Optimize With Brian Johnson | More Wisdom In Less Time

Want to create Miracle Months? Well, here's how I'm approaching it. Hope you enjoy!

Angela Duckworth is the world's leading authority on the science of grit. In fact, she pioneered the field and, as Daniel Gilbert says on the cover: "Psychologists have spent decades searching for the secret of success, but Duckworth is the one who found it." In this Note, we explore the two facets of grit (hint: passion + perseverance, why they're important and how to cultivate them.

In this special class, my wife Alexandra joins us to share her Top 10 Big Ideas on how to celebrate the most creative time of your life. Discover how to mother from your essence, be a self-care queen, ignite your desire power and see your mothering as holy work + invisible art as you bring more fun and play and mindfulness into your heroine's journey.

Confidence. It's very different than Arrogance and Insecurity. Here's how.

Angela Duckworth's new book on Grit is *phenomenal.* Note, etc. soon. I'm prepping for Fatherhood 101 so this Idea really jumped out at me and I figured I'd capture a quick Micro Class on it. Hope you enjoy!

As the sub-title suggests, this book is all about "A proven path to discovering what you were meant to do." If you're looking for an inspiring introduction to clarifying and living your purpose, I think you'll enjoy this book. Big Ideas we explore include a quick peek at the 7 characteristics of a Calling, why Awareness is so important, why Painful Practice is also super important, why we should be thinking "bridges" not "leaps" as we pursue our calling ad other goodness.

Want to win the career lottery? Here's your winning ticket: Joy +Money + Flow.

The 3 Laws of Mastery = 1. It's a mindset. 2. It's a pain. 3. It's an asymptote.

What were you born to do? As you might have guessed, that's what this book is all about. Our guide, Chris Guillebeau, gives us a bunch of helpful tips and strategies to help us find the work we were meant to do. Big Ideas we explore include how win the career lottery (hint: think JOT-MONEY-FLOW), playing the elimination game, remembering that if Plan A fails you still have 25 other letters, Warren Buffett on goals, and getting good at quitting.

Peter Drucker didn't believe in "creativity." It was all about PRODUCTIVITY for him. Here's how/why he said no to Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's invite to participate in his study.

What will your legacy be? Tune in to your eulogy + Job with a capital J.

Dan Pink is an incredibly engaging writer and this book is fantastic. In this book, he tackles human motivation and, as the sub-title suggests, tells us “The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us.” Here’s his Twitter summary: “Carrots & sticks are so last century. Drive says for 21st century work, we need to upgrade to autonomy, mastery & purpose.” Big Ideas we explore include understanding Motivation 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0 along w/how to upgrade our operating system, why Autonomy is so important, The Three Laws of Mastery and discovering our Purpose via a big question and a small one.

Abraham Maslow tells us that what one ​can​ be, one must​ be. Actualizing our potential is like oxygen for the soul. Helping you discover your purpose and fulfill your destiny is what this class is all about.

New Zealand’s national rugby team The All Blacks are arguably THE greatest team ever. In this book, James Kerr unpacks what makes them so great and how we can lead + create a Legacy. Big Ideas we explore include the fact that Better People Make Better All Blacks, Kiwi Kaizen, embracing expectations and leaning into the power of Loss Aversion (remember: no pressure, no diamonds), hitting the psychological gym and answering a couple questions that will help clarify YOUR legacy.

Homeostasis is a system's tendency to do what it needs to do to maintain stability. Here's how to use that to our advantage to reach our potential. (This is also a quick look at the science of why we need to exit our comfort zone if we want to improve!)

Anders Ericsson is the world’s leading scientist studying expert performance—looking at how, precisely, the people who are the best in the world at what they do became the best. In this Note, we take a quick look at The Gift that we all have that’s the key to our potential greatness, HOW to go about tapping into the benefits of that gift via a certain type of practice (forget naive practice and go for purposeful + deliberate!), the fact that there is no such thing as a “10,000 Hour Rule,” and why we should be called Homo Exercens rather than Homo Sapiens. :)

What were you born to do? As you might have guessed, that's what this book is all about. Our guide, Chris Guillebeau, gives us a bunch of helpful tips and strategies to help us find the work we were meant to do. Big Ideas we explore include how win the career lottery (hint: think JOY-MONEY-FLOW), playing the elimination game, remembering that if Plan A fails you still have 25 other letters, Warren Buffett on goals, and getting good at quitting.

Willpower. It's ESSENTIAL to optimizing our lives. In fact, in their *great* book, Willpower, Roy Baumeister (one of the world's leading scientific researchers on self-control) and John Tierney (science writer for the New York Times) tell us that "Improving willpower is the surest way to a better life." In this Note, we'll learn how to eat our way to willpower (seriously), how to exercise our self-control muscles, why "precommitment" is so important and how to win the willpower game with bright lines and a great offense. :)

Have you or someone you loved ever experienced depression? If so, it's time to tame the gremlins and create a sustainably awesome life. Here are my Top 10 Big Ideas on how to CONQUER depression–forged from my own experience.

Join us for Part 3 in The Tools interview series as Phil Stutz and Barry Michels walk us through the two Tools we didn't touch on in the prior chats: Grateful Flow (the way to deal with anxiety) and Active Love (powerful tool to deal with anger). Super inspiring, practical wisdom. Hope you love it! (Learn more about Phil + Barry + The Tools at thetoolsbook.com)