You Are Heroic with Brian Johnson

At Least I Hope You Are, Hero! In our last +1, we talked about Abigail Adams and her letter to her son, John Quincy Adams. As you may recall, she admonished the 12-year-old who would become the sixth U.S. President to LIVE WITH VIRTUE. And, as we discussed, she wisely declared: "These are the times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman." As part of that +1, I mentioned the fact that I think she and her family would have been part of our Heroic movement—encouraging their kids to cultivate their virtue while doing the same on our Heroic app. I also mentioned the fact that I think Benjamin Franklin would have either created something similar to our Heroic app to track HIS virtuous targets or joined the cause to help us win our current war between vice and virtue. Then… I typed "Benjamin Franklin" into my Mac's search thingy to see if I could find a Big Idea from a PhilosophersNote on him and his commitment to virtue. And… I hit the jackpot. Not only did I find a Big Idea featuring Benjamin Franklin and his idiosyncratic awesomeness, I ALSO found a reference to John Adams in the SAME Big Idea. Fantastic! The references were from Alan Cohen's Spirit Means Business. Franklin and Adams showed up in an Idea about helping us embrace our inner weirdos. Alan Cohen tells us: "Being a misfit is not a defect. It may be your key to success. When I hear that a person is well adjusted, I ask, 'Well adjusted to what?' Learning how to find your way around a mental institution does not make you sane. Real sanity rests in authenticity. ... Maybe you're not so weird after all. Maybe your weirdness is your greatest asset. Maybe what you thought was wrong with you is what's right with you. Just because you are out of the mainstream doesn't disqualify you from vast achievement. You are in your own stream. World change agents do not apologize for their eccentricities or try to hide them. Idiosyncrasies come with the package. So just get on with your creations and make your contribution regardless of any oddness your personality has picked up along the way. Don't wait until you are normal before you claim greatness. Normality and genius are rare bedfellows. As Walt Whitman proudly proclaimed, 'Not a particle or an inch of me is vile . . . I celebrate myself.'" That's from a chapter in which we learn about some of history's most awesome weirdos. Get this: Did you know that Benjamin Franklin started each day with an "air bath," standing naked outside for 30 minutes? Yep. And, that fellow American hero John Quincy Adams swam nude in the Potomac river at 5 A.M. every morning, even in freezing weather. (Cold plunge for the win! Wim Hof would approve!) Then we have Nikola Tesla and Steve Jobs with their whole array of idiosyncratic behaviors (and genius inventions). Oh! And, let's not forget about Albert Einstein. Did you know that he didn't even speak until he was three and, as an adult, would stop his car, pluck a grasshopper and EAT IT. Yep. That's normal. Then we have YOU. How's YOUR weirdness? Alan tells us: The Myth: Being a misfit is a defect you must correct. The Reality: Your nonconformity is your pathway to fulfillment. And... So much of that passage is so eminently quotable. There's this: "Learning to find your way around a mental institution does not make you sane." (Hah!) Plus, this is worth a quick repeat: "Normality and genius are rare bedfellows." Then we have the whole "Well adjusted to WHAT?" conversation which—as you might be able to guess by this stage—reminds me of Krishnamurti's wisdom that being well-adjusted to a PROFOUNDLY SICK society is no measure of health. In a world where "normal" is so astonishingly sub-optimal (from a mental, physical and emotional health standpoint), why, my dear friend, should we aspire for "normalcy?" Much better to lean into our weirdness and entertain the possibility that, perhaps, "your weirdness is your greatest asset." Here's to echoing Whitman's proclamation as we celebrate every particle and inch of ourselves. Not someday. TODAY. btw: Whitman also told us that "In the faces of men and women, I see God." You know what I see and what we encourage our Coaches to see in the faces of men and women? HEROES. Yes: I'm looking at YOU, Hero!!!

