You Are Heroic with Brian Johnson

Latest Episodes:

+1: #655 Michael Phelps' Golden Gene-Inseam Jan 20, 2019

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In our last +1, we took a nice stroll down Brian's Biographical Byway—exploring the power of flipping Identity switches. (You make any distinctions? Flip any switches?) btw: That Seneca quote with which we wrapped up that +1 always knocks my socks off: "It is not because things are difficult that you do not dare. It is because you do not dare that things are difficult." Today I want to go back to Atomic Habits and explore an Idea that didn't make it into the Note. It has to do with Michael Phelps. And his genes. And how they impacted his pants inseam length. And how that affected his Olympic greatness. Get this: At this stage, we all know that Phelps is one of the greatest athletes of ALL TIME. He's won more gold medals (23!!) than anyone in the history of the Olympics. He's a case study in grit. In his autobiography No Limits, he shares the key character traits he believes led to his astonishing success. But… One of the things he doesn't mention is the fact that his body just so happens to be near-perfectly architected for absolute dominance in his chosen sport. He's 6'4. Perfect. His wingspan is considerable longer that his height. Awesome. And… His torso is crazy long. Like CRAZY long. (lol) A "normal" 6 foot 4 inch guy has a 34-inch inseam. Phelps? His inseam is 30 inches. (Which, Google says, would hover around the "petite" to "small" range if he were shopping for women's pants.) The Swimming Gods have blessed that man!! And… Of course, Effort Counts Twice and that guy put in the effort of 10 Olympians—squeezing every drop of potential out of his uniquely shaped body and dominating his sport for a very long time. But that's not quite the point of this +1. This is: James Clear tells us that if we want to achieve greatness in our lives, we need to make sure we're focusing our precious life force in a domain in which our talents and passion are a good fit. If Phelps had tried to be a runner he would have failed miserably. His dimensions are precisely the opposite of what's required there. He needed to be in a pool for us to see him shine. Today's +1. What "pool" do you belong in? Are you in it? Go take your hedgehog out for a swim or a walk or a run or whatever it is you love to do. Match your strengths to the domain in which you're building the habits to most fully express your life force. Show us what you've got. All of it. (Pretty please and thank you!)

+1: #650 Your Escort of Angels Jan 15, 2019

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In our last +1, we talked about how to make yourself a quadrillion (!!!) times better. The recap there: Just let the magic of compounding 1% gains work for you. Every day. 10 years. Boom! Of course the fine print includes the fact that, although inspiring, that's (obviously) pretty much impossible as NO ONE, not even the best among us, are perfect (thanks, Maslow!) and we won't be the first. But contemplating the sheer potential force of compounding tiny gains is pretty inspiring. Now, as I wrapped my brain around that power and imagined each of us stepping into that next-best version of ourselves (then repeating the spiraling up again and again!), Ralph Waldo Emerson came to mind. In Self-Reliance, he has a great line about the fact that great human beings have an aura about them. He says that it's almost as if they have a bunch of angels escorting them. As he puts it: "The force of character is cumulative. All the foregone days of virtue work their health into this. What makes the majesty of the heroes of the senate and the field, which so fills the imagination? The consciousness of a train of great days and victories behind. They shed an united light on the advancing actor. He is attended as by a visible escort of angels." That sounds about right. And you know what "angel" is leading the rest of the angels? Our proud daimons. High fives to you and yours!

