You Are Heroic with Brian Johnson

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

John Herdman is the head coach of the Canadian women's national soccer team that won Bronze in London and is off to the Olympics in Rio. In this chat, we explore some of his wisdom on how to cultivate belief, the power of clarity and simplicity, how to deal with adversity (by inviting it in) and what makes the best so great.

Living Forward is a powerful little book all about helping us figure out our Life Plan—which is, essentially, the vision for every aspect of our lives and our plan to make it a reality. The book is the result of a collaboration between leading publisher + author Michael Hyatt and his coach Daniel Harkavy. It's basically like having one of the world's leading life coaches walk you through the Life Planning process he's used with thousands of his clients. Big Ideas we explore include The Drift, your life GPS, pull power, soul oxygen and the Law of Diminishing Intent.

This is a dinky little pamphlet of a book based on a speech Albert E.N. Gray gave to a group of Prudential life insurance agents back in 1940. It's packed with goodness and is uber-popular. In this Note, we define The Common Denominator of Success, identify the power of purpose and the fact that your future is formed by your habits.

Your amygala is kinda like a car alarm for your limbic system. You don't want it to go off at the smallest thing. Meditation helps cool a hot amygdala so you're not always in fight-or-flight.

Discover the transformative power of action in building confidence. Instead of waiting for confidence to strike, learn how taking proactive steps can lead to self-assurance. Delve into the art of navigating negative thoughts without trying to eliminate them, recognizing them as part of the journey. Embrace your values to redefine success, and see how discomfort can fuel personal growth. Join an inspiring exploration of moving from fear to daring as you tackle life's great adventure!

We need to be committed, of course. But, there's a virtuous way to go about it and a not-so-effective. It's all about flexibility (not fickleness or obstinacy).

Did you know the word "parenting" comes from the Latin "to bring forth"? Yep. Begs the question, what do YOU want to help bring forth in your kids?! In this class, we explore 10 of my favorite Ideas on how I'm approaching fatherhood and going for dad of the year while doing my life's work.

Want to learn about the science of successful learning? Then this is the book for you. Written by a story-teller and two of the world's leading cognitive scientists who have dedicated their careers to mastering memory + learning, the book is packed with wisdom on what works and what doesn't. Big Ideas we explore include mastery vs. fluency, the power of active retrieval (aka "the testing effect"), explaining stuff in your own words and the wisdom in the adage that whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right.

This book is very different than the types of books I usually focus on. It's not "self-development" per se; it's more like "state-development"—as in, the optimal politics for our nation and world. The main thrust of the book is that we are entering a revolutionary time, the era of "Great Connection." His primary focus is on a macro level. In our Note we focus on how we can apply this wisdom on an individual level. Big Ideas include a look at the #1 illness of our era and how to deal with it, why we need Hard Gatekeeping, the difference btwn complicated and complex and building a 10,000 year clock while answering the call to revolution.