Abigail Adams and Heroic Mothers Unite Abigail Adams was one of the Heroic Founding Mothers of the United States of America. I'm convinced that she and Benjamin Franklin and their families would be part of our Heroic movement if they were alive today. Why? Because they were intensely passionate about cultivating virtue in their lives and in the lives of their children. And… I'm pretty sure () they would have preferred to have their kids on the soon-to-be-launched social features for our Heroic training platform cultivating virtue together rather than on Tik Tok watching another absurd 20-second video. What data supports that hypothesis? Glad you asked… That's the subject of Today's +1. Have you ever seen this quote from Abigail? "These are the times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman." After reading a version of that in Warren Bennis' great book On Becoming a Leader, I looked it up to find its source. It's from a letter she wrote to her son John Quincy Adams in January 1780–almost 243 (!) years ago. He was on a trip to France with his father to elicit support for our Revolutionary War. (Thanks, France!! ) I looked up how old John Quincy Adams was in 1780. He was 12. Check out the letter. It's worth reading. I printed it out and marked it all up because it was so good. (See my notes below.) As you'll see if you spend a few minutes reading her brilliant letter, Abigail starts out the letter by basically telling her son that she made him go to France with his dad and brother even though he was whining about it. Seriously. It's so good to see this great woman (a true Founding Mother of America) talking to a future president like, well, he was acting like a 12-year-old. Then we get to the quote that made me find the letter. But get this… Bennis actually MISQUOTED Abigail. He said that she said: "These are hard times in which a genius should wish to live. . . . Great necessities call forth great leaders." But that's not *actually* what she said. She didn't say great necessities call forth great LEADERS. She said: "Great necessities call forth great VIRTUES." Which, for the record, MAKES THEM GREAT LEADERS. Note: Both John AND his dad would become future U.S. Presidents. Virtue for the win! Now… Of course, that struck me (goosebumps) because our ENTIRE app is architected to help us operationalize the fact that ancient wisdom and modern science agree that the ultimate purpose of life is to express the best version of yourself (in service to something bigger than yourself!) by living with virtue. And, of course, we believe the historically significant challenges we are facing DEMAND that each of us step up and show up as the best, most Heroic versions of ourselves. Which is why I was even more struck by the rest of her letter. When I read THIS passage, I could literally SEE Abigail and her husband John (who, in 1780, was the Ambassador to France in what was the fifth of an eight-year Revolutionary War!) and their kids using Heroic to commit to and then hit virtuous targets together all day every day (especially when they were so far away from each other!): "I cannot fulfill the whole of my duty towards you, if I close this Letter, without reminding you of a failing which calls for a strict attention and watchfull care to correct. You must do it for yourself. You must curb that impetuosity of temper, for which I have frequently chid you, but which properly directed may be productive of great good. I know you are capable of these exertions, with pleasure I observed my advice was not lost upon you. If you indulge yourself in the practise of any foible or vice in youth, it will gain strength with your years and become your conquerer. The strict and inviolable regard you have ever paid to truth, gives me pleasing hopes that you will not swerve from her dictates, but add justice, fortitude, and every Manly Virtue which can adorn a good citizen, do Honour to your Country, and render your parents supremely happy, particularly your ever affectionate Mother," Then I smiled when I realized that another beloved Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin, would have probably created something similar to our app to track HIS virtues (with his friends and family!) if he was alive today. Know this… These are times in which Heroes would wish to live. As we set out to make 2023 truly Heroic, may we remember that it is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station that great characters are formed. Remember: "Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engulf the Heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake to Life, and form the Character of the Hero and the Statesman." With Love + Wisdom + Self-Mastery + Courage and profound Gratitude for all of your support in helping us create a noble and virtuous world, I say… Heroes unite!!! Day 1. All in. LET'S GO.