+1: #645 Boundaries or Burnout Jan 10, 2019

Show notes

In our last +1, we talked about how the Peak Performance guys recommend we craft our optimal work-to-rest ratio. Pop quiz: You recall the ratio? Pop answer: 50 to 90 minutes ON. 7 to 20 minutes OFF. Making nice rhythmic waves… (More importantly: You practice it yesterday?) Today, as promised, I want to talk about the importance of creating boundaries lest we teeter into the realm of burnout and/or never leave the realm of sub-awesome performance. First, let's talk about the boundaries required to get into true, 100% ON mode. Guess what… All that multi-tasking? Flitting back and forth from one thing to another? That's NOT awesome. (Cap'n Obvious here with a friendly public service announcement.) We need to create bright-line boundaries and focus on ONE Thing—the most important thing—if we want to have a shot at operating in our upper threshold of productive performance. We all know that. (Right?) Yet… Do you still paper cut your attention and never really go deep because you're too busy multitasking? Well, as the Peak Performance guys put it: "For 99 percent of us, effective multitasking is nothing more than effective delusional thinking." So, to be ALL IN ON, we need to eliminate distractions and truly go ALL IN for our 50 to 90 minutes of peak performance work. Got it. Then what? Then we need to truly recover during that 7 to 20 minutes OFF phase. Go for a walk, meditate, take a nap. (If you're a nut like me, go throw some spears in your backyard.) But, whatever you do, don't go online and read the news and/or catch up on your social feeds or anything else that's going to blow up your brain (and nervous system and neurotransmitters) and not offer you a true recovery period. Again, boundaries. 100% On. 100% Off. Repeat. But only if you like sustainable peak performance. Remember: Boundaries or burnout. Oh! And this is even more important at the end of the day. Remember our chat about "Shut-down complete!"? Well, that's a really good boundary to make sure you properly recover via some epic sleep while also ensuring some solid Deep Love time. Boundaries = Awesome.

Interview: My Morning Routine with Benjamin Spall Jan 05, 2019

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+1: #640 Campfires and Chairs Jan 05, 2019

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Continuing (and concluding) our trip through Steve Chandler's wise brain (and great book, Reinventing Yourself), let's talk about campfires. Campfires? Yep. Campfires. So… You're out camping. It's night time. You light a fire. It keeps you warm. You wake up the next morning. The fire is out. You'll need to light another fire tonight to get warm again. Now, do you complain about the fact that you need to create another fire? Or, do you just accept that that's how it is? Unless you pretty much exclusively speak Victimese, you accept that reality and simply make another fire, right? Well… Steve tells us that the "human spirit" is JUST like that campfire. You need to re-light it EVERY SINGLE DAY. Most people don't like that fact. They want their fire to burn all day every day from the moment they wake up until the moment they fall asleep (with pleasant dreams included as well)—with as little effort as possible. That's called entitlement. You can also call it wanting to be exonerated from all future effort. As it turns out, Phil Stutz says almost exactly the same thing. Only the metaphor he uses in our chats is that of a chair. He says that when you build a chair on the physical or material plane of life, it's there the next day. BUT… (And this is another big "but"!!) On the spiritual plane, that chair you built today WON'T be there tomorrow. You need to get back to work RE-BUILDING it. Every day. Whether you like it or not. Kinda like the campfire of the human spirit. Today's +1. At the end of the day today, use the wood from the chair you built to fuel the campfire you need to build every night—knowing that you'll need to build both again tomorrow morning. And… Know that when we really get this, we're nearly invincible. Why? Well, we stop complaining when we inevitably feel a little off and simply get to work doing the things we KNOW will help us feel great. THAT is the source of ultimate confidence. And it's ours. Here's to your comfie chairs that act as kindling for your warm fires!

PNTV: The Sleep Revolution by Arianna Huffington Jan 04, 2019

Show notes

Arianna Huffington (CEO of Thrive and co-founder + editor in chief of The Huffington Post) went from being a sleep-deprived executive to a sleep evangelist after passing out and banging her head following years of a grueling work! In this book, she brilliantly walks us through the crisis we're facing, the history of sleep, the science of sleep and, most importantly, what we can do to Optimize our sleep. I highly recommend it. Big Ideas we explore include the fact that sleep is the #1 most underrated health habit, how to master sleeping well, the #1 tip (and #2-4), how much sleep the wealthiest human on the planet gets (hint: target: 8!), how athletes train their sleep (guess what time Tom Brady goes to sleep!), and why you should set a WORK-DOWN alarm so you don't need a WAKE-UP alarm.

