You Are Heroic with Brian Johnson

What to Do the Next Time That Happens Brian Cain is one of the world's greatest mental toughness coaches. His client list includes four Major League Baseball Cy-Young Award winners, eight UFC world champion mixed martial artists, World Series and Super Bowl Champions and MVPs, Olympic medalists, and countless other elite athletes and coaches. He's also a friend and longtime student of mine who has his clients read PhilosophersNotes to go to the next level. (Cainer: !!!) We're going to be talking about him and his wisdom more in the weeks and months ahead—check out the PhilosophersNotes on his books The 10 Pillars of Mental Performance Mastery and One Percent Better. Today I want to chat about one of his clients. Quick context. Brian recently visited me and the Johnson fam out here in the country outside of Austin. The kids and wifey and I had fun learning how to eat fire and break an arrow with our necks and do other fun things we didn't think we could do. Now… There was a big UFC pay-per-view event a few weekends after his visit. Brian happened to be coaching one of the fighters in ALL THREE of the top three fights (two for championship belts). He invited me to go to the event but, me being me, I told him thank you but (laughing), I'm going to be in bed hours before the championship fights so… Although I didn't go to watch the fights, I DID do a little research on his fighters. I read an article on one of the guys fighting for a title. His prior competitors talked about how much he freaked them out because he seemed to LOVE getting hit in the face. The harder they hit him the more he smiled as he asked them if that was all they had. Them: !!! I share that story because, in my AM Heroic meditation, right after Epictetus tells me to practice my philosophy and to remember the Choice of Hercules, he often reminds me to remember that particular fighter—telling me that if HE can smile when he LITERALLY gets punched in the face, I can smile when *I* inevitably get metaphorically punched in the face. And, well, that's Today's +1. I understand the fact that the whole "martial art" metaphor thing might not be your thing but it's been a handy philosophical teaching tool for thousands of years so… If you feel so inspired, the next time you get metaphorically punched in the face (note: NOT "if" but WHEN!), I encourage you to remember Epictetus and his boxers and Cainer and his mixed martial artists and see if you can have fun flipping the switch and SMILING as you ask the Heroic gods if THAT is all they've got. That very next challenge you're going to face sooner than you may like? That's PRECISELY what we train for. Day 1. All in. Let's give life all we've got. TODAY.

Stay in the Ring and Let's Go! In our last +1, we spent some time riding appropriately big waves and reminded ourselves that, when we're wisely surfing the beautiful oceans of life, we remember to ENJOY the waves. Today we're going to bring my all-time favorite teacher (Epictetus!) back to the party to hear his take on the subject. But… Before we go there… Let's pause for a moment and think about the great big-wave surfer, Laird Hamilton. The guy is obsessed about finding THE BIGGEST POSSIBLE WAVES HE CAN FIND! Why? Because that's how he knows he can see what he's made of and HAVE THE MOST FUN!! Crazy? Of course. And that's how he is fulfilling his idiosyncratic, Heroic destiny and inspiring all of us to do the same in our own unique ways as well. Side note: Have you seen Finding Joe yet? Laird tells his story in it. Along with Tony Hawk. They talk about all the FEAR they felt pursuing their big, hairy, audacious dreams. Watch the trailer here. Full movie for free here. Now… Let's talk about the ancient Stoic philosopher, Epictetus. Epictetus was a former slave who taught the guys who taught Marcus Aurelius. Every morning, I invite his presence into my consciousness during my AM Heroic meditation. Every morning, he tells me pretty much the same thing: "Practice your philosophy and remember the choice of Hercules!" As we've discussed, Hercules was one of the ancient Greek and Stoic philosophers' favorite heroes. They liked to tell the story about Hercules BEFORE he was Hercules. We talk about it in our Notes on How to Think Like a Roman Emperor and this +1 on The Choice of Hercules. The quick recap. Young pre-Heroic Hercules is walking in a forest. He comes to a fork in the road, at which point two goddesses approach him. One goddess rushes ahead of the other. She's overly made up and preening a bit as she tells him that, if he follows her, his life will be easy and awesome. She says her name is "Happiness" but she's lying. Her name is really "Vice." The second goddess waits patiently