Which Will It Be, Hero? As we've discussed, Brian Cain is an inspiring human being. He works with some of the greatest athletes in the world and has helped them go to the next (NEXT!) level. We've talked about a bunch of Big Ideas from his two little fables: The 10 Pillars of Mental Performance Mastery and One Percent Better. Today we're going to revisit One Percent Better for ONE more wisdom gem. But… First… Pop quiz!!! Question: What's 1% of a day? Do you recall? (And do you recall that trying to recall something is one of the most powerful ways to dominate Learning 101? Yep.) Answer: 1% of the day is 14 minutes and 24 seconds. Note: I've changed the countdown on my Timex watch from 16 minutes and 40 seconds (which is 1,000 seconds) to 14 minutes and 24 seconds (1% of the day!!) so I can measure my meditation and deep work time blocks and, well, a bunch of stuff in 1% increments. Super fun. We'll come back to that more as we have fun seeing if we can make at least 51% (!!!) of our days Heroically intentional. For now… Here's the wisdom gem I want to focus on… Brian tells us: "If you don't have a plan, how are you getting better? The problem is when you stop getting better, you start getting bitter, and nobody likes being around people who are bitter all the time." That's Today's +1. Are YOU getting better or are you getting bitter? It's a simple question with far-reaching impact. Which will it be, Hero? Here's to continuously refining our plans to GET BETTER lest we go the wrong direction and get bitter. +1. +1. +1. ALL DAY. EVERY DAY. ESPECIALLY TODAY.

Of Self-Mastery: Reactive + Structural + Expansive I've been thinking a lot about the three forms of discipline that make up Self-Mastery. Here they are: Structural Discipline. Reactive Discipline. Expansive Discipline. We talk about them in Objective V of Basic Training and I'll be writing about them in the Heroic book we'll be launching in early 2024. Now… As I sat down to create this +1, I thought this would be the first time I've written about the three disciplines. Then, as I was going through the archives, I found that, in fact, we ALREADY chatted about the three disciplines. We chatted about them in +1 #669 to be precise—over two and a half years ago. Perfect. Let's dust that wisdom off and shine the spotlight of our attention on them again. Why? Because they're SUPER important. First… A little more context. As we've discussed many times, Phil Stutz is all about helping us cultivate what he calls "emotional stamina." How? By getting to a place where, the WORSE we feel, the MORE committed we are to our protocol. That's become the foundation of what I now call "Antifragile Confidence." KNOW THIS: Getting this ONE idea may, in fact, be THE most life-changing thing we can do together. What if… When we feel like this little poop emoji (!!) (!), rather than spiral out and (let's be honest folks! ), do all the stupid things we tend to do when we're tired and overwhelmed and all that, we could get ourselves to be even MORE INTENSELY focused on doing what we know is best for us?! What would happen? Simple. Easier said than done but… If you can actually get yourself to do that even 10 or 20 or 30% of the time and then spiral up from there… Then… You'd change your life. Fundamentally and permanently. Now… That's the essence of the first of three disciplines: Structural Discipline. It's also why we spent so much time and money working with one of the best product development companies in the world to create the core experience of our Heroic app: the Big 3 Target Practice protocol. Who are you at your absolute best? What virtues do you embody? What do you actually DO on a daily basis? When we have structural discipline, we DOMINATE that protocol. We recommit to being our best selves in the morning. Then we hit virtuous targets all day. Every day. Soul Force score at 101. LET'S GO. I repeat: GOOD LUCK having a series of really bad days when you do that. Your highs will be higher AND your lows will be higher and you will have earned the trust in yourself to KNOW that you can handle WHATEVER life throws at you. That's how you forge antifragile confidence by executing your protocol via Structural Discipline. The second discipline is "Reactive Discipline." As I said in the old +1, Reactive Discipline is just what it sounds like. Something triggers you. Can you step in between the stimulus and your normal sub-optimal response with the DISCIPLINE to CHOOSE a better response? Fantastic. That's Reactive Discipline. Then we have Expansive Discipline. This is both the most important and the hardest of the three. EVERY SINGLE MOMENT we have a choice. Will we step forward into growth or back into safety? If we want to live our most heroically awesome lives and have a shot at experiencing all that we're capable of being, when we feel even a little niggle of fear, we must (more and more!) consistently choose to EXPAND. EXPAND. EXPAND. We need to make that expansion a discipline. How? "Bring in on!!" is a FANTASTIC tool to practice. That's Today's +1. The Three Disciplines of Self-Mastery. Structural Discipline. Reactive Discipline. Expansive Discipline. How are YOU doing with each? What's awesome? What needs work? What ONE thing can you do a little differently Today? Here's to your disciplines. All three of them! Day 1. All in. LET'S GO!

