You Are Heroic with Brian Johnson

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Lead Yourself First 101 Apr 12, 2019

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Mike Erwin joins us as a guest teacher for this class! CEO of The Character Center, co-founder of the Positivity Project, and co-author of the book Lead Yourself First, Mike is passionate about inspiring leaders across the country. His secret sauce to leadership? Solitude! (More specifically, freedom from the input of other minds.) In this class, Mike debunks the assumption that great leaders must always be accessible and uncovers the personal + organizational benefits of leaders who seek out periods of solitude. Want the competitive advantages of clarity, creativity, emotional balance + moral courage? Get your solitude on!

+1: #735 Grow Lights Apr 10, 2019

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In our last +1, we did some severe pruning with Steve Chandler and Ralph Waldo Emerson. (How'd that go for you? More specifically: What went for you?) Today we're going to spend some more time doing creative gardening with Steve. Now, as we discussed in our +1 on our radish farm (oops!), I'm not much of a gardener. (Hah.) So… I'd never heard of "grow lights" before but I love the way Steve captures their metaphorical power. Here's how he puts it in CREATOR: "When an aware person (someone who knows and realizes that they are creative energy itself) notices that the sales of their services have been neglected—resulting in lower income—they simply turn their light (creative energy) toward the sales process. 'Whatever you give your attention to grows' is not just some positive slogan—it's how the world actually works. The more you become aware that you are infinite, creative energy, the more you can see yourself as light. Think of it the way a gardener uses a 'grow light.' Sometimes called a 'plant light,' grow lights make it easy to grow plants indoors. Grow lights are used for horticulture, indoor gardening, indoor hydroponics, and aquatic plants. Shine a grow light on your indoor plant and you ignite enough photosynthesis for the plant to grow. Creativity is just like that light. You can shine your grow light anywhere. On your business, on relationships, on your exercise routine, on your music, and on your education." Love it!!! Want to grow something in your life? SHINE THE LIGHT OF YOUR AWARENESS ON IT. Yep. That's the trick-ticket. Which kinda begs two questions:

What would you like to see more of in your life? And,
How can you shine a little more grow light on it?

Today a good day to get on that, my CREATOR friend?!?

+1: #725 Your Marching Orders Mar 31, 2019

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In our last +1, we had some fun soaking our minds in some epic "To Dare or Not to Dare" wisdom. We kicked that party off with a Søren Kierkegaard gem. This one: "To dare is to lose one's footing momentarily. Not to dare is to lose oneself." (How's your daring going?) Kierkegaard was a Danish philosopher, theologian, poet, social critic and religious author who is widely considered to be the first existentialist philosopher. (Thank you, Wikipedia.) He was also the purveyor of other epically quotable wisdom gems. Including this one: "God has given each of us our 'marching orders.' Our purpose here on Earth is to find those orders and carry them out. Those orders acknowledge our special gifts." That's Today's +1. God has given each of us our marching orders. What are YOURS? Let's know that our purpose here on Earth (and why we do all we do together Optimizing!) is to find those orders and carry them out. So… What are your special gifts? How are you/will you give them to the world? One more time: What are your marching orders? Let's find them and follow them. TODAY!

Unstoppable Teams 101 (Intro) Mar 30, 2019

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+1: #720 Broken Monitors Mar 26, 2019