then steps forward. She has a stern yet beautiful countenance and tells Hercules that if follows HER, his life will be full of pain and challenges AND… as he strives to overcome those challenges in service to something bigger than himself, he will earn the respect and admiration of the gods. Her name? Areté. Hercules, of course, chose wisely. Epictetus reminds me (EVERY MORNING!) that I need to make that Choice of Hercules EVERY DAY—especially TODAY. A noble life worthy of the respect and admiration of the gods (and ourselves!) is NOT SUPPOSED TO BE EASY. Those challenges we face? Those are the waves that give us a chance to flourish. Epictetus often reminds me of another thing. He tells me that, if I complain about the inevitable challenges of life, then I'm kinda like the boxer who enters the ring only to walk out the moment he gets punched in the face. That, of course, would make NO SENSE. What did the boxer expect? To do yin yoga with his opponent? Let's quote the ancient Stoic sage directly here because it's so good. He tells us: "But what is philosophy? Doesn't it simply mean preparing ourselves for what may come? Don't you understand that really amounts to saying that if I would so prepare myself to endure, then let anything happen that will? Otherwise, it would be like the boxer exiting the ring because he took some punches. Actually, you can leave the ring without consequence, but what advantage would come from abandoning the pursuit of wisdom? So, what should each of us say to every trial we face? This is what I've trained for, for this my discipline!" I repeat: IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE CHALLENGING. And… Yet… I repeat: When we approach our inevitable challenges with the right mindset and consistent practices, life eventually becomes a LOT "easier" and those waves and punches become a joyful part of the Heroic, eudaimonic, noble, well-lived life. Let's remember that Today as we paddle out to our waves and step into the arena that is our lives. Love ya. Let's go!!! P.S. Speaking of stepping into the arena, check out this +1 on The Optimizer in the Arena for some old-school Teddy Roosevelt wisdom! +1 +1 +1 +1 +1 +1

With Yoda and Laird In our last +1, we revisited our thinking on our Targeted Thinking practice. As you may recall, we added a Step 0 to the protocol that involved accepting our reality COMPLETELY before we shift to figuring out how we'd like to create a better reality and what, specifically, we will do RIGHT NOW to create it. Today I want to chat more about acceptance. We'll bring my Yoda, Phil Stutz, back to the party to tap into more of his near-infinite wisdom. Btw. Phil and I have been working together for nearly six years now. It's remarkable to me just how deep we can go these days as I have fun truly practicing my and our philosophy at deeper and deeper levels. Btw2. The reason I'm able to practice even more deeply is because I have taken on bigger and bigger challenges—as Phil says, I'm dealing with "real bullets" now. And, as another dear friend and mentor (Matt McCall!) puts it: I'm officially working out in "the big boy gym." (Lifting Real Weights vs. Styrofoam Weights for the win, folks!!) Now… Phil doesn't tell us to just *accept* reality. He tells us that we need to RADICALLY accept reality. One of the metaphors he likes to use is to imagine that you're a surfer. When you're surfing, you have ZERO control of when and how the waves show up. (Right?) But… You have pretty much COMPLETE control over how you choose to respond to any given wave. (Right?) That's Part 1 of this +1. The wise, eudaimonic surfer embraces that fact. How? By not complaining about the waves. They are what they are. And, the wise life-surfer knows that the waves, when viewed properly, are what make the whole experience FUN!! No waves, no fun. Now for Part 2. Question time… Two parts to the question. First, if you're REALLY committed to becoming a REALLY great (!!!) surfer, do you go to the beaches with the tiniest waves? Or… Do you find the beaches with the right-sized big waves to have the most fun challenging yourself with your current level of skill? Note: Finding the right-size waves is an important distinction that's part of a longer chat. We want to make sure we find our flow channel—not too little or too much stress or we'll be bored or anxious! (Superyou for the win!) Second, when you arrive at the beach and swim out to start catching the right-sized (appropriately big!) waves, do you COMPLAIN when a big wave approaches or do you smile and get after it, seeing just how well you can ride it while—very importantly—ENJOYING the thrill of the experience?? Of course, unless you're crazy, you ENJOY those (appropriately) big waves. That's the whole reason you showed up at the beach in the first place, right?! And THAT is how we want to approach our lives and all the inherent "waves"/challenges that show up on our heroic quests. Friendly reminder: THIS IS WHAT WE'VE TRAINED FOR, HERO!! So… Got any waves in your life right now? Awesome. Surf's up. Let's go get it as we enjoy the ride!!! +1 +1 +1