Personal Humility + Indomitable Will Jim Collins is my all-time favorite business thinker. He's written a bunch of great books including Good to Great, Built to Last, and Great by Choice. But… My all-time favorite business book is Beyond Entrepreneurship 2.0: Turning Your Business into an Enduring Great Company. (Thanks again for the rec on that, Gibson. ) I still need to do a Note on all those books and create a series of Notes for all the business books I've read but have yet to distill. For now… I want to talk about one of Jim Collins' Big Ideas on what he calls "Level 5 leadership." Here's how he puts it: "Our research showed that having charismatic leadership doesn't explain why some companies become great and others don't. In fact, some of the most disastrous comparison cases had very strong, charismatic leadership in the very era that the companies fell or failed. Rather, our research found that the critical ingredient is Level 5 leadership. The essence of Level 5 leadership is a paradoxical combination of personal humility and indomitable will. The humility expressed at Level 5 isn't a false humbleness; it's a subjugation of personal ego in service to a cause beyond oneself. This humility combined with the fierce resolve to do whatever it takes (no matter how difficult) to best serve that cause. Level 5 leaders are incredibly ambitious, but they channel their ambition into building a great team or organization and accomplishing a shared mission that's ultimately not about them." First: "Personal humility." We subjugate our personal egos in service to something bigger than ourselves. Second: "Indomitable will." As in… INDOMITABLE will. (Wow.) We have a fierce resolve to do WHATEVER it takes (no matter how difficult!) to best serve the cause. (Goosebumps.) Combine personal humility and indomitable will and we have what Collins calls "Level 5 leadership." Only… You know what I thought of when I read that passage? I thought… If, as Joseph Campbell says: "A hero is someone who has dedicated his or her life to something bigger than oneself"… Then… I say… Jim Collins just described HEROIC Leadership. And… That's Today's +1. Let's fiercely resolve to stepping up and into our Heroic Leadership potential—combining personal humility with INDOMITABLE (!) will to do whatever it takes for however long it takes to fulfill our Missions. And… Let's do that… TODAY. Day 1. All in. LET'S GO. P.S. Check out this +1 on (Heroically!) Fierce Ambition for another take on the subject, inspired by Doris Kearns Goodwin and her brilliant book Leadership in Turbulent Times.

I Read Archeologically (Like Twyla Tharp) A couple +1s ago, I promised to tell you more about how I read a book. Here's the very short answer… I read like it's my job to find Big Ideas that can help me activate my Soul Force so I can help YOU activate YOUR Soul Force. For one simple reason. It is. Now… Let's go to one of my favorite books for a passage that best captures how I read. In The Creative Habit, Twyla Tharp tells us: "When I'm reading archeologically, I'm not reading for pleasure. I read the way I scratch for an idea, digging down deep so I can get something out of it and use it in my work. I read transactionally: How can I use this? It's not enough for me to read a book. I have to 'own' it. I scribble in the margins. I circle sentences I like and connect them with arrows to other useful sentences. I draw stars and exclamation points on every good page, to the point where the book is almost unreadable. By writing all over the pages, I transform the author's work into my book—and mine alone." Yep. That's exactly how to do it. Carrying on… Here are some other things you might find interesting in terms of how I read a book and how I encourage you to consider approaching it. First, very importantly: I DO NOT speed read. I read reasonably quickly—40-50 or so pages an hour depending on the font size and complexity of the subject and all that. But… Again… I DO NOT "speed read." Nor do I try to see how fast I can get through the book per se. I treat reading a book like it's my job to mine its depths for the Big Ideas that can change YOUR life as I strive to give you