You Are Heroic with Brian Johnson

Today I'd like to let you know that I officially have a new job. It's one I'm quite excited about. First, a little context. You know that Ferrari pit crew guy I've been obsessing about? You know, the one we watched in this little video. (I'm literally getting that picture framed so I can put it up in my office, btw.) As you may recall, his sole job is to yank off the right-front tire while his 21 buddies play their roles as well as they can as they create some poetry in motion. Well, that's my new job. Only YOU are the Race Car Driver. Imagine me poised and ready to yank off your front-right tire so you can get back on track Optimized and ready to rock every day. Because that's what I'll be doing for as long as I'm lucky enough to serve in your crew. That's Today's +1. Have a great Race Day, my friend. Oh! P.S. Two quick little things. What's the most important thing for you to do in your Race Today? How will YOU swap out someone's front-right tire Today? That is all. That and LET'S DO THIS!!!

In our last +1, we talked about Twyla Tharp's thoughts on reading and thinking. Recall her comment that: "If I stopped reading, I'd stop thinking. It's that simple." (Amen!) Today I'd like to talk about HOW she reads. I really like her perspective because it's pretty much EXACTLY how I read. And, well, people are always asking me how I read a book so let's go with this wisdom as a perfect proxy to my process. Twyla 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." That's Today's +1. Here's a nice bold pen for your archeological reading-digging!

Have you ever read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho? It's amazing. I've read it a bunch of times. Guess how many copies the book has sold since Paulo wrote it over 30 years ago… 65 MILLION! (!!!) It's been translated into 80 (!!) languages (which takes the prize for the most translated book by any living author) and is widely considered one of the ten best books of the twentieth century. But you know what? Before becoming one of the best-selling books of ALL TIME, it was one of the WORST-selling books of all time. (Hah!) In fact, here's a little story Paulo shares in the foreword to the 25th Anniversary edition of the book (it's almost as good as the story itself!): "When The Alchemist was first published twenty-five years ago in my native Brazil, no one noticed. A bookseller in the northeast corner of the country told me that only one person purchased a copy the first week of its release. It took another six months for the bookseller to unload a second copy—and that was to the same person who bought the first! And who knows how long it took to sell the third. By the end of the year, it was clear to everyone that The Alchemist wasn't working. My original publisher decided to cut me loose and cancelled our contract. They wiped their hands of the project and let me take the book with me. I was forty-one and desperate." Then what? He says: "But I never lost faith in the book or ever wavered in my vision. Why? Because it was me in there, all of me, heart and soul. I was living my own metaphor. A man sets out on a journey, dreaming of a beautiful or magical place, in pursuit of some unknown treasure. At the end of his journey, the man realizes the treasure was with him the entire time. I was following my Personal Legend, and my treasure was my capacity to write. And I wanted to share this treasure with the world. As I wrote in The Alchemist, when you want something, the whole universe conspires to help you. I started knocking on the doors of other publishers. One opened, and the publisher on the other side believed in me and my book and agreed to give The Alchemist a second chance. Slowly, through word of mouth, it finally started to sell—three thousand, then six thousand, ten thousand—book by book, gradually throughout the year." Fast-forward. Eight months later an American visiting Brazil picks up a copy of The Alchemist at a local bookstore and asks if he can translate it. One thing leads to another which leads to another which leads to Bill Clinton leaving the White House with a copy of the book and Madonna and Will Smith raving about it. Then it hit the New York Times bestseller list and stayed there for more than three hundred weeks. He says: "People continue to ask me if I knew The Alchemist would be such a huge success. The answer is no. I had no idea. How could I? When I sat down to write The Alchemist, all I knew is that I wanted to write about my soul. I wanted to write about my quest to find my treasure." That's Today's +1. Two parts. First: If you're one of the 17 people on the planet into Optimizing who hasn't read The Alchemist yet, what are you waiting for? Second: What's your personal quest? What do you REALLY (!) want?! Remember: "There is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe. It's your mission on earth... And when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."

In our last couple +1s, we've had fun (at least I have!) briefly chatting about the first two steps Paul Napper and Anthony Rao encourage us to take in pursuit of cultivating our Agency such that life's challenges are just nutritious treats fueling our hero's journeys. Step 1: Control Stimuli. Step 2: Selectively Associate. Today we're going to talk about Step 3: Move. Here's how Paul and Anthony put it: "Focusing on movement, and on the nutrition and rest necessary to keep you active and in balance, increases mental and physical strength and stamina–essential building blocks to all body and mind functions." Want a strong sense of personal power? Well, as we discuss ALL.THE.TIME!!, you better ENERGIZE. Let's hear it from their perspective. They tell us: "We all know what it feels like to sit around like a slug all day, not getting outdoors and moving about. But when we get some real movement in, it is a kind of agency in itself. It primes our minds and our senses to fully engage in the world." They continue: "When we say Move, we really mean this: Pay attention to your body so that you can provide it with what it requires to be healthy and in balance, because when your body is out of balance, your mind is out of balance. To achieve this, engage in physical movements in multiple ways, rest adequately, and eat nutritious food. Your agency depends on it. Without physical health and balance in your life, everything else will wobble and decline. Flexibility, strength, and stamina are the most obvious things that begin to deteriorate when you're physically out of balance. But likewise, your motivation, your ability to pay attention, and your ability to delay gratification are adversely affected. Most important to realize, with unhealthy amounts of movement, rest, nutrition, your psychological state–your thinking skills and ability to manage your emotions– deteriorates, and along with it your personal agency." That's Today's +1. What's the one thing you know you could be doing that could most benefit your life if you did it consistently starting Today? Got it? Now forget it. (Hah.) What's one TINY (!!!) little thing you could do RIGHT NOW (!) that would be a fun way to demonstrate some mastery and build your agency? Let's do it. Together. (Mine? I'm going to take a nice, calming, deep breath in through my nose down into my belly. Then pause for a moment before smiling and exhaling back out through my nose—slightly longer than my inhale—as I relax my body and get ready to give the world some more of what I've got!)