An Update on Our Targeted Thinking Protocol In our last +1, we continued our discussion about what to do when you're going 0 for 12 in life and discussed the importance of doing that ONE thing that is most important RIGHT NOW. Then, because I can't go longer than a few +1s without referencing my tattoo that serves as the one-word summation of my entire philosophy, we brought my right forearm into the discussion and celebrated the ancient word ARETE. (Cue Maui from Moana's "You're welcome!" for the incessant repetition. ) Today I want to chat about YET ANOTHER way to win that ultimate game of life—closing the gap between who you're CAPABLE of being and who you're ACTUALLY being RIGHT.THIS.SECOND! It's time to chat about Targeted Thinking. (Again.) Since our last chat, I've refined my thinking on it. Here's how I currently practice and teach it. (See Basic Training Objective 2, Lesson 5 for more!) Actually… First… Here's how I framed it in that +1 from a couple of years ago. Step 1 of Targeted Thinking is to step out of Victimland and take a step into Heroicland by asking ourselves a simple question: WHAT DO I WANT? Note: Victims complain about what's not working in their lives. Creators create what they want in their lives by asking THAT question. (See Power of TED* for more.) Then, once you've gotten even an inkling of clarity on what you want in any given moment, the follow-up question is simple: NOW WHAT NEEDS TO GET DONE? In prior +1s, we brought that wisdom to life with discussions about its efficacy in dealing with chicken poop and flat tires. Today I want to hone our practice by adding a few more steps to the Targeted Thinking protocol. Yes, knowing what you want is ESSENTIAL to the process of living Heroically and creating a better life. And, of course, taking action in pursuit of creating that ideal, is also essential. And… Before we even get to asking ourselves what we want, I think we need to step back an inch or three and ACCEPT REALITY EXACTLY AS IT IS. This is what Byron Katie describes as "Loving What Is." Which, as we've discussed, is just a modern take on the ancient Stoic practice known as "The Art of Acquiescence." (See the +1 on Suffering = Pain x Resistance and the +1 on Deo Volente + Thy Will Be Done for more.) So… Step 0 with our updated Targeted Thinking protocol is simple: Acceptance—complete and utter acceptance of EXACTLY what is happening right now. Period. That, of course, is much easier said than done but the wisest among us get the power of this practice. Then… Once we've stopped arguing with reality (reminding ourselves that we will ALWAYS lose when we argue with reality!) we are ready for the first step in our protocol. Step 1. Asking ourselves: WHAT DO I WANT? Feeling energetically sluggish? Unproductive or lacking purpose at work? Disconnected from yourself and/or your loved ones? Perfect. Accept that. Now… What do you want? To feel Heroically Energized? Heroically (and Purposefully) Productive? Heroically Connected? Awesome. Spend THREE SECONDS (!) getting a little more clarity on that. Note: We're not talking about a 3 months worth of 30-minute journaling sessions to get clarity. SPEND THREE SECONDS RIGHT IN THE MOMENT YOU FEEL WOBBLY THINKING ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT. Got it? Awesome. That's Step 1. Step 2. Ask yourself: What can I do RIGHT NOW that would take me one step closer to getting more of what I want? AGAIN: We don't need a 101-page polished strategic plan you're going to submit to some higher authority for a grade here. SPEND THREE SECONDS RIGHT IN THE MOMENT YOU FEEL WOBBLY THINKING ABOUT WHAT YOU CAN DO RIGHT NOW TO GET MORE OF WHAT YOU JUST DECIDED YOU WANT. Got it? Awesome. That's Step 2. Now we're ready for Step 3. This is, unquestionably, the most important of all the steps but it's useless unless you do the first ones. Here it is… Step 3. TAKE ACTION. SPEND THREE SECONDS GETTING INTO ACTION DOING THE THING YOU DECIDED YOU NEED TO DO TO GET MORE OF WHAT YOU JUST DECIDED YOU WANT. (Yes, that's a lot of ALL CAPS. ) To recap. Step 0. Accept your current reality. Step 1. Create a Target of what you want. Step 2. Decide what you can do RIGHT NOW to move in the direction of your desired outcome. Step 3. Take action. Final step? +1. REPEAT that process. All day. Every day. ESPECIALLY TODAY, Hero. Day 1. All in. Let's go! +0. +1. +2. +3. +1.