Interview: The Spartan Way with Joe De Sena Dec 29, 2018

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Greatest Year Ever 2019 (Intro) Dec 28, 2018

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Ready to make 2019 the Greatest Year of Your Life? Me, too. It's time to Operationalize Virtue—getting (even more) clarity on what our Optimus selves look like and getting even better at consistently showing up AS that best version of ourselves. In this class, we review why we do what we do together, take a quick trip to hell (yikes!) then to Michelangelo's studio (yay!) then we get to work sculpting our Energy, Work and Love—taking the time to wrap our souls around our Identity + Virtues + Soul Goals + Algorithms that will drive our Masterpiece Days as we Dare to step thru Fear Doors into all we're destined to be. Hope you love it and looking forward to LITERALLY making this year the greatest year of your life in an unending string of such awesome years!

PNTV: Fat for Fuel by Dr. Joseph Mercola Dec 27, 2018

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Dr. Mercola is a super-popular alternative health physician who runs the equally popular site Mercola.com. In this book, we get a look at his "Mitochondrial Metabolic Therapy" program. MMT for short. As you could probably guess, this is a high-fat (+ "adequate" protein + low-carb) diet. If that approach fires you up, I think you'll love the book. If not, well… :) Big Ideas we explore include: meeting our mitochondria (the key to health), why "adequate" protein is where it's at (not low or moderate or high but "adequate"!), mTOR (the cancer switch), good fats (vs. bad ones), peak fasting, and how to win the urge war.

+1: #630 Want to Be Great? Dec 26, 2018

Show notes

In our last +1, we talked about LeBron James and the fact that he tries to get 11 to 12 hours of sleep per day when he's training. (So does Roger Federer. And, Tom Brady is in bed at 8:30.) Let's talk about LeBron a little more today. Renowned mental toughness coach Bob Rotella kicks off his book How Champions Think with a story about how LeBron thinks. It goes something like this. Once upon a time early in LeBron's career, Rotella spent some time working with LeBron. He knew the basics. Six-eight. A chiseled two hundred fifty pounds with explosive speed. A proven superstar. But it wasn't until they sat down and chatted that he REALLY got LeBron's power. Rotella asked him about his goals. LeBron told him: "I want to be the greatest basketball player in history." Rotella thought: "Beautiful. This is a truly talented guy." He tells us what he was MOST impressed by: "It was not that he had physical gifts. It was LeBron's mind." Specifically, it was the way he saw himself that most moved Rotella: "The vital importance of that sort of attitude is the foremost thing I have learned about exceptionalism in my decades of work with people striving to be great." That's worth repeating. Rotella has worked with THE top performers for DECADES. The "foremost thing" he has learned about exceptionalism and people striving to be great? The vital importance of seeing themselves and their potential with such audacious (!) clarity. Which begs the question: How do YOU see yourself? Now, continuing our story… After LeBron told Rotella he wanted to be the greatest basketball player in history (!!!), Rotella asked him where he thought he stood in relation to that goal. LeBron told him he thought he was doing pretty well but that he wasn't going to be the greatest if his teams didn't win championships and they weren't going to do that unless he became a better three-point shooter. Long story short: Rotella told him to create a video montage of him nailing threes from every spot on the court. Set it to music. Watch it every night. FEEL it. Program his subconscious mind. And, he told him to hire a shooting coach, work with him every day and make two hundred three-point shots off the dribble every day while imagining the best defender guarding him. Then make another two hundred catch-and-shoot three-pointers. "I told him I didn't care how many shots it took to make those four hundred three-pointers, or how long it took. If he wanted to be great, he would find the time and find the energy." Rotella continues: "The actual number of shots I suggested was not as important, in my mind, as the idea that LeBron would set a practice goal for himself, commit to achieving it every day, and wait patiently for the results." Fast-forward. LeBron went from being a 29% three-point shooter in his rookie season to a 40% beast—collecting a few championships en route to his quest to be the greatest player ever. Of course, this Idea has nothing to do with LeBron James and his three-pointers. It has to do with YOU. In what domain are you committed to being exceptional? Where do you think you stand in relation to that goal? And what do you think you need to do every day (!!) to have a shot at being your exceptional best? Find the time. Find the energy. Be an exception. Be exceptional.

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