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In our last +1 we talked about the fact that, as per legendary tough guy Vince Lombardi, "Fatigue makes cowards of us all." Then we operationalized a super-simple antidote to cowardice via a super-simple PM Bookend routine. (How'd that go for you?) I mentioned the fact that we'd connect that fatigue-coward phenomenon to my heart rate monitor. So, let's. Not too long ago, I introduced you to my Suunto watch. Love it. Works great. … Except when it doesn't! Every once in awhile, I'll be training at a mellow pace and my watch will be telling me that my heart rate is WAY higher than it could possibly be. To put it in perspective, my target Maffetone-approved aerobic zone is 131 to 141. I usually train in that zone every other day. On my mellow recovery days, I do the same trail at a slower pace and stay well below that 131. So, imagine my surprise one day when I'm going at a super mellow pace and look down at my watch to see it telling me that I'm at 160-something. I'm like, "Really? No way. That's not possible. I'm pretty sure I'm not blowing up right now." (Hah.) So… I got my strip detector things a little wet via a little spit. Didn't help. I took off my heart rate monitor strap. Put it back on. Still didn't help. I'm basically standing still and it's telling me I'm still blowing up. Hah! D'oh. Hmmmmmm… Now… As a Professional Optimizer/Lover of Wisdom, I'm not allowed to waste lemon squeezing opportunities so, after a moment of almost-frustration I carried on with my hike and decided to simply ignore the data. Which is when the metaphorical learning moment hit me. That data from the heart rate monitor was, for whatever reason, literally USELESS for me during that workout. So I ignored it. Guess what? You know that voice in your head that shows up when you're tired? You know, the voice that says: "Life sucks boo hoo yada yada yada blah blah blah. Etc. Etc. Etc." Guess what? When you're tired, that "data" your mind throws at you is about as useful as my broken heart rate monitor. IGNORE IT. Carry on with your day. Go build your Emotional Stamina muscles as you execute your protocol and practice having good bad days. Then figure out what "Needs work!" so you can wake up tomorrow feeling WAY better—with a working monitor that gives you good data. That's Today's +1. Happy Trails!

Genius 101 (Intro) Mar 23, 2019

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Michael J. Gelb is the world's leading authority on the application of genius thinking to personal and organizational development. He is a pioneer in the fields of creative thinking, accelerated learning, and innovative leadership. Gelb leads seminars for organizations such as DuPont, Merck, Microsoft, Nike, Roche and YPO. He brings more than 35 years of experience as a professional speaker, seminar leader and organizational consultant to his diverse, international clientele. Michael Gelb is the author of 14 books on creativity and innovation including the international best seller How to Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day. (1998) How to Think Like Leonardo has been translated into 25 languages and has appeared on the Washington Post, Amazon, and the New York Times best seller lists.

+1: #715 Ambi vs. Heroic Valence Mar 21, 2019

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Continuing our time with my dear friend Katherine Collins, let's talk about another micro-moment of Divine wisdom from our recent chat. Quick context. As you know if you've been following along, I've spent half of the last 20 years in Founder/CEO mode and the other half in Philosopher/Lover-of-Wisdom mode. Although I'm not really into astrological signs (lol), I happen to be a Gemini and that myth happens to describe one of my primary challenges pretty well. I often feel a pull to be one OR the other. A CEO or a Philosopher. Which recently made me think of the word ambivalence. Which led to a trip to my 2,084-page American Heritage dictionary. I flip to page 56. Here's the definition: "the state of having mixed feelings or contradictory ideas about something or someone." Alright. Got it. But what I'm really interested in is the etymology of the word. Get this: ambi means "on both sides of" and valence comes from the same root as valor and valence—it basically means "strength." So, I reflect on the idea that ambi-valence basically means to be on both sides of strength and that, from my perspective at the time, the result of that is WEAKNESS. Now, let's head back to my chat with Katherine. I share that little distinction with her. To which she replies by saying something along the lines of: "Well… We could look at it that way. Or… We could say that you have TWO simultaneously STRONG channels through which you can express your gifts." To which I say, "God Bless you, Katherine." (Hah. Seriously.) Which leads us to Today's +1. Do you feel any ambi-valence in your life? What if we could reframe that "ambi-valence" into "HEROIC-valence"?! I wonder… How can we take you and your multi-faceted awesome and channel ALL that awesome into heroic strength? Seriously. How? Get on that. We need you and ALL your gifts. One more time: Be not afraid. Give us all you've got. (Pretty please.)

