OPTIMIZE with Brian Johnson | More Wisdom in Less Time

In our last +1, we did our best Boss impersonation as we reinterpreted our sweaty palms and racing hearts as a sign we’re EXCITED and READY TO GO rather than as a sign that something’s wrong.

In our last +1, we took a moment to celebrate the power of friends as we had fun with our new favorite phrase: “Friend Power.” I’m in love with the idea.

In our last +1, we made history with Eliud Kipchoge (and a BUNCH of his friends) as we broke through “the last barrier of modern athletics” by running a marathon in less than two hours. (Go us!)

A few +1s ago, we had fun chatting about the starting and finish lines of my first business, eteamz.  I mentioned that it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows and we briefly discussed the fact that I’ve failed WAY MORE times than I’ve succeeded.

In our last +1, we talked about the importance of finishing strong. I shared a bit about the origin story of my first business, eteamz. It probably sounded like all sunshines and rainbows. Of course, it wasn’t.In our last +1, we talked about the importance of finishing strong. I shared a bit about the origin story of my first business, eteamz. It probably sounded like all sunshines and rainbows. Of course, it wasn’t.

As we’ve discussed a few times, I went to UCLA. First generation college student. Studied Psychology and Business. I was recruited by the old Arthur Andersen which, at the time, was the largest professional services firm in the world—which seemed like a pretty exciting place for me (the son of a guy who worked in a grocery store for 40 years) to start my career. 

We talk a lot about the futility of arguing with reality. As Byron Katie so perfectly says, “When I argue with reality I lose. But only 100% of the time.” (Hah.)

Today I’d like to revisit our “How to Prosper” theme for a moment (or two) longer. In almost all of the Mastery-Coach sessions, I emphasize the importance of being Antifragile—using life’s (inevitable!) challenges as a source of fuel.

In our last +1, we talked about the fact that problems (when viewed from the right Optimizing mindset) are simply balls we get to throw forward as we play the game of life.

Before we took a (longish) tangent into the power of words, we were talking about our session on the sixth Optimizing fundamental: Prosper.

In our last +1, we spent some time with Todd Herman, Batman, Dora the Explorer and YOUR most heroic self. Today we’re going to connect all that goodness to wisdom from the classic peak-performance book The Inner Game of Tennis by Tim Gallwey.

Continuing our brief exploration of the power of placebo-words (and expectations), I’d like to go back to Harvard and walk from Benson’s lab in the Medical School back to Langer’s Psychology of Possibility Lab for a couple more bits of wisdom.

In our last +1, we revisited Ellen Langer at her “Psychology of Possibility” lab at Harvard to learn that words matter. As you may recall, simply priming people with words associated with old age (via a crossword puzzle!) will cause them to walk more slowly to the elevator than those who weren’t primed with those words.

In our last +1, we talked about a few of my favorite “Pro” tips to Prosper as we looked forward at our 5-Year view (Prospectus!), moved forward with hope (Prosper!) and made some progress (Profit!).

The other day we wrapped up the Fundamentals module of the Mastery Series phase of our Optimize Coach program. (That was a mouthful, wasn’t it?) (Hah.)