You Are Heroic with Brian Johnson

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+1 #100: Euthymia Nov 29, 2017

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First: Welcome to our 100th +1. It's a special milestone. Kinda excited about it. 😃 Let's celebrate it with one of my favorite words ever: euthymia. Seneca talks about the power of euthymia in his classic essays. He tells us that euthymia is all about knowing yourself and having the courage to walk your own authentic path. The English translation of that beautiful word? Tranquility. It's the feeling we have when we truly TRUST ourselves. When we know we're headed in the right direction and we're able to quit comparing ourselves to everyone else and stop second guessing ourselves every 5 seconds. Which leads us to today's +1 reflection: How's YOUR tranquility? Here's one way to energize it. In Ego Is the Enemy, Ryan Holiday riffs on Seneca's perspective on euthymia and tells us: "So why do you do what you do? That's the question you need to answer. Stare at it until you can. Only then will you understand what matters and what doesn't. Only then can you say no, can you opt out of stupid races that don't matter, or even exist. Only then is it easy to ignore 'successful' people, because most of the time they aren't—at least relative to you, and often even to themselves. Only then can you develop that quiet confidence Seneca talked about." So… Why do YOU do what you do? That's the question. Stare at it. Answer it. Say yes to your path. And say no to all the other silly distractions. +1 all the way to energized tranquility.

+1 #95: Mediocrity vs. Excellence Nov 27, 2017

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In our last few +1s, we've been chatting about reaching the Peak of our potential. What's the alternative? Well, did you know that the Latin root of the word mediocre LITERALLY means to get stuck in the middle of a rugged mountain? Yep. Medius = "middle." Ocris = "rugged mountain." Mediocrity. That's not where we want to get stuck. 😃 How do we make it through that mid-way point and summit the peak of our potential? Let's open up our Thesaurus for some clues. We'll start with synonyms for mediocre: "ordinary, average, middling, middle-of-the-road, uninspired, undistinguished, indifferent, unexceptional, unexciting, unremarkable, run-of-the-mill, pedestrian, prosaic, lackluster, forgettable, amateur, amateurish." Those are all great ways to get stuck. Guess what? There's one antonym for mediocre. Can you guess what it is? "Excellent." Yep. That's the ticket. EXCELLENCE. When we hit those inevitable tough spots on the rugged mountain that is our heroic quest, we need to show up with excellence. We need to do our best. You may recall the Greeks had a word for that. Areté. It's the best way to high five your inner daimon as you joyfully summit. (https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/how-to-high-five-your-inner-daimon/) Let's do that. One step at a time. Right up to the peak of that rugged mountain. +1. +1. +1.

+1 #90: Your Declaration of Independence Nov 25, 2017

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For those of you in the States celebrating today, Happy Independence Day. For everyone else around the world, Happy 4th of July! 😃 The 4th of July. Of course, today we're celebrating Independence Day. But it's important to note that we're not celebrating the day we *won* our independence. We're celebrating the day we DECLARED our independence. Of course, there was SEVEN YEAR'S worth of blood, sweat, and tears that went into the Revolutionary War to back up that declaration (!!), but that's a pretty cool distinction when you think about it for a moment. So, Today's +1. Two parts. First, let's celebrate all the little Independence Days of our lives. Those moments when we declared our Independence from the bad habits that were tyrannizing our lives. With that in mind: What are three bad habits from which you've won your independence? 1. ___________________________ 2. ___________________________ 3. ___________________________ Fantastic. High fives. Fireworks! Now, it's time to make a new Declaration of Independence. From which keystone bad habit will you Declare your Independence from this day forward? I think the preamble to your Declaration goes something like this: "When in the Course of an individual's life it becomes necessary for that person to dissolve the bands which have connected them with bad habits and to assume among the powers of the earth, the self-mastery and virtue to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the scientific wisdom of the ages requires that they should WOOP their plans to win their Revolutionary War within themselves. As such, I [ INSERT NAME ], hereby declare my Independence from THIS bad habit: _____________________________. I hereby WOOP the successful Revolutionary War against said habit. This is my Wish: _____________________________ This is my Outcome; I shall experience these Benefits: _____________________________ These are my Obstacles: _____________________________ This is my Plan to deal with those Obstacles: _________________________." Enter: A powerful "necessity to act." Here's to winning that Revolutionary War and honoring your Declaration of Independence!

PNTV: The 4 Disciplines of Execution by Chris McChesney, Jim Huling, and Stephen Covey Nov 24, 2017

Show notes

I planned to read this book since Cal Newport referenced it in Deep Work. I finally did so in preparation to teach Productivity 101. It's fantastic. If you're a business leader or entrepreneur I think you'll particularly enjoy it. Big Ideas we cover include the 4DX, the whirlwind, your Wildly Important Goals, Lag vs. Lead measures, the power of keeping score, and avoiding the blackhole of the magnificently trivial.

