OPTIMIZE with Brian Johnson | More Wisdom in Less Time

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.

Not too long ago, we talked about William B. Irvine’s Guide to the Good Life in which he shares some practical tools to master “The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy.”

In our last couple +1s, we’ve had fun exploring some wisdom gems from my recent PhilosophersNotes binge-athon. Today we’re going to talk about another great Idea from another great Note. This one’s on Stephen Cope’s The Great Work of Your Life.

In our last +1, we talked about the fact that I’m not the handiest of men and then we had fun getting our grit on as we stocked our toolshed with a range of sandpaper for the rough and for the fine Optimizing work we’re up to.

Let’s continue the Food Rule fun with one more +1 on Michael Pollan’s classic little food manual. Today we’ll explore Food Rule #1. It’s deceptively simple. Ready? Here it is: Rule #1: Eat Food.

In our last +1, we explored the relationship between our food rotting and us rotting. Recall: The longer the shelf life of the food we eat, the shorter our lives will be!

Why We Sleep is a life-changing kinda book. We’re going to spend a few more days mining a few more of the many gems from Matthew Walker’s masterpiece. Today we’re going to flip open our virtual Optimize magazine to the kind of ad we’d allow in there.

In our Optimize Coach certification program, we kick the party off by establishing the game we’re playing in Module I: Eudaimon-ology in which we connect ancient wisdom (Aristotle!) to modern science (Seligman!) to establish the fact that it’s all about flourishing/having a “good soul” via living with virtue.

Mike Erwin joins us as a guest teacher for this class! CEO of The Character Center, co-founder of the Positivity Project, and co-author of the book Lead Yourself First, Mike is passionate about inspiring leaders across the country. His secret sauce to leadership? Solitude!

In our last +1, we did some severe pruning with Steve Chandler and Ralph Waldo Emerson. (How’d that go for you? More specifically: What went for you?) Today we’re going to spend some more time doing creative gardening with Steve. 

In our last +1, we had some fun soaking our minds in some epic “To Dare or Not to Dare” wisdom. We kicked that party off with a Søren Kierkegaard gem.

Unstoppable Teams 101 (Intro)

In Greatest Year Ever - 2019, I wrapped up the class by reading some quotes that were guiding me to step up and into the next-best version of myself. 

Not too long ago, I interviewed Dr. David Perlmutter. We chatted about brain health. As you may know (and as we discuss in all the Notes in which we feature his wisdom), Dr. Perlmutter is one of the few medical doctors in the world who is both a Board-Certified Neurologist and a Fellow of the American College of Nutrition.

Not too long ago, we talked about the shiny new Optimize Virtue Meditation we’re working on as part of our Optimize Coach program. I’ve been thinking a lot about the virtues in general and the meditation in particular—especially a sub-virtue to Love that I’d like to talk about Today.