More Wisdom in Less Time via the PhilosophersNotes and these +1s because, again, it is. I also, even more importantly and less obviously, read a book like I'm lucky enough to sit down and have a GREAT conversation with a BRILLIANT thinker who spent years (if not decades!) reflecting on the subject of their book and then spent another big chunk of time distilling that wisdom into a book they could share with us. Why in the world would I rush through THAT? Nope. I sit up straight. Pen in hand as I GET TO WORK searching for the Ideas that could change our lives. I'll also say that, many years ago, I was interviewing Tony Schwartz about his great book The Power of Full Engagement. He told me that, at the time, he found his brain so full with digital inputs that he had a hard time sitting down and reading more than a page of a book. And, it was at that moment that he knew he needed to significantly reduce his consumption of digital inputs. Which is a REALLY important point. If you want to be able to FOCUS your mind on a book (or ANYTHING that is important) for longer than 20 seconds, you need to, in my opinion, start by Conquering Your Digital Addiction and practicing your Digital Minimalism. A good night of sleep and meditation practice helps as well. And… That's a little more on how I read a book and that's Today's +1. Let's bring Twyla Tharp back so she can send us on our way. She tells us: "If I stopped reading, I'd stop thinking. It's that simple." Yep. Books. They do a Hero good. Here's to soaking our minds in the wisdom of great thinkers. And… Here's to taking that wisdom and going from Theory to Practice to Mastery Together… TODAY. + + +

Do a Gritty, Flourishing Hero Good! In our last +1, we talked about how I read a book. More specifically, we focused on how I choose the books I read—which, I believe, is ALWAYS the most important first step in how to read a book. In short, I said that I follow Joseph Campbell's wisdom to "read the right books by the right people." Campbell tells us: "When you find an author who really grabs you, read everything he has done. Don't say, 'Oh, I want to know what So-and-so did'—and don't bother at all with the best-seller list. Just read what this one author has to give you. And then you can go read what he had read. And the world opens up in a way that is consistent with a certain point of view. But when you go from one author to another, you may be able to tell us the date when each wrote such and such a poem—but he hasn't said anything to you." Scientists would agree with this approach of trusting yourself and doing what really grabs you—with books and with other things in life. In fact, Tal Ben-Shahar connects the academic research on what's called "self-concordant goals" to Joseph Campbell to make the point. Here's how Tal puts it in his great book Happier: "As research on self-concordant goals illustrates, Campbell's belief is much more than a superstition. When we follow our bliss, we not only enjoy the journey, we are also more successful." In the book, Tal walks us through the importance of goals in general and the importance of what psychologists call "self-concordant" goals in particular. "Self-concordant goals" are "the goals we pursue out of deep personal conviction and/or a strong interest." As it turns out, Angela Duckworth echoes this wisdom in HER great book, Grit. We talk about the four practices to build grit in this +1 on The Science of Grit. Here they are: Interest + Practice + Purpose + Hope. The first, MOST IMPORTANT aspect of Grit? Interest. If we want to cultivate the sustainable passion required to cultivate grit (whether that's for important, long-term goals or simply getting through a book!), we need to be intrinsically drawn to what we do. It needs to be, as we just discussed, SELF-CONCORDANT. All of which leads us to Today's +1. How are your goals? Are they clear? Are they self-concordant? Do they fire you up? Let's not read books or do other such things because we think we "should." As Tony Robbins would say: Let's not "should on ourselves." And, As Rory Vaden puts it, let's not be "should-heads." Let's do the things that grab us. With gritty joy. TODAY.