To Get What You REALLY Want Not too long ago, we chatted about MLB All-Star Sean Casey (The Mayor!) going 0 for 12 one season when he was batting nearly .400. As you may recall, his coach told him that he didn't care about those numbers. What his coach cared about was whether or not he was dominating his protocol. In that context, I asked you if YOU were going through a rough patch—perhaps feeling like you were going 0 for 12 in your Energy or your Work or your Love. Then I gave you a couple of hugs as I playfully told you that I love ya () and… I don't ultimately care about the current state of those things. Then I said that what I DO care about is whether or not you are working your protocol. I asked: Do you know who you are at your best in your Energy, your Work and your Love? Are you recommitting to being that best version of yourself every morning? Do you know what virtues that best version of you embodies? Are you recommitting to showing up with those virtues every morning? Do you know what specific things you DO when you're most on fire? Are you recommitting to those things every morning and then ACTUALLY DOING those things every day? Now… All that's nice and hopefully helpful even if it's not all that warm and fuzzy (!) but… Let's simplify it even more. ULTIMATELY, although it's VERY helpful to know who you are and how you show up when you're at your best in your Energy, Work and Love (which, of course, is why we architected the Heroic app to help you do exactly that!), we can simplify the game of life even more. Let's invite some more great thinkers to the party to tell us what they think… First, the great spiritual teacher Byron Katie tells us that there's always (!) only (!) ONE THING we need to do. If it's doing the dishes, do the dishes. If it's doing the laundry, do the laundry. If it's taking a deep breath or going on a walk or sending that email or making that phone call or apologizing to that loved one or turning the electronics off to get a good night of sleep or … FILL-IN-THE-BLANK with whatever might be the next thing, do that FILL-IN-THE-BLANK next most important thing—however mundane or scary you may think it is. Repeat. Over and over and over again. Ideally, with a smile… Loving What Is as you show up as your best self. Then we have David Reynolds. He's a Zen therapist who wrote the great little book Constructive Living. What's he tell us? The SAME THING. The question he gives us is as powerful as it is simple. Here it is: "Now what needs to be done?" Life feel overwhelming? Perfect. "Now what needs to be done?" Still feel a little wobbly? Perfect. "Now what needs to be done?" Navy SEAL sage Mark Divine echoes this wisdom. The metaphor he uses comes from the battlefield of war. When chaos shines its dark light on our world, he tells us that we need to SIMPLIFY THE BATTLEFIELD and create FRONT-SIGHT FOCUS. In other words, what's THE next most important thing you need to do? DO THAT. Repeat. Over and over and over again. Peak performance coaches say the same thing. They tell us that elite performers maintain a "task focus" in the midst of extreme pressure. They don't think about everything that could go wrong (or right), they think about… WHAT NEEDS TO GET DONE RIGHT NOW. Over and over and over again. So, yah. Even without thinking about who you are your best in your Energy, Work and Love, you can always win the ultimate game of life by doing one simple thing: Whatever that moment demands of you. btw: We can simplify ALL THAT wisdom even further. How about we distill ALL THE GREAT WISDOM across ALL THE GREAT WISDOM TRADITIONS into one simple word? I tattooed it on my right arm. ARETE. Close the gap between who you're capable of being and who you're actually being. Not someday. TODAY. Not some moment. RIGHT NOW. +1. +1. +1. All day. Every day. Especially TODAY. Bonus points: Do it with a smile! + + +

"Why Is It on the Ground Again?!" In our last +1, we talked about our rooster, Happy. He's still hanging in there. Today I want to continue the theme we explored in that +1 and see if we can get better at using the things that currently trigger us to feel annoyed, to instead, trigger us to feel grateful. Here's an example from the Johnson house to help you think of things YOU might want to reframe in YOUR house. So… My son Emerson is a high-energy kid. Note: I was going to say my "little guy" Emerson but he's almost 10 as I type this and he's NO LONGER little. It's shocking to see the speed with which he's growing! As we've joked before, when he wakes up, he kinda runs out of the room like Kramer from Seinfeld—all energy all the time. It's FANTASTIC. Except, of course, when it's not. (Hah.) So… Mundane example. For some strange reason, when Emerson uses