You Are Heroic with Brian Johnson

Continuing our series on how to build a bonFIRE, today we're going to chat about The Big 3 of creating Financial Independence (and Interdependence) as we win the ultimate game of life, Realizing Eudaimonia. Let's flip open our copies of The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins for this wisdom-love. As we briefly discussed in our last +1, JL is a tough-love, lovable Uncle kinda guy. He originally shared his "simple path to wealth" via a series of letters he wrote for his daughter. Those letters became a blog series. Obviously check out the book and JL's site for the deep dive (and, I'm a lover of wisdom not a financial planner so…), but here's The Big 3 in a tiny nutshell. 1. Avoid debt. 2. Spend (WAY) less than you make. 3. Invest the rest. That's it. Do that. Give it time. And… Voila. Well, obviously there's a LOT more to it than that. But, as they say, the NUMBERS are simple. It's the LIFESTYLE changes that are hard. One more time: 1. Avoid debt. Like the plague. Seriously. Debt is TOXIC to your freedom. Think: Shackles. 2. Spend (WAY!!!) less than you make. JL and the FIRE Co. tell us to save AT LEAST 50% of total earnings savings rate. ← Yes, you read that right. Spend AT LEAST 50% less than you make. Want to buy freedom? It's not cheap. But it's a lot more shiny than that shiny stuff. Although no longer cool, it's as wise as ever: LIVE BELOW YOUR MEANS. Way below. (But only if you want what really matters: The eudaimonic happiness that freedom helps us buy.) 3. Invest the savings. More specifically: In Index funds. More specifically, in Vanguard's Total Stock Market Index Fund. This is kinda what JL is known for. He tells us we should all consider Jack Bogle a hero. Bogle founded The Vanguard Group (and invented index funds) forty years ago. JL provides some very (!) compelling arguments for why Vanguard's Total Stock Market Index Fund is the secret sauce. (Warren Buffett pretty much agrees, btw.) So… That's Today's +1. How to make FIRE. 1 + 2 + 3.

At this stage, most people have heard of Dale Carnegie's uber-bestselling book How to Win Friends and Influence People. It was originally published in 1936 and has sold 15 million copies. It helped kicked off the whole self-development movement and is one of the bestselling self-help book of all time. (It was #19 on Time magazines list of all-time most influential books.) Having said that, I actually avoided reading it for over 20 years. I just couldn't get past what appeared to be a pretty shallow, transactional view of human relationships so… Alas, a couple years ago I finally submitted to the pressure of countless requests to do a Note on it (hah) and really enjoyed it. But that's not quite the point of Today's +1. This is. Did you know Dale wrote another book a dozen years later called How to Stop Worrying and Start Living? It's true. And, it's AWESOME. Quick question: You ever worry? * Insert laughter here * Once again: Of course you do. You're human. Want a quick tip on how to stop worrying and start living? Dale offers a bunch of practical wisdom but this is one of my favorites: "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." Obviously, it's a bit more nuanced than that but… Yep. That's about right. As George Bernard Shaw says: "The secret of being miserable is to have the leisure to bother about whether you are happy or not." And, as Dale Carnegie says: "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." * Insert spit on your hands * Let's get busy. And stay busy. While, of course, properly oscillating and shutting down completely when the time's right. Today.

