Optimize With Brian Johnson | More Wisdom In Less Time

Tom Morris literally wrote the book on Philosophy for Dummies. A double Ph.D. from Yale (Philosophy + Religious Studies), he taught at Notre Dame and has been a professional, public philosopher for decades. Let's apply wisdom to our own lives!

How do you want to die? With a calm serenity knowing you gave your best or with deep regret that you never took the risks and cultivated the discipline to show up with urgency and diligence each day to create a life of deep meaning? The answer is obvious. Big Ideas we explore on how to die empty include optimism vs. wishing, the root of mediocrity, the 3 S’s of goal setting and dealing with The Lag.

Want to get so good they can't ignore you? (Me, too.) Cal Newport tells us we need to shift from a passion mindset to a CRAFTSMAN mindset as we become true masters of our craft and create a ton of value in the world. We do *that* and we'll accumulate what Cal calls "career capital" that we can cash in for the ideal set up. Another Big Idea: Figure out how you can deliberately practice! (<-- Huge.) This is a fun, quick chat. I hope you love it and here's to mastering our craft and serving profoundly.

Jason Selk is one of the world's leading peak performance experts. His tagline? "The relentless pursuit of greatness." If that appeals to you, you'll love this book. It's *fantastic*! Big Ideas we explore include the difference between Process and Product Goals, a 100-second mental training workout, why your self-image matters and the REMARKABLE benefits of writing down your goals.

Tool #1: We need to reverse our relationship with fear. Rather than avoid pain, we need to lean into it--KNOWING that our infinite potential exists outside our comfort zone on the other side of our fear.

The Tools. This was easily the best book I read in 2012. It's *packed* with goodness. Stutz and Michels are two no-nonsense therapists who developed powerful tools to transform our problems into courage, confidence, and creativity. In this Note, we'll take a quick peek at how to put these powerful tools to work to creat real change in our lives.

The Rise of Superman. What an awesome title and vision. Steven Kotler is one of the world’s leading authorities on the science of flow. He created the Flow Genome Project that is all about “decoding the peak performance state of flow.” (<—Awesome.) In this book we take a peak at how we can get our greatness on. Big Ideas include a quick look at flow and how to hack it, achieving mastery sans misery, using fear as a compass and how to do the impossible.

The Tools. This was easily the best book I read in 2012. It's *packed* with goodness. Stutz and Michels are two no-nonsense therapists who developed powerful tools to transform our problems into courage, confidence, and creativity. In this Note, we'll take a quick peek at how to put these powerful tools to work to create real change in our lives.

Ronday Rousey knows how to make the obstacle the way/turn poison into medicine. How do you respond when something goes wrong? Here's to being anti-fragile

Are you a perfectionist? Well... How's that working for you? If you're ready to shift to a more effective mode of showing up I think you'll enjoy this chat with Stephen Guise about his new book How to Be an Imperfectionist.

Todd Henry tells us that history’s most impactful humans all had a unique, powerful, authentic voice. This book is all about helping us harness the power of OUR authentic voice. Three keys: Identity + Vision + Mastery. And, we’ve gotta learn how to own the Big U as we run our own race, have fun in monk mode and practice action + patience.

Goals. They're super important. But not all goals are created equally. Here are my Top 10 tips on how to set goals that will actually make you happy! -)

Steve Chandler tells us “There is bad and there is good . . . And then there is crazy good." And, our path to living a crazy-good life is simple. It's all about CHOICES. As with all of Steve's books, this one is packed with wisdom. Big Ideas we cover include The 5% Solution, Systems vs. Dreams, Game vs. Shame, and making life an experiment.

You want to develop *true* confidence? Scientists like Heidi Grant Halvorson tell us we need to have confidence in our ability to achieve our goals *and* in the fact that we will face challenges on the way. Here's a quick look at how to rock it!

Gabriel Oettingen is one of the world's leading researchers in "The New Science of Motivation." The basic idea of the book is captured in a clever image on the cover: Rose colored glasses with one lens cracked. Oettingen walks us thru the compelling research that demonstrates the power of seeing both the positive AND the challenges. When we contrast our wishes with the obstacles to their attainment we, almost magically, catalyze an extraordinarily higher level of performance. 

Did you know exercise is as effective as Zoloft in reducing depression? Yep. Experts say *not* exercising is like taking a depressant. Here's to getting our exercise on!! -)

Dan Millman (author of Way of the Peaceful Warrior and other great books) introduced me to David Reynolds's great book Constructive Living years ago as he's been deeply influenced by David's integration of Zen Buddhism and Western Psychotherapy. I like to say it's the best book you've (likely) never heard of. Join David and I for a chat about some of my favorite Big Ideas on how to live with greater self-mastery by more effectively relating to our emotions and consistently asking ourselves: "Now what needs to be done?!"

Da Vinci tells us one can have no greater mastery than mastery of oneself. Scientists agree. Self-control is the greatest predictor of all things good. Here's a powerful practice to gain mastery and rock it!

You have any impulsive behaviors you'd like to cool off? (If you're human, the answer is yes.) Then If-Then planning for hot spots is for you!

Spiritual indigestion. It comes from a lot of studying and not a lot of applying. The solution is simple - move from theory to practice by LIVING your truths! -)