the toilet paper in the bathroom, he often rips it off the little horizontal bar it rests on and the roll of toilet paper winds up unraveled and strewn across the bathroom floor. L O L. Now… I'm a parent AND a teacher so, of course, we've had some Conquering Toilet Paper 101 classes on how to gently roll the toilet paper and gently rip the amount you need from the roll while ensuring it stays in place at the end of the job. (10 Big Ideas, folks! ) And… That lesson just hasn't stuck. L O L. So… After Emerson's done his thing, that toilet paper roll often winds up strewn across the bathroom floor. And… I can choose to use that toilet paper everywhere (again!) as either a trigger for my annoyance (and yet another lecture on the mechanics of toilet paper)…. OR… I can use that same trigger as an opportunity to appreciate the fact that, one day WAY too soon, that toilet paper roll is going to be perfectly and permanently affixed to its resting place—never to see the floor again. And… I just got tears in my eyes typing that. I'm not ready for that day yet. I want to fully enjoy the incredible enthusiasm of my not-so-little-boy who is becoming a wonderfully enthusiastic young man for as long as I can—knowing that, like all the other wonderful things in my life, will not last forever. That's Today's +1. Got a trigger? Seriously. Pause. Think of at least one little thing a loved one does that, if we ACTUALLY practiced our philosophy with a little more rigor, could EASILY be alchemized from annoying to charming… Go it? Awesome. Let's remember the fact that life is preciously short. And… Let's use everything we can as a reminder of just how precious it is. -1 to +1. All day. Every day. ESPECIALLY Today.

Alchemizing Bread Crumbs, Dishes and Legos Alexandra just walked into my office to tell me that she thinks our rooster, Happy, is dying. Before we talk more about that… Yes, our rooster's name is Happy. Emerson and Eleanor are phenomenal pet namers. We have Happy the Rooster, Lovey and Floppy and Spikey and Longbeak and Goldie the chickens. Then there's Zap—the dog that showed up on our property one New Year's Day a couple of years ago and adopted us. And don't forget Wags, another awesome dog who decided he wanted to move in one day as well. Now… If you've ever listened to one of my Zoom calls, you've probably heard a rooster in the background. Sometimes, I have to admit, I find his crow charming while other times I find it distracting—whether it's on a Zoom or in my morning meditation when he's doing his thing RIGHT outside my office window. But… This rooster is truly an awesome rooster. We hatched him ourselves and he does his job protecting his hens Heroically well and he's not an ornery guy like his dad rooster was. So… When Alexandra came in and told me she thinks he's dying (while she does her country-nurse thing with him to try to save him!), I felt a deeper sense of sadness than I've felt when we've lost some other chickens and found other dead creatures on the property. I always use those moments as another Stoic reminder of Memento Mori but this one hit me deeper. I really like this guy!! Then I thought of a story Alexandra shared once. It was about bread crumbs. I forget the relationship book from which she got the wisdom but the basic idea was this… In a significant long-term relationship with ANYONE (let alone a spouse or kids) there will INEVITABLY be things about that person that annoy you. Maybe they leave bread crumbs on the counter (which irritated the author of the book who told the story) or maybe they leave the dishes out or maybe they leave their Legos all over the house if they're kids (which, in his less-than-enlightened moments can irritate the author of this +1 ). Or maybe they do any number of things people do because they're human and none of us are perfect. It's easy to find those little things annoying. And… What if… One day… Those breadcrumbs or dishes or Legos or whatever weren't there because that loved one was no longer there? All of a sudden we'd MISS those breadcrumbs or dishes or Legos or whatever. That's what I thought of when I heard Happy might not make it. He hasn't been crowing for the last several days because he hasn't been feeling great. I already miss him. And I want to make sure I don't let those little things my kids and wife and others do that I might find annoying distract me from the fact that their presence in my life—with ALL the imperfections—is a profound GIFT. In fact, what I try to do these days is use those VERY things I used to find annoying as THE TRIGGER for me to appreciate just how blessed I am. I hope our rooster makes it so I can remind myself of this wisdom every time I hear him crow. Cock-a-doodle-do!!! Day 1. Let's go.

