Optimize With Brian Johnson | More Wisdom In Less Time

New Zealand’s national rugby team The All Blacks are arguably THE greatest team ever. In this book, James Kerr unpacks what makes them so great and how we can lead + create a Legacy. Big Ideas we explore include the fact that Better People Make Better All Blacks, Kiwi Kaizen, embracing expectations and leaning into the power of Loss Aversion (remember: no pressure, no diamonds), hitting the psychological gym and answering a couple questions that will help clarify YOUR legacy.

Homeostasis is a system's tendency to do what it needs to do to maintain stability. Here's how to use that to our advantage to reach our potential. (This is also a quick look at the science of why we need to exit our comfort zone if we want to improve!)

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. :)

What were you born to do? As you might have guessed, that’s what this book is all about. Our guide, Chris Guillebeau, gives us a bunch of helpful tips and strategies to help us find the work we were meant to do. Big Ideas we explore include how win the career lottery (hint: think JOY-MONEY-FLOW), playing the elimination game, remembering that if Plan A fails you still have 25 other letters, Warren Buffett on goals, and getting good at quitting.

Willpower. It’s ESSENTIAL to optimizing our lives. In fact, in their *great* book, Willpower, Roy Baumeister (one of the world’s leading scientific researchers on self-control) and John Tierney (science writer for the New York Times) tell us that “Improving willpower is the surest way to a better life.” In this Note, we’ll learn how to eat our way to willpower (seriously), how to exercise our self-control muscles, why “precommitment” is so important and how to win the willpower game with bright lines and a great offense. :)

Have you or someone you loved ever experienced depression? If so, it’s time to tame the gremlins and create a sustainably awesome life. Here are my Top 10 Big Ideas on how to CONQUER depression–forged from my own experience.

Join us for Part 3 in The Tools interview series as Phil Stutz and Barry Michels walk us through the two Tools we didn't touch on in the prior chats: Grateful Flow (the way to deal with anxiety) and Active Love (powerful tool to deal with anger). Super inspiring, practical wisdom. Hope you love it! (Learn more about Phil + Barry + The Tools at thetoolsbook.com)

Neil Pasricha is a fascinating guy. A Harvard MBA and director of leadership development for Walmart who gave one of the most popular TED talks ever and published The Book of Awesome which sold 1m+ copies. This book is a fun, quick-read packed with great Ideas. We cover: The Big 7 ways science says we can boost our happiness, waking up with an Icky Guy (the good kind), how to add an hour to your day, a great question to tap into your purpose and wisdom from the greatest physicist ever (hint: create momentum).

Tom Rath is a best-selling author of Eat Move Sleep + Are You Fully Charged? and a bunch of other great books. (He also wrote our favorite kids book: The Rechargeables!) And, he's a cool guy. Join us as we explore some great, super practical Big Ideas!

Do you wake up and high five your Icky Guy? If not, you're missing out. Here's why you want to make your ikigai your new bff.

Did you know your limbic system (think: emotions) and prefrontal cortex (think: rational thoughts) act like a sort of seesaw? When one is up the other is down. Knowing this, we can use some tricks to stay cool under pressure. Here they are.

Meditation. It’s unequivocally awesome. But it can also get a little more esoteric than necessary. Enter: How to meditate without moving to the Himalayas! Here are my Top 10 Big Ideas on the nuts and bolts of how to create a great, sustainable practice.

UBE + GBD. Ugly but effective + Good bad days. That’s where it’s at. When things get wobbly we can’t let it all fall apart. Gotta be a champ and play poorly well. Get scrappy!

I LOVE the science of flourishing. In this class, we have fun exploring my absolute favorite Big Ideas from my absolute favorite psychologists. Life-changing stuff. The psychologists: Maslow + Frankl + Csikszentmihalyi + Seligman + Dweck + Baumeister + Ben-Shahr + Oettingen + Segar + McGonigal. The Ideas: Actualizer + Choice + Flow + Virtues + Mindsets + Willpower + Optimalist + WOOP + Why + Stress.

Fear strikes. Now what do you do? Try to calm yourself down or lean into it? Learn how to activate your GO! systems when you're feeling high states of arousal. Research says it's often much more effective than slamming on the brakes while driving 80 mph.

Tal Ben-Shahar is one of the most popular professors in Harvard’s history and does a great job of integrating the rigor of the science of happiness with the fun of self-help. Drawing on the latest psychological research, this book walks us through 101 choices we make throughout our lives. Big Ideas include finding happiness boosters, joining the failure hall of fame, focusing on your strengths and co-creating your reality.

Did you know the Sirens in the Odyssey tailored their songs for each voyager's unique weaknesses? Yep. Makes you wonder what they sing to YOU, eh? Let's figure that out and create some Odysseus Contracts to deal with them.

Want to optimize your relationship? My wife, Alexandra, joins us for this special class. Join us as we explore 10 of our favorite Big Ideas--starting with a definition of love then looking at the difference between falling in vs. standing in love and then some nuts and bolts Ideas on how to rock it.

Ever wonder how your brain works while you’re at work? And, even more importantly, how you can OPTIMIZE how your brain works while you work? If so, this is the book for you. Big Ideas we explore include the importance of prioritizing prioritizing (aka quit blowing your brain up), how to decrease your IQ by 15 points (hah—seriously—here’s how to be 3 times less effective than someone stoned! :0), why your basal ganglia is awesome, and how to rock the seesaw that is your limbic system + prefrontal cortex.