+1 #85: 50 Pounds = A Nov 24, 2017

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Imagine this: It's your first day of art class. You signed up for an intro class on pottery. (Nice! Go you!) The teacher does something a little weird. He points to one half of the class and says, "On the last day of class I'm going to bring in a bathroom scale. You guys will get an 'A' if you produce 50 pounds of pots. A 'B' for 40 pounds. 30 pounds gets you a 'C.'" Then he points to the other half of the class and says, "You guys? You'll get an 'A' for creating an amazing pot. I just need one pot from you. Make it awesome and you get the 'A.'" Fast-forward to the end of the semester and who do you think created the best-looking pots? Answer: The group that produced the 50 pounds of stuff to get an "A." Why is that? Well, as the authors of Art & Fear put it: "It seems that while the 'quantity' group was busily churning out piles of work—and learning from their mistakes—the 'quality' group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay." So, question: How do YOU approach your creativity? Are you trying to create the "perfect pot"? Or, are you willing to lean in and produce a TON of stuff—learning from your mistakes and, eventually, getting better and better? Today's +1: Go create a bunch of pots. Remember: 50 pounds and you'll get an "A." P.S. Maslow comes to mind. He tells us: "It seems that the necessary thing to do is not to fear mistakes, to plunge in, to do the best that one can, hoping to learn enough from blunders to correct them eventually."

PNTV: The Effective Executive by Peter F. Drucker (#346) Nov 23, 2017

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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 "The Effective Executive" by Peter F. Drucker. Hope you enjoy!

Peter Drucker is considered the father of modern management. This book was originally published in 1967. It's *remarkably* well written and lucid. And, of course, packed with Big Ideas on how to optimize our effectiveness. We cover the 5 key practices/habits of the effective executive: time (first things first; second things never!), contribution (what can you contribute?), strengths (make yours productive; make weaknesses irrelevant), concentration (the secret to effectiveness), decisions (boundary conditions help).

PNTV: Peak Performance by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness Nov 22, 2017

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Brad Stulberg is a writer focused on health and the science of human performance. (Amy Cuddy calls him her favorite health and science writer.) Steve Magness is a coach to some of the top distance runners in the world. Together, they've written a super-engaging, quick-reading book on how to pursue growth in a healthy, sustainable way—aka, without burning out. Big Ideas we explore include the secret equation of sustainable awesome (Stress + Rest = Growth), just-manageable challenges, the iPhone Effect Part 3 (aka how to decrease your productivity in one step!), the optimal work/rest ratio, and the paradoxical twist of fulfillment.

+1 #80: Time Blocks Nov 22, 2017

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Continuing our theme of making TODAY (and every day!) a Masterpiece Day, let's take a quick look at Time Blocks. Gary Keller wrote The ONE Thing. He also created the largest real estate agency in the world. In his great little book, he tells us how important it is to ruthlessly focus on what's most important—the key activities that drive the real results. He takes the 80/20 principle to the extreme and has you continue drilling down on the most important things until you get to the ONE Thing that drives the whole show. And then he has you ruthlessly focus on what you need to do TODAY to make that ONE Thing a reality—knocking over the next domino in a chain of dominoes that inevitably leads to the outcome you're looking for. Just figuring out what your ONE Thing is (over the long run and today) obviously takes a lot of Deep Work. Gary tells us we need to create "Time Blocks" during our day. He calls them the #1 "power tool" of time management. The rules? You turn off ALL distractions for a set amount of time and you focus on whatever you decided is the most important thing. Then we make a habit of doing that. Every. Single. Day. For me, my #1 creative thing is a ruthless consistency on what I call my AM1 Deep Work time block. It's the time after I get up before the family gets up that I use to do that day's most important work. In fact, I'm working on this +1 at 5:51 AM while the family sleeps. We're on a mini vacation. I can hear the ocean waves as I type away on my iPhone. I'm excited for the family to get up and have another great day—feeling complete that I've already crushed it today. (Yes, that's just another way I'm weird. I'm in good company though. In On Writing, Stephen King tells us he never misses a day of writing. Something magical about it…) I LOVE my Deep Work time blocks. You? When's your best time to go Deep? Schedule it. Shut the doors. Turn off all distractions. Make it a sacred ritual. Then aggregate and compound those tiny little gains over an extended period of time +1 style!

+1 #75: Simplify the Battlefield Nov 20, 2017

Show notes

In our last +1 we talked about Spinny Fingers and how to quickly regain our equanimity when life spins us around. Here's another way. Mark Divine is a former Commander in the Navy SEALs. He tells us that in the chaos of war, elite SEALs are taught to "simplify the battlefield." When the fog of battle rolls in and things are nowhere near as clear as they were a moment before, it's absolutely essential that we simplify everything. Commander Divine tells us that we need to identify THE next most important target and then put ALL of our energy into successfully executing that micro-mission as we maintain what he calls "front-sight" focus. Simplify. Identify next target. Focus. Execute that micro-mission. Repeat. That's an incredibly effective way to roll. ESPECIALLY when things are most challenging. That's today's +1. How can you simplify the battlefield of your life? What's THE most important thing right now? Give it your front-sight focus. Hooyah! P.S. The last four digits of my phone number are 5320. Mark tells me that "5320" just so happens to be the call signal for a junior SEAL. It's become a fun game to sign off my text messages to the Commander with -5320. 😃

PNTV: The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin (#344) Nov 20, 2017

Show notes

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 Art of Learning" by Josh Waitzkin. Hope you enjoy!

Josh Waitzkin is an extraordinary human. Ever heard of the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer? That's the story of Josh life. Literally. After a childhood and young adulthood spent dominating chess, Josh then went on to master Tai Chi and became a World Champion. But what he REALLY became was a master of learning and peak performance. Big Ideas we explore include the two approaches to leaning, the downward spiral (what it is and how to avoid it), honoring your unique disposition, investing in loss, knowing your goal (decent, good, great, among best!), the power of stress and recovery and the ultimate secret of mastery.

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