And… How to Make Yours Heroic In the last few +1s, we spent some time talking about how to win the game of life by focusing on WHAT'S IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW. I'd like to continue that discussion. And, this time, I'd like to invite my friend Sean Casey back to the party so he can share HIS insanely (!) inspiring take on the subject. Quick context. As we've discussed, Sean was voted the friendliest guy in baseball. They nicknamed him "The Mayor." He's now part of Major League Baseball's Emmy-winning show MLB Tonight. He also has his own podcast. It's appropriately called "The Mayor's Office." Recently, he had a guy on his show who was also a fan of Heroic. They had a little chat about the app. And… Sean WENT OFF about how the app has changed his life. It's probably the best overview of the app (especially for sports fans!) I've ever seen. It's so good that I want to share it here now. So, let's head to The Mayor's Office for a special field trip. I'll see you in less than two minutes!! !!! If that doesn't fire you up, I don't know what will!! Haha!! That's Today's +1. Here's to making the game of life Heroically fun!! As always… Not someday… TODAY. P.S. Here's the transcript from that segment above! !! I look at it this way, and Brian Johnson talks about this. If you, me and Chinch went out and played baseball right now, and we were on this open field and I pitch to Tim, Tim crushes one, Chinch goes and runs and gets it. We come back. We're like, "yeah, this is fun!" Well, that's not as much fun as if we take the foul lines and we run 'em down each line and we put foul poles up. We put a 330' sign in the corner, 385', 410'. We put a fence up that says, if you hit it over this fence, you get one point. If guys are on base, you get three, four, you know, 2, 3, 4 points. This guy, we're gonna put a mound up with a rubber. It's gonna be 60 feet, six inches away because that seems fair. You're gonna throw it to me. We're gonna compete. We're gonna get after it. Holy [edited]. Here we go. This is a ton of [edited] fun. Right? I think of that as Heroic. Heroic is my foul lines… It's my game! It's my game of life. So I line up, what are my routines? What are my habits? What am I gonna do to win my morning? What am I gonna do at night to get better sleep? What time do I need to get upstairs? What book am I gonna read? How am I gonna serve my kids today? How am I gonna serve my buddies today? And all of a sudden at the end of the day I go, man, that was a great game today. Holy [edited]. You know what I mean? It's like, you start creating your own game because you've created the boundaries and that Heroic app…when you're shooting that arrow into your targets, it's a dopamine. It's just like, man, this is so freaking awesome. And all of a sudden you start to realize, wow, you've created some habits and routines that is giving you the life that you've always wanted. Let's go, let's go.