In our last couple +1s, we talked about Seneca's wisdom on the importance of "fortifying our pertinacity" until our will to do the right thing becomes a disposition to doing the right thing. That's basically EXACTLY what we talked about a little bit ago when we explored the Algorithms Module we recently went through in the Mastery portion of our Optimize Coach program. As you may recall (bonus points and high fives if you've already tattooed this line on your Optimizing consciousness), I often say that it's all about using our Willpower wisely to install Habits that run on autopilot via Algorithms. Here's a super-quick recap of the basic idea that I think we REALLY want to get. (btw: I just got goosebumps as I typed that.) (Yes, as we've established by this stage, I'm weird. Things like this get me that fired up.) So… Our basal ganglia is an ancient part of our brain. In fact, it's 500 million (!!!) years old. All mammals have it. Among other things, it basically figures out what behaviors seem important to us (because we do them often) and decides to save us all the effort of having to think about doing them by helping us do them automatically. Thank you, basal ganglia. Now, this is super helpful for the good stuff. My hunch is you don't need to negotiate with yourself every night when it's time to brush your teeth. And, you probably just automatically put on your seat belt when you get in a car. Thank you, basal ganglia. Of course, this isn't so helpful for the sub-optimal behaviors. We'll save that chat for another time. Today I want to talk about a handy-dandy little framework I developed for our Coaches to help them Master the process of (I repeat!) using their Willpower wisely to install Habits that run on autopilot via Algorithms. I encouraged them to think about a Pilot, Co-Pilot and Autopilot. The Pilot? That's your Daimon. That (Optimus!) best part of us that basically always knows the right thing to do and is always whispering in our ears. (If we'd only slow down long enough to listen!) The Co-Pilot? That's you. Our job, as I see it, is to simply PAY ATTENTION to what that Pilot is guiding us to do and then, of course, DO IT more consistently. The Autopilot? That's our basal ganglia. It's WAITING for us to program the optimal behaviors. It's almost like the basal ganglia is our pre-installed brain "hardware" and our job (as Co-Pilots) is to listen to the Pilot then program the behavioral "software" that gets us doing the right thing more and more consistently. Obviously, part of a longer chat but there ya go. That's Today's +1. Pilot. Co-Pilot. Autopilot. You playing your role well? What little behavioral software upgrade is your Pilot asking you to program these days? Is TODAY a good day to fortify your pertinacity such that the (Optimus!) best you becomes the default you? F A N T A S T I C. Happy Optiflying!! +1. +1. +1.

Skipping the longer philosophical chat about the ethics of being a conqueror, Today we're going to chat about Alexander the Great. More specifically, we're going to talk about him and a knot. The Gordion Knot. You know the story? Wikipedia tells us that legend has it that, once upon a time, the ancient people known as the Phrygians (who lived in what is now modern Turkey) didn't have a king. An oracle declared that the next man to enter their capital city driving an ox-cart would become king. (That's one way to do it, eh? ) So… A peasant farmer drove an ox-cart into town and, lo and behold, became king. His name was Gordias. In gratitude, his son Midas dedicated the ox-cart to the main Phrygian god (kinda like their version of Zeus) and tied it to a post with a super-intricate knot. As in, "good luck untying THAT knot" kinda knot. A Roman historian described it as "several knots all so tightly entangled that it was impossible to see how they were fastened." Fast forward. Another oracle declares that whoever can unravel the crazy knot would become the ruler of all of Asia. (That's one way to do it, eh?) Fast forward. Many men attempt to unravel the knot. No luck. Fast forward. It's now 333 bce. Alexander the Great cruises into town. He tries to untie the knot himself and has no luck. So… Being Great and all, he just decides to pull out his sword and slice the knot in half with a single blow. (That's one way to do it, eh?) And then, of course, he went on to fulfill the prophecy as he conquered Asia. Enter: The Gordion Knot. Back to Wikipedia which tells us: "It is often used as a metaphor for an intractable problem (untying an impossibly-tangled knot) solved easily by finding an approach to the problem that renders the perceived constraints of the problem moot ('cutting the Gordian knot')." That's Today's +1. Got any seemingly impossible knots in your life? How's the unraveling going? Is there, perhaps, a more direct and/or forceful approach to resolving the issue than you may have tried so far? Here's a sword. Just in case it comes in handy.