+1: #710 Virtue Mantras Mar 16, 2019

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In our last couple +1s, we talked about the 11 virtues that show up on our shiny new Optimus medallions and make an appearance in our Optimus meditation. Wisdom + Arete + Confidence + Purpose + Self-Awareness + Telos + Energy + Presence + Courage + Love + en*theos. I've been playing around with those virtues in my formal meditation practice and while I'm rowing and while I'm training and before I fall asleep and after I wake up and, well, a lot. (Laughing. "That's like me!") I'll either go through the meditation we walked through in our last +1 (with the I Am [Insert Virtue] on the inhale followed by the power-statement on the exhale) or just pull a virtue out that I think would be useful in the moment and repeat it in my mind—feeling its power flowing through me. Which makes me think of mantras. And makes me surprised we've done over 700 (!) +1s so far (go us!) and we haven't talked about one of the most powerful tools to train our mind. I mean… Do you know what the word mantra literally means? It's a Sanskrit word. Basically: The man part means "mind" and the tra part means "tool." So… A mantra is literally a "tool of the mind." Today's +1. Want to Optimize your mind? Mantras are a good place to start. Pick a word. Or a collection of words. (Virtues perhaps?) And get to work on your mind.

+1: #705 The Psychology of Pain Mar 11, 2019

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Continuing our exploration of how to endure the pain of walking over burning (psychological) coals in pursuit of the upper limits of our potential, let's talk about one of Matt Fitzgerald's recommended "coping strategies" to Optimize our perception of effort and get closer to that wall of our potential. Today we're going to talk about The Psychology of Pain. (Cue weird music?) Short story: Researchers have studied how different people deal with pain and have discovered that some people are MUCH better at dealing with it (and, as a result, perform at a much higher level in the midst of experiencing pain). Get this: There are basically two ways you can deal with the prospect of experiencing pain. You can accept it. Or you can try to suppress it. (Which one do you think is more effective?) Here's how Matt puts it: "Research on the psychology of pain has produced similar findings. A number of studies have compared the effects of two contrasting anticipatory attitudes—acceptance and suppression— on pain perception. Some people have a natural tendency to look ahead to the repetition of a familiar pain stimulus with acceptance. They tell themselves, 'This is going to hurt, but no worse than before.' Other people try to cope with the same situation through suppression, a form of denial. They tell themselves, in effect, 'I really hope this doesn't hurt as much as it did the last time.' Psychologists have generally found that, compared to suppression, acceptance reduces the unpleasantness of pain without reducing the pain itself. For this reason, it is a more effective coping skill. ... In common language, this attitude of acceptance toward an impending disagreeable experience is called 'bracing yourself.'" Today's +1. How do YOU deal with prospective pain? Here's to bracing ourselves, K N O W I N G pain is inevitable on our hero's journeys and then #OMMSing our way to awesome. +1. +1. +1. P.S. Check out our +1 on Kristin Neff's pain equation for more. Remember: Suffering = Pain x Resistance.

+1: #700 UPERSIST! Mar 06, 2019

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In our last +1, we talked about you feasting on your Hero Bars—using memories of your past success as fuel to walk through fear doors today. (You grab three for Today?) All of those Cookies and Hero Bars remind me of an idea from former Navy SEAL Alden Mills' great book Be Unstoppable. I read it years ago and recently re-read it with Emerson. It's a fantastic parable about a young captain who meets a wise, older mentor-captain who teaches him how to Optimize and actualize his potential to become a "Master and Commander." Emerson and I loved it. The Master Captain (who goes by Persistent Pete), has eight actions he teaches his young protégé. (One of which reminds me of the Hero Bars! We'll talk about it tomorrow.) The Actions form the acronym UPERSIST. Emerson can rattle them off. In fact, let's invite him in so he can share! Action #1: Understand Your Why Action #2: Plan Action #3: Energize to Execute (Alden may go with "Exercise" to Execute but we expanded it to "Energize" so we can include our other fundies of eating and sleeping!) Action #4: Recognize Your Reason to Believe in Yourself Action #5: Survey Your Habits Action #6: Improvise to Overcome Obstacles Action #7: Seek Expert Advice Action #8: Team Up! Today's +1. Do UPERSIST?! Let's do a quick run through: First: What's your #1 goal these days? (Seriously. What is it?!) What's your why? How's your plan? You energized? What reasons do you have to believe in yourself? (← Hint: Those are our Hero Bars!) How are your habits? You improvising to overcome (inevitable!) obstacles #OMMS style?! Need to seek advice from any experts? And… How can you team up a little more today? There ya go. A super-quick take on how to Be Unstoppable. WEPERSIST!!

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