In our last little flurry of +1s, we had some fun with Mel Robbins's 5 Second Rule. Have you tried it out yet? 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… - GO!!! That might be THE most elegantly efficient Tool we've discussed to help close the gap between who we're CAPABLE of being and who we're ACTUALLY being. (Operationalizing Areté for the win!) Now, one of the key themes of Mel's book and reasons why that tool is so powerful is the fact that, in addition to getting us to take action RIGHT NOW on what matters most, her 5 Second Rule also builds something that scientists call "agency." (Mel actually doesn't use the word "agency" to describe it; she focuses on a parallel idea called "locus of control." We'll save that idea for another time.) Agency. It's a beautiful word. One of my favorites in fact. Science says it's one of the secret sauces to Optimizing. So, when I fortuitously stumbled upon a book called The Power of Agency on Amazon, I immediately got it and read it. It's written by Paul Napper and Anthony Rao—two leading consultants and clinicians who have both held academic positions at Harvard Medical School. In their great book, they define agency as "the ability to act as an effective agent for yourself—reflecting, making creative choices, and constructing a meaningful life." In the book, they provide practical, scientifically-grounded wisdom on, as per the sub-title: "The 7 Principles to Conquer Obstacles, Make Effective Decisions, and Create a Life on Your Own Terms." We'll explore a few of the most powerful, practical Ideas on how to BUILD our agency over the next several days. Today I just want to make the connection between DOING WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE and cultivating a strong sense of personal power (aka agency). Well… That and I also want to have a little fun. Imagine that you're a Secret Agent. (DoubleO-You perhaps. Short for OptimizingOptimusYOU, of course!) You work for your Daimon. What mission is he/she asking you to carry out? Have you chosen to accept it? What's your next step? Get on that! This message will self-destruct in 5 seconds… 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… - GO!

In our last +1, we talked about our new Optimus launch code: "5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Now what needs to be done?" Although I didn't make the second part of the little launch mantra explicit, we connected Mel Robbins's brilliant 5 Second Rule with David Reynold's Constructive Living Rule. It's always awesome to see teachers from such different backgrounds say basically exactly the same thing. As you may recall, Reynolds is a Zen therapist who wrote a great little book called Constructive Living. He tells us: "Our behavior is controllable in a way that our feelings are not. There is a very special satisfaction for the Artist of Living who works within life's limits to produce a fine self-portrait. The more control we develop over our actions, the more chance we have of producing a self we can be proud of." His mantra? "Now what needs to be done?" (We have a +1 on this already but it's worth a replay.) Don't feel like doing something you know you need to do? No problem. "Now what needs to be done?" Happen again? Fantastic. "Now what needs to be done?" (Laughing.) Repeat. All day. Every day. And, if you're feeling it, rock the 5 Second Rule with it as well. "5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Now what needs to be done?" That's Today's +1. One more time: "5… 4… 3… 2… 1… Now what needs to be done?" Step forward into growth. Flip the switch. Close the gap between who you're CAPABLE of being and who you're ACTUALLY being. Again and again and again. 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… BLASTOFF!

A couple +1s ago, we hung out with a world-class Ferrari pit stop crew and took a moment to celebrate all the people in OUR pit stop crews while committing to stepping up our pit crew games for those we're blessed to serve. Today I want to talk about WD-40. I've actually been meaning to talk about it for awhile and Today seems like a good day. Of course, I have no idea if pit stop crews use WD-40 (I'm pretty sure the Ferrari guys don't—lol) but it seems like a good opportunity to slip in a fun story so here we are. WD-40. For those who may not be familiar with the super-lubricating product, Wikipedia tells us that "WD-40 is the trademark name of a penetrating oil and water-displacing spray. The spray is manufactured by the WD-40 Company based in San Diego, California." But that's not the point of Today's +1. I want to talk about the origin story for WD-40. Pop quiz: Do you know how they came up with that name? Well, on the company's web site they tell us: "WD-40® literally stands for Water Displacement, 40th formula. That's the name straight out of the lab book used by the chemist who developed the product back in 1953. The chemist, Norm Larsen, was attempting to concoct a formula to prevent corrosion—a task which is done by displacing water." That's a nice way to say that our chemist friend Norm Larsen failed 39 times trying to figure out how to create a solvent to prevent corrosion but then finally figured it out. On attempt #40. And then they figured out thousands of ways to apply his new solvent to everyday challenges. I kinda like that arc. Dozens of failures. Oops. Figured it out. Awesome. Then figured out how to scale the new discovery to solve a ton of other challenges. Even more awesome. Skipping any more unpaid product promotion (lol)… Today's +1. Have you ever failed over and over and over again before finally succeeding? (Of course you have. Let's celebrate that!!) And… Are you, perhaps, in the middle of another series of experiments to figure out how to master something? (I hope so, heroic one!) Let's squirt a little WD-Optimizing40 on our challenges and get back to work in the laboratories of our lives as we get a little closer to a fun breakthrough origin story!