We're kinda on a roll with the whole envy-squishing theme, so why not one more? In our last +1, we talked about the fact that if we're going to compare ourselves to others (please don't! lol) we might as well do it right—recognizing the fact that EVERYONE experiences ups and downs en route to their particular flavor of awesome. That wisdom reminds me of some parallel wisdom from Alan Stein's great book Raise Your Game. Here's what he has to say about envy: "My friend Paul Bioncardi of ESPN loves to say, 'You will always lose the Comparison Game.' Why is that? Because it's rigged. It has no function besides enlarging self-doubt. I'm typing this chapter on board a flight to South Dakota. Among the 250 passengers on this plane, I can quickly find someone better looking, funnier, more successful, taller, more muscular, smarter. It won't take long to find someone who scores higher than me on almost any metric." Alan concludes: "If I use these people as my measuring stick—to determine my self-worth and value—I will always lose." The Comparison Game. Want to know who ALWAYS loses that game? You. And me. And everyone who plays it. But only every single time. (Reminds me of Byron Katie's wisdom: "When I argue with reality, I lose—but only 100% of the time.") (Also reminds me of Ralph Waldo Emerson's wisdom: "Envy is ignorance. Imitation is suicide.") That's Today's +1. Let's channel our inner Faulkner and play the Optimize Game: "Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself." P.S. You know who ALWAYS wins the Optimize Game? You. And me. And everyone who plays it. But only every single time. (Remember: Simply striving to be your best is a pre-win.) +1. +1. +1. FOR THE WIN!!!

In our last +1, we reflected on the idea that little (and big) oopses provide us with opportunities to appreciate that we're still alive as we practice gratitude that something much worse didn't happen. "At least THAT didn't happen!" For me, when I broke my arm, I was grateful I didn't break my neck. When I tripped and nearly fell the other day, I was grateful I had an abdominal strain and not a trip back to the ER for my arm. Whenever I think of this re-framing exercise, I think of a dear friend of mine we lost in a tragic speed-flying accident. One of the most beautiful, inspiring, energized people I've ever met. Went out for a flight off a mountain he'd jumped off countless times. Wings didn't open the way they should have. BAM. Gone. I have tears in my eyes as I type that. I often think how grateful he would be if he had just broken an arm or even his neck. Then I alchemize that pain into a virtual fist-bump and hug for his daimon and re-commit to savoring this one precious life of ours. All of which makes me think of our Stoic philosopher friends. For multiple reasons. Today we'll chat about their thoughts on death. We actually already talked about one of their practices in our +1 on Rehearsing Your Death. In that one, as you may recall, Seneca tells us: "Rehearse death. To say this is to tell a person to rehearse his freedom. A person who has learned how to die has unlearned how to be a slave." Today we'll let Marcus Aurelius add his perspective. Here's how he puts it: "Were you to live three thousand years, or even thirty thousand, remember that the sole life which a man can lose is that which he is living at the moment; and furthermore, that he can have no other life except the one he loses... This means that the longest life and the shortest amount to the same thing. For the passing minute is every man's equal possession, but what has once gone by is not ours." He also tells us: "Take it that you have died today, and your life's story is ended; and henceforward regard what future time may be given you as an uncovenanted surplus, and live it out in harmony with nature." That's one way to think about it, eh? And that's Today's +1. If you feel so inspired, let's actually do the exercise. Imagine this: You just died. Bam! You're gone. And... You got the good fortune to come back starting... … Now! OK. Now, let's see if we can live with a fresh appreciation that every (!) moment (!) is a gift. Here's to appreciating the "uncovenanted surplus" of moments. Today.

This morning on the Trail I was thinking about Mister Rogers and his challenges creating (recall our "tortures of the damned"!) along with Dr. Seuss and all his creative challenges. Then I was thinking about all the challenges I (and we all) face as I (and we all) strive to do my (and our) life's work. (And… I was thinking about that gap that pretty much *always* exists between what we see in our mind's eye and what winds up on our proverbial canvases.) I thought to myself, "Are there any artists truly happy with their work?" At precisely the moment I finished framing that question in my head I glanced down and saw a snail a few feet ahead of me. And I smiled. It was a just a normal, mid-size snail. The kind we see all the time and usually just kinda take for granted and ignore. But this morning I could see just how elegantly perfectly his (or was it her?) shell was designed. I mean, it was a piece of art!!! And then it hit me… The "Guy" (or was it "Gal"? Or was it…?) who created THAT piece of art? He/She/It was definitely happy with His/Her/Its creation. Then I looked around and saw all the other imperfectly perfect art on display—from the trees to the dirt to the rocks and the weeds and the shrubs and the sky and, well, everything. It was kind of an epiphanal moment for me. That's Today's +1. Let's celebrate all the art in our lives. And try to emulate the satisfaction of the ultimate Creator as we diligently, patiently, persistently, humbly and JOYFULLY strive to make our lives (and all its creations in it) a masterpiece!

