NanoVi and had a little dessert watching some more of Netflix's great documentary on Michael Jordan and his Bulls called The Last Dance. (Highly recommend it.) Now… At this point, I'm on Episode V. The Bulls have just won their first championship. They're going for their second. I wait for the show to load. It takes a second or three as I'm on satellite internet here in the country—which always gives me a moment to reflect on the fact that this whole thing we call the internet (and everything else in modern life) is an absolute miracle. Internal dialogue: "Thank you, God, for blessing me with the gift of so many awesome things." Then… It loads. I'm TEN SECONDS in. Phil Jackson, one of the greatest Coaches in history (who won 6 titles with the Bulls then another 5 with the Lakers), comes on. You know what he says? He says, and I quote: "You're only a success in the MOMENT you perform a successful act. You have to do it again." Did he just say what I think he said? I hit the little rewind 10 seconds thing to watch it again. Yep. "You're only a success in the MOMENT you perform a successful act. You have to do it again." I rewind it again and go get my pad of paper to write that down because I KNEW I'd be kicking off my final Mastery Series session with wisdom from two world-class Coaches named Phil. Note: Phil Jackson has his 11 championships. Phil Stutz and his clients (who tend to be Hollywood actors and writers and directors and executives) have WAY more than 11 Oscars. So, when two Coaches named Phil say the same thing back-to-back like that, I take it as a Divine wink from the Universe. And, well, that's Today's +1. One more time: "You're only a success in the MOMENT you perform a successful act. You have to do it again." All the stuff we chat about that REALLY resonates? APPLY THIS!!! APPLY THIS!!! APPLY THIS!!! When? As always… TODAY.

PNTV: Discipline Equals Freedom by Jocko Willink (#417) Oct 05, 2020

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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 Discipline Equals Freedom by Jocko Willink. Hope you enjoy! Jocko Willink is a retired Navy SEAL. He was commander of Task Unit Bruiser―the most decorated Special Operations Unit of the Iraq War. I really enjoyed Jocko's first book Extreme Ownership and I knew this one would be good but... I didn't expect it to be THIS good. The words literally explode off the page. Not just because each micro-chapter was an incredibly inspiring micro-manifesto but because each word was written by a man so clearly living in complete integrity with his deepest values. John Maxwell would say his "moral authority" is extraordinary. I'd say his SOUL FORCE is palpable. If you're in the mood for a soul-rattling call-to-disciplined action, I think you'll enjoy the book as much as I did. Get Discipline Equals Freedom on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Discipline-Equals-Freedom-Field-Manual/dp/1250156947 Learn more about Jocko Willink: https://www.optimize.me/authors/jocko-willink/ ► RELATED RESOURCES: Big Idea 1: HERCULES - PN: Gandhi the Man by Eknath Easwaran → https://www.optimize.me/philosophers-notes/gandhi-the-man-eknath-easwaran/ - PN: The Bhagavad Gita by Eknath Easwaran → https://www.optimize.me/philosophers-notes/the-bhagavad-gita-krishna-eknath-easwaran/ - PN: The Dhammapada by Eknath Easwaran → https://www.optimize.me/philosophers-notes/the-dhammapada-eknath-easwaran/ - +1: Demons vs. Daimons | What to Feed Them (#919) → https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/demons-vs-daimons/ - +1: The Choice of Hercules | Vice Dressed up as Virtue (#1036) → https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/the-choice-of-hercules/ Big Idea 2: NATURE VS. NURTURE | NEITHER - Documentary on Michael Jordan: The Last Dance → https://www.netflix.com/title/80203144 - +1: How to Build Your Grit | The 4 Key Scientific Variables (#19) → https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/how-to-build-your-grit/ - Documentary on Usain Bolt: I Am Bolt → https://www.netflix.com/title/80135360 Big Idea 3: "GOOD." - +1: OMMS | The Hero's Mantra (#41) → https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/omms/ - +1: The Obstacle Is the Way | Plus: The Paradox of Fire (#61) → https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/the-obstacle-is-the-way/ - +1: It Is What It Is | The Power of Loving What Is (#409) → https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/it-is-what-it-is/ - +1: Neutral Thinking | vs. Positive and Negative Thinking (#1259) → https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/neutral-thinking/ Big Idea 4: SUGAR - PN: The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes → https://www.optimize.me/philosophers-notes/the-case-against-sugar-gary-taubes/ - Willpower 101 → http://optimize.me/willpower Big Idea 5: DO - Phil Stutz → https://www.optimize.me/philosophers-notes/the-tools-barry-michels-phil-stutz/