Way back in the early days of our +1 Optimizing together, we talked about the fact that our limbic systems evolved to deal with a single lion roaring at us at a time. As we said in that little chat on Lions vs. Jungles, that lion's roar triggers a fight or flight response. We fight or we flee. And, hopefully, we live to talk about the tale later. But, the important thing to note is that the stress from that event, although extremely acute, is also extremely short-lived. We respond to the challenge and move on. Our nervous system resets itself, all good. These days, we're so bombarded with stimuli that it's as if, to use Alberto Villoldo's metaphor, the ENTIRE JUNGLE is roaring at us ALL DAY EVERY DAY. Yikes. The result? A whole lot of enervated anxiety. Today I want to talk about the single best predictor of people's fear and anxiety. Pop quiz: Can you guess what it is? We'll find the answer at the end of this little passage from Kelly McGonigal's The Upside of Stress. She tells us: "Stress caused by the news, as opposed to stress caused by your life, is unique in its ability to trigger a sense of hopelessness. Watching TV news after a natural disaster or terrorist attack has consistently been shown to increase the risk of developing depression or post-traumatic stress disorder. One shocking study found that people who watched six or more hours of news about the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing were more likely to develop post-traumatic stress symptoms than people who were actually at the bombing and personally affected by it. It's not just traditional news programs that instill fear and hopelessness; stories of tragedy, trauma, and threats dominate many forms of media. In fact, a 2014 study of U.S. adults found that the single best predictor of people's fear and anxiety was how much time they spent watching TV talk shows." There ya go. "… a 2014 study of U.S. adults found that the single best predictor of people's fear and anxiety was how much time they spent watching TV talk shows." Today's +1. Two quick questions. How's your fear and anxiety? How much time do you spend watching TV talk shows? Bonus questions: See any connections and/or ways to Optimize? Here's to dealing with the inevitable stressors of life without introducing unnecessary ones!! +1. +1. +1. via -1. -1. -1.

A short pep talk about why tidy plans rarely match real life and why that is okay. A reminder to accept messiness as part of any meaningful journey. Practical focus on building protocols to sustain emotional stamina through bigger challenges. An upbeat nudge to keep showing up even when things feel chaotic.

The other day I headed to Google to look up the meaning of the phrase "force multiplier." Short story: When we initially launched our Optimize Coach certification program, I said that I believed our program could be a catalytic force multiplier in helping people Optimize their lives so we can change the world together. After the first couple of months working with our first class of Coaches, I am more certain of that catalytic power than ever before. Enter: A quick Google search on "force multiplier" so I could wrap my brain around the precise definition of that powerful phrase. The best (and first) answer came from PersonalMBA.com. (Thanks, guys! And, thanks Google for connecting us!) Here's how they put it: "Force Multipliers are tools that help you Amplify your effort to produce more output. A hammer is a force multiplier. Investing in Force Multipliers means that you'll get more done with the same amount of effort." Brilliant, eh? Would you rather hammer a nail in with your hand or with a hammer? Same basic swinging motion of effort. But the hammer delivers a lot more output with the same effort, eh? (While, obviously, saving your hand from the ouch! Hammer for the win!) While taking a quick gander at other definitions and examples of force multipliers, I stumbled upon a brilliant blog post about some wisdom from retired four-star general and former Secretary of State Colin Powell. Here's how Powell puts it: "In the military, we are always looking for ways to leverage up our forces. Having greater communications and command and control over your forces than your enemy has over his is a force multiplier. Having greater logistics capability than the enemy is a force multiplier. Having better-trained commanders is a force multiplier. Perpetual optimism, believing in yourself, believing in your purpose, believing you will prevail, and demonstrating passion and confidence is a force multiplier. If you believe and have prepared your followers, the followers will believe." "Perpetual optimism." ← Isn't that a beautiful phrase? Well, it might just be our most powerful force multiplier. Tomorrow we'll talk about a little distinction to that wisdom. Today I'd like to do a quick check in. How's your belief in yourself? And your belief in your purpose? And your belief that you will prevail? Let's remember that our passion and confidence are force multipliers. Our "followers" (be they our kids or our colleagues or our staff or OURSELVES!) are A L W A Y S watching and taking our lead. So, let's lead wisely. Let's multiply our power via perpetual optimism!! How can you boost your optimism just a little more Today?