And… How I Pick the Books I Read I'm often asked how I read a book AND how I pick the books I read. In fact, I was asked this question in one of our recent Heroic Coach Soul Force Forge sessions in which I have 1-on-1 coaching sessions with our Coaches in a group environment. (These sessions are among the highlights of my month!) Today I'd like to chat about that for a moment or three. So… In a recent Zoom, I had an opportunity to connect with Franco—an incredibly inspiring 19-year-old Argentinian Heroic optimizer who is going through our Coach certification program. Franco told me that he was getting an ARETÉ tattoo for his 20th birthday (!!) and then asked me how I read a book. I kinda went off. Here's the video clip of our time together. And, here's the short story… The most important part of how to read a book, from my perspective, is to make sure you're reading THE RIGHT BOOK. If you're reading a book because you think you "have to" or because everyone else is reading it but… You're not THAT into it, then… Well… Good luck with that. It's going to be a bit of a slog and you may find your self x pages into another book but never finishing it. Of course, sometimes we need to read a book for school or for our jobs or whatever—in which case, we'd be wise to remove all ambivalence and GO ALL IN and act like that book you need to read is the most exciting book you could ever possibly read. (Seriously.) Assuming we're talking about a situation in which our reading list is not assigned to us, the first thing I do is follow Joseph Campbell's wisdom. In The Power of Myth, he tells us: "Sit in a room and read—and read and read. And read the right books by the right people. Your mind is brought onto that level, and you have a nice, mild, slow-burning rapture all the time. This realization of life can be a constant realization in your living. When you find an author who really grabs you, read everything he has done. Don't say, 'Oh, I want to know what So-and-so did'—and don't bother at all with the best-seller list. Just read what this one author has to give you. And then you can go read what he had read. And the world opens up in a way that is consistent with a certain point of view. But when you go from one author to another, you may be able to tell us the date when each wrote such and such a poem—but he hasn't said anything to you." Yep. That's the way to do it. And, that's what I've done for the better part of the last 15-20 years now. In my 20s and early 30s, I started with Dan Millman. And Paulo Coelho. And Wayne Dyer. I've read nearly everything those guys have written. (Check out the Notes by clicking on the link for each author.) More recently, I've read almost everything written by Steven Pressfield, Ryan Holiday, and Cal Newport. Then there's my old coach Steve Chandler and my beloved Yoda Phil Stutz. Then there's Joseph Campbell himself. And one of my all-time favorite teachers, Eknath Easwaran—who I consider to be, in many ways, the Indian version of Campbell. In fact, I've created the MOST Notes on Easwaran and his great books. Nine of them so far. His translations of the Gita and Dhammapada in particular are ! Most recently, I followed this thread with Michael Singer. Not too long ago, I read his latest book called Living Untethered. It's INCREDIBLY good. We previously featured The Untethered Soul, which I really liked, but after reading his latest book, Singer is now one of my new favorite teachers. So… After finishing that book, I immediately got three other books he's written—including a couple he wrote nearly 50 years ago. In one of THOSE books he thanked Yogananda for being the deepest influence of his life. So what did I do? I immediately got HIS classic An Autobiography of a Yogi. Then I learned that Steve Jobs gave An Autobiography of a Yogi to everyone who attended his memorial service as THE final gift on their way out. (Goosebumps) Then I went back to Amazon and bought a half dozen more of Yogananda's books (/booklets) all of which are !! Notes on all those coming soon. All that to say… That's one powerful way I pick the books I'm going to read—which is, again, in my mind, one of the most important things to consider in terms of how to read a book. In our next +1, I'll tell you more about how I actually read the book once I've decided to read it. For now… Happy reading. Here's to that nice, mild, slow-burning rapture we get connecting with wisdom from a brilliant soul. Day 1. All in. Let's go!