Gandhi, the Gita, Bagger Vance, and YOU In our last couple +1s, we've had fun hanging out with some world-class peak performance coaches: Harvey Dorfman and Phil Stutz. What did they teach us? They tell us that it's ALL ABOUT focusing on the PROCESS of TAKING ACTION rather than the unhealthy obsession on the OUTCOMES. They, of course, are not alone in this perspective. We talk about it in one of my all-time favorite +1s called "Did I Win? How to Sink a $1m Putt and Do Other Great Things." Short story: Lanny Bassham worked with a golfer who hadn't won in a while. Lanny told him to not even think about winning a tournament. Instead, they developed a protocol. His job was to EXECUTE that protocol every shot of every round he played. Fast forward a few tournaments. It's the final shot on the final hole on the final day of the tournament. Our golfer steps up, executes his protocol and makes the putt. Then his wife runs onto the green and leaps into his arms. His response? "Did I win?" I just got goosebumps typing that out. I've told that story COUNTLESS times. And it gets me EVERY SINGLE TIME. Imagine stepping up for a $1 million dollar putt and being SO FOCUSED on the PROCESS that you're OBLIVIOUS to the OUTCOME. Boom. That's how it's done. Then there's Gandhi. He tells us the same thing in his own words. In Eknath Easwaran's FANTASTIC biography Gandhi the Man (check out those Notes!), we learn that Gandhi liked to say: "The goal ever recedes from us. The greater the progress the greater the recognition of our unworthiness. Satisfaction lies in the effort, not in the attainment. Full effort is full victory." BOOM. That's how it's done. Where'd Gandhi get that wisdom? From his bible, the Bhagavad Gita (check out those Notes!) where we learn the fact that: "The awakened sages call a person wise when all his undertakings are free from anxiety about results." I could go on and on and on. I'll leave it at that for now. Actually… Let's bring it back to the 21st century and hear how Steven Pressfield puts it in The War of Art (check out THOSE Notes as well!). He tells us: "The professional has learned that success, like happiness, comes as a by-product of work. The professional concentrates on the work and allows rewards to come or not come, whatever they like." btw: Pressfield actually wrote a book on the subject that became a movie starring Will Smith and Matt Damon. Ever heard of The Legend of Bagger Vance? Did you know that that movie is basically the Bhagavad Gita on a golf course? Yep. In the Gita, a wise god (Krishna) advises a reluctant warrior (Arjuna). In The Legend of Bagger Vance, a wise caddy (Bagger Vance) advises a reluctant golfer (Rannulph Junuh). "Bagger Vance" <--> "Bhagavad Gita." Get it? So… Quick check-in… What do YOU want in your life? More Energy? More Productivity? More Connection? Awesome. What can you do RIGHT NOW (!) to take ONE STEP toward to achieving it? Get on that. Release attachment to outcomes. Repeat. All day. Every day. ESPECIALLY… TODAY. +1. +1. +1.

On Action, Action, and More Action In our last +1, we hung out with one of the friendliest guys in baseball (The Mayor Sean Casey!) and his legendary coach Harvey Dorfman. I want to spend a little more time with Sean and bring another legendary coach to the party—MY coach, Phil Stutz. It's funny because when Sean told me the story shout how Harvey RUTHLESSLY focused on the process goals NOT the outcome goals, I immediately thought of Phil. As we've discussed, Phil says the same thing in his own way. He says that most people focus on the OUTCOMES in their lives when they should be focused on the ACTION they are taking in pursuit of their desired outcomes. The way he frames it is to imagine pearls. You can spend all your time COUNTING how many pearls you have (or don't have!)… Or… You can ignore the counting and simply focus on STRINGING THE NEXT PEARL. Over and over and over again we focus on what needs to get done right now. What's important RIGHT NOW? Do it. String the next pearl. Over and over and over and over again. You do that enough time and you know what happens? You get a LOT more of the outcomes you've been wanting. And… Somewhere along the way you learn that the REAL prize is knowing how to flip the switch and get into action—showing up as the best, most Heroic version of yourself. Not someday… Today. Let's do that. +1. +1. +1. Let's go! P.S. I love pearls. I have one on my desk at all times to remind me of the wisdom from this +1 on How to Make a Pearl and this wisdom from this +1 on The Pearl in My Pocket.