#1: Optimize Press + Buy 1, Get 1 + (#57) Sep 30, 2020

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Quick creative update Today. Good times at Optimize!

#1: Optimizing Soul Force (via E x F x WIN + Emerson's virtue art + Top 3 coming soon + ...) (#56) Sep 29, 2020

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#1: Today I kinda go off on a ton of stuff: From HRV/RHR ice-bath spikes to Soul Force and Deep Work and the Handbook. Hope you enjoy. Let's do this. Together. TODAY.

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/

PNTV: Discover the Power Within You by Eric Butterworth (#415) Sep 29, 2020

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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 Discover the Power Within You by Eric Butterworth. Hope you enjoy! Eric Butterworth was a prolific author and Unity minister—one of the great spiritual teachers of the 20th century. We featured another one of his books called Spiritual Economics. That one transformed my consciousness around money/ambition/etc. (I *highly* recommend it.) Butterworth was also Maya Angelou's spiritual teacher. And, Oprah says that this book is one of her all-time favorites. Big Ideas we explore: Where to find the Divine (hint: look within!), the great decision, the true meaning of "meek" (it's not what you think), going the second mile, and how to create a heaven (or hell) right NOW! Get Discover the Power Within You on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Discover-Power-Within-You-Unexplored/dp/0061723797 Learn more about Eric Butterworth: https://www.optimize.me/authors/eric-butterworth/ ► RELATED RESOURCES: Big Idea 1: WHERE'S THE DIVINE? - +1: Spiritual Economics | Your New Wealth Vocabulary (#349) → https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/spiritual-economics/ - +1: How to Live with Radiant Enthusiasm | Hint: Create a Nice Home for God (#556) → https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/how-to-live-with-radiant-enthusiasm/ - +1: How to High Five Your Inner Daimon | My Philosophy in One Word (#3) → https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/how-to-high-five-your-inner-daimon/ - +1: The Golden You | Just Chip Away at the (Not-so) Bonus Layer (#553) → https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/the-golden-you/ - +1: The Golden Buddha: Part II | The Historical Reality + The Parable (#603) → https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/the-golden-buddha-part-ii/ Big Idea 2: THE GREAT DECISION - +1: Eudaimonism vs. Hedonism | Don't Want to Be Depressed? Science Says… (#1166) → https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/eudaimonism-vs-hedonism/ - +1: Lightbulbs in the Temple of God | Less Graffiti, More Shining (#887) → https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/lightbulbs-in-the-temple-of-god/ - +1: My New Energy Identity | A Screwed-In Light Bulb (#1091) → https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/my-new-energy-identity/ Big Idea 3: PRAEIS = _______ - +1: Jesus Said: Who Shall Inherit the Earth? | Was It the "Meek" or the "Disciplined"/"Tamed"? (#438) → https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/jesus-said-who-shall-inherit-the-earth/ Big Idea 4: THE 2ND MILE - Going the Second Mile | Jesus Says: It's the Way to Roll (#431) → https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/going-the-second-mile/ Big Idea 5: HEAVEN + HELL - +1: Demons vs. Daimons | What to Feed Them (#919) → https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/demons-vs-daimons/

#1: Quick Monday afternoon edition: Thanks for the Handbook love! (#55) Sep 28, 2020

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Thanks for all your Handbook love! Here's the Optimize Handbook link I mention: https://optimizehq.typeform.com/to/sFx8AlU1

Quick edition as it's time for shutdown complete/meditation and Deep Love!! LOVE!!

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