The Place to Live to Dominate the Day In our last +1, Dale Carnegie joined us to complement some Brian Cain wisdom about the importance of focusing on THIS moment (RIGHT NOW!) to crowd out any potential stress about the past or the future that might be eliciting some feelings of depression or anxiety. As you may recall, and, don't worry! I promise that I will continue to unapologetically repeat all the important themes we discuss to make sure we're practicing one of the key tenets of Learning 101 known as "spaced repetition" … Here's how Cainer put it: "Remember, depression is obsession with the past, anxiety is obsession about the future, and optimal performance is obsession about the present." And… Here's how Carnegie put it: "George Bernard Shaw was right. He summed it all up when he said: 'The secret of being miserable is to have the leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not.' So don't bother to think about it! Spit on your hands and get busy. Your blood will start circulating; your mind will start ticking—and pretty soon this whole positive upsurge of life in your body will drive worry from your mind. Get busy. Keep busy. It's the cheapest kind of medicine there is on this earth—and one of the best." Now… I ended that +1 with one of my go-to lines, encouraging you to consider putting this wisdom into practice "All day, every day. Especially… TODAY!" Which makes me think of ANOTHER Big Idea from Carnegie's How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. He tells: "So let's be content to live the only time we can possibly live: from now until bedtime. 'Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, from now until nightfall,' wrote Robert Louis Stevenson. 'Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day. Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down. And this is all that life really means.'" And… Carnegie encourages us to consider living in what he calls "Day-tight compartments." He tells us: "Shut the iron doors on the past and the future. Live in Day-tight compartments." Then… He tells us to ask ourselves THESE questions: "Do I tend to put off living in the present in order to worry about the future, or to yearn for some 'magical rose garden over the horizon'? Do I sometimes embitter the present by regretting things that happened in the past—that are over and done with? Do I get up in the morning determined to 'Seize the day'—to get the utmost out of these twenty-four hours? Can I get more out of life by 'living in day-tight compartments'? When shall I start to do this? Next week? ... Tomorrow? ... Today?" Those are some GREAT questions. And… Reflecting on those is the focus of Today's +1. Let's spend a moment doing so now… "Do you tend to put off living in the present in order to worry about the future, or to yearn for some 'magical rose garden over the horizon'? Do you sometimes embitter the present by regretting things that happened in the past—that are over and done with? Do you get up in the morning determined to 'Seize the day'—to get the utmost out of these twenty-four hours? Can you get more out of life by 'living in day-tight compartments'? When shall you start to do this? Next week? ... Tomorrow? ... Today?" Your answers? btw… Hint: The answer to #5 is… You should start to do this… TODAY! Yep. Today's the day to move from Theory to Practice to Mastery, Hero. But only always. Day 1. All in. Here's to living in day-tight compartments. LET'S GO!

And Its Antidote (Found in Spit!) In our last +1, we spent a little more time with Brian Cain and his wisdom on the fact that "depression is obsession with the past, anxiety is obsession about the future, and optimal performance is obsession about the present." All of which begged the question: What are YOU obsessed about these days? And… All of that led to my admonition to activate our Soul Force by getting our Energy to Heroic levels and Focusing it on What's Important NOW all day every day. Today I want to revisit the topic and bring another peak performance guru to the party to share HIS wisdom on the subject. We'll go old school and invite Dale Carnegie to join us. As you almost certainly know, Carnegie wrote one of the all-time best-selling personal development books How to Win Friends and Influence People. He wrote that book in 1936. It's sold over 30 million copies. (Check out the Notes for more.) What you may not know is that he wrote another great book called How to Stop Worrying and Start Living. That book was written in 1948. 6 million copies of that book have been sold as well. (Check out the Notes for more.) In How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, Carnegie echoes Cainer's wisdom about focusing on the PRESENT to deal with any potential depression and anxiety. He tells us: "George Bernard Shaw was right. He summed it all up when he said: 'The secret of being miserable is to have the leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not.' So don't bother to think about it! Spit on your hands and get busy. Your blood will start circulating; your mind will start ticking—and pretty soon this whole positive upsurge of life in your body will drive worry from your mind. Get busy. Keep busy. It's the cheapest kind of medicine there is on this earth—and one of the best." There ya go. Feeling stressed? Perfect. That's part of a good, noble life. The moment you quit thinking you should be exonerated from the pain of uncertainty and the pain of hard work will be one of the most powerful, antifragile confidence-building moments of your life! Now… Spit on your hands and get busy doing your best at whatever is in front of you. RIGHT. NOW. Gremlins come back to the party a minute or three later? Perfect. Repeat. Get back to work. Focusing your Energy on What's Important Now. Not once in a while and not only when you feel like it. All day, every day. Especially when? TODAY.