Continuing our trip through Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky's brilliant brains and equally brilliant book Make Time, Today we're going to have fun with a little history lesson combined with a super-simple way to start chipping away at all those twitchy smartphone touches. (I still can't believe the average person touches their phones 2,617 times per day!!!) Jake and JZ give us a ton of great tactics to rock their four-step process. (Recall: Highlight + Laser + Energize + Reflect! btw: You know YOUR Highlight for Today?) In fact, they share 87 tips and tricks to Optimize! In the "Laser" section, after teaching us how to create a "distraction-free phone" (hint: clear your home screen, remove email apps, social media and unnecessary notifications) they encourage us to consider getting a simple watch—you know, those things that just tell time. Here's the little history lesson. They tell us: "In 1714, the British government offered a £20,000 prize (that's $5 million in 2018 money), to anyone who could invent a portable clock that could be used aboard ships. It took nearly fifty years and dozens of prototypes until finally, in 1761, John Harrison created the first 'chronometer.' It was a technological marvel that changed the world even though it was barely portable—the clock had to be mounted in a special cabinet and stowed belowdecks for its maiden voyage across the Atlantic Ocean aboard the HMS Deptford." Isn't that awesome?! They continue: "Today you can buy a portable clock—that is, a digital quartz wristwatch—for ten bucks. It's always accurate. It's lightweight and waterproof. It can wake you up after a nap or remind you to take dinner out of the oven. It's an amazing piece of technology." That's Today's +1. Want a super-simple and equally powerful way to reduce our compulsive smartphone usage? Consider getting a portable clock. And… Let's salute the crew of the HMS Deptford on its maiden voyage across the Atlantic as we appreciate that miraculous moving time piece we can put on our wrist as we remember to appreciate just how awesome our modern lives are—ESPECIALLY when we Optimize how we choose to use all the amazing technology!

Dive into the wisdom of Mister Rogers with delightful insights on discipline and commitment. Learn how he approached daily swimming, even on tough days, emphasizing the importance of keeping promises. Discover the heartfelt significance behind his daily scale reading of '143,' symbolizing 'I love you' in a unique way. This episode encourages a fun reflection on what commitments and expressions of love mean in our own lives.

In our last +1, we talked about being the change we want to see in the world. I asked: What change DO you want to see? (Well… What is it?! And… Are you being it?!) That makes me think of another 20th century icon: Mister Fred Rogers. In his great little book The World According to Mister Rogers, we get to immerse ourselves in a collection of wisdom-gems from the great man. Including this one: "The values we care about the deepest, and the movements within society that support those values, command our love. When those things that we care about so deeply become endangered, we become enraged. And what a healthy thing that is! Without it, we would never stand up and speak out for what we believe." Mister Rogers "enraged"? Yep. You want to see his fierce courage in action? Watch this 6 minute, 50 second video of him testifying before congress. Note: Please make sure you notice how he channeled that rage into pure love. Notice how pure love broke through the armor of a hitherto harsh foe. (I'll be surprised if you, like the Senator in that hearing, don't get goosebumps (and/or tears) FEELING the soul force of Fred Rogers standing up and speaking out for what he believed in and dedicated his life to.) What's fascinating for me is how similar Fred's approach is to Gandhi's. As we discussed, one of the primary themes of that book is Gandhi's evolution/transformation in which he learned to alchemize his anger into an unstoppable "soul-force." He did this via what he called "satyagraha." Satyagraha is a word he coined combining two Sanskrit words. It basically means "holding onto truth" and is the foundation of his (and MLK's) "nonviolent resistance" to evil. So... What values do YOU care about the deepest? What movements within society support those values and command your love? Are those values endangered? If so, let's become enraged and celebrate the power of that emotion as we alchemize that fierce love into noble action—standing up and speaking out for what we believe.