Optimize With Brian Johnson | More Wisdom In Less Time

In our last +1, we talked about Rule #1 of Nutrition. You remember what it was?   Basic idea: It’s not what you start eating that has the most positive impact. It’s what you STOP eating. There aren’t any Fountains of Youth in nature; there ARE poisons. And, you can’t eat enough broccoli to make up for all that pizza.   (So, what did you eliminate?)   Although I did share his high-level perspective, I didn’t share John Durant’s perspective on what he thinks we should remove as I wanted to make his general advice apply whether you’re Paleo or Vegan or Pegan or whatever.   Today we’re going to look at his top recs at what qualifies as “poison” and should, therefore, be removed.    *** Note: I share this with a respectful tip ‘o the hat to the Grain Lovers out there. ***   John tells us (and, of course, many others who share his perspective echo this): “Top on this list [of poisons] are industrial foods (sugar, vegetable oils) as well as the seed-based crops they’re made out of (cereal gra

Nathaniel Branden was a fascinating guy. As a teenager he wrote a fan letter to Ayn Rand—which she ignored. Then he wrote another letter a little later which led to an intimate relationship and collaboration.    We’ll save the details of that relationship for another discussion. For now, let’s look at some wisdom from The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem where Nathaniel tells us about a little self-awareness exercise called “sentence completion.”   Here’s how he puts it: “Sentence-completion work is a deceptively simple yet uniquely powerful tool for raising self-understanding, self-esteem, and personal effectiveness. It rests on the premise that all of us have more knowledge than we normally are aware of—more wisdom than we use, more potentials than typically show up in our behavior. Sentence completion is a tool for accessing and activating these ‘hidden resources.’”   How’s it work?   Like this.   Take a sentence stem (like: “Living consciously to me means...”) and create 6-10 completions of th

We’ve talked about how exercise is kinda like taking a little bit of Ritalin and a little bit of Prozac, but somehow we’ve gotten this far into our +1 series without talking about the fact that exercise is as effective as Zoloft in reducing depression.   Get this.   In The How of Happiness, Sonja Lyubomirksy walks us through a little experiment.    Bring clinically depressed individuals into a lab. Split them into three groups. The first group is assigned to four months of aerobic exercise while the second group gets an antidepressant medication (in this case Zoloft) and the third group gets both.    The exercise group does three, forty-five minute sessions per week of cycling or walking/jogging at a moderate to high intensity.   Fast-forward four months.   As Sonja says: "Remarkably, by the end of the four-month intervention period, all three groups had experienced their depressions lift and reported fewer dysfunctional attitudes and increased happiness and self-esteem. Aerobic exercise was just

In Self-Image 101, we talked about how to create the most heroically awesome version of yourself by integrating the “Optimus” you and the “en*theos” you into the “Hērōs” you.   We also talked about Other Image 101—aka: How do you see OTHERS?   Walt Whitman helped us out with this idea.    He once said: “In the faces of men and women, I see God.”   Which begs the question: When you look in the faces of men and women, what do YOU see?   That’s actually Today’s +1.   When you’re out and about today (and, perhaps even more importantly: when you’re in and hanging out with your family today!), take a moment to step back and SEE the absolute best, most divinely awesome essence of the people with whom you’re interacting.   And, remember: It’s hard to see in others what we’re not seeing in ourselves.    Therefore…    Let’s make sure the first person in whom we see God this morning is that person looking back at us in the mirror.    Here’s to bowing to the divine within yourself and to the div

How to Feel Empowered Around Food and Fuel Your Awesomely Authentic Life

Here's another little gem from Dan Pink’s To Sell Is Human. (The man is a brilliant writer and a treasure-trove of goodness.)   He tells us that, according to research from McKinsey: “the typical American hears or reads more than one hundred thousand words every day.”   Think about that for a moment.   100,000 words. EVERY DAY.   When I think about that, I immediately think of a few things: A Lion, a King, and a Monk.    Specifically, I think about Alberto Villoldo’s wisdom that we are now exposed to more stimuli in ONE WEEK than our ancient ancestors were exposed to in their ENTIRE LIFETIMES.    As he says, we evolved to deal with one lion roaring at us at a time. Now, with 24/7/365-global news, it’s as if the entire jungle is roaring at us all day every day. (Which, btw, is one of the reasons why obsessive news and talk show consumption is correlated with anxiety, depression, etc.)   (Another btw: Here’s a crazy stat from Nasha Winters in The Metabolic Approach to Cancer. She tells us:

Emerson is learning how to read and I’m the lucky guy who gets to teach him.   The other day Emerson wrote his first word: “mom.” Then he busted out “dad.” Then he was able to write his name by himself. (I get a little misty just typing that.)   I don’t hang on to much “stuff” but those first, handwritten words are now my most prized possessions.   Philosophically, it’s amazing to see how something that is super hard — like, for example, Emerson writing an “a” — suddenly becomes “easy.”   Of course, I might take more than a moment to celebrate the now awesome “a” and remind Emerson that there was a time when that was really hard.    And, we often quickly roll through the other things that were hard before they became super easy. If you were a fly on the wall of the Johnson house you might here something like this:   “Remember how you used to poop in your pants!” (We both get a kick out of that one.) “And, now it’s super easy to go in the toilet!”   “And, remember how you used to suck

Yesterday we reviewed our Motivation Equation. I hope you took the time to hang out with your #1 Wildly Important Goal and run it through the little magical formula.    And, if not: Pardon the soapbox moment but… Um… Well, hmmmm…    We can’t incrementally crush it together if we’re not actually PRACTICING these ideas on a consistent (read: daily!) basis.    We’ve gotta move from THEORY to PRACTICE and there’s only ONE way to do that…   PRACTICE! PRACTICE!! PRACTICE!!!   Ahem. I am now stepping off the soapbox.   Today we shall review another super powerful not-so-secret weapon: WOOP!   As I mentioned in our last +1, we’re currently working on a big project. As such, I’m employing all the best stuff I know to rock it.    And, it’s now officially I M P O S S I B L E for me to not WOOP something I really care about.   I mean, recall that science shows just how powerful this little practice can be in making our dreams a reality so…   The key? Once again: Start with a vision of your ideal. That’s

One of the themes we come back to again and again is the basic idea of loving what is — whether that’s via Byron Katie’s wisdom or the Stoics or the Serenity Prayer.   Here’s another take on it that I’ve found super helpful.   Vernon Howard tells us: “If your grand purpose in life is to wake up, then whatever happens to you is good, for it can prod you into self-awakening.”   And, he says: “If it takes apparent misfortune to turn us into true philosophers and doers of good to receive good, then apparent misfortune is our greatest fortune.”   Well that’s one way to look at it, eh?   Indeed it is. A very powerful way.   So…   Today’s +1.   What’s your GRAND purpose? The ultimate big ol’ purpose of your existence?   Mine?   In short: To actualize my potential. In service to the world. While enjoying the process.   Now, with THAT goal in mind, I can bring Vernon’s wisdom to mind and alchemize pretty much E V E R Y T H I N G into great fortune. From the mundane issues with the kids or the bi

In Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Nietzsche tells us: “He who cannot command himself should obey. And many can command themselves, but much is still lacking before they can obey themselves.”   How epic is that?!   Let’s slow down and read it again: “He who cannot command himself should obey. And many can command themselves, but much is still lacking before they can obey themselves.”   To translate: Can’t figure out what you should do? No big deal. Just get used to following orders from someone else.   Have a sense of what you should do but can’t follow through? Well, much is still lacking then, my friend. We must be able to command ourselves then obey those commands.   It’s why Leonardo da Vinci said: “One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.”   And… Well, pretty much E V E R Y O N E (! ! !) says that self-mastery is the secret sauce (to being the Boss of your own life).   (It’s also why, if I had to summarize my entire philosophy in one word I’d go with areté.)  

Dan Pink tells us that To Sell Is Human.   Although only 1 in 9 Americans is technically in sales, he says that the other 8 in 9 spend a ton of their time in “non-sales selling.” In fact, the research he commissioned shows that we spend around 40% (!) of our time (or 24 minutes out of every working hour!) trying to move people to do things—whether that’s pitching an idea to colleagues or trying to change someone’s behavior.   (That’s, obviously a lot. And, being good at that is, obviously, important to our professional and personal success.)   Then there’s the personal time we spend “selling”/”moving” others—from selling our kids on a philosophical idea (“mistakes are awesome!”) or your spouse on how to Optimize your nutrition (“sugar isn’t awesome!”).   In that context, he tells us we need some new ABCs of selling. As you may know, the “ABCs” of the old-school, hard-core sales approach are “Always be closing.”    That, to say the least, is not where it’s at. Now? Now, Dan says, it’s

In our last +1, we talked about our 80/20 180 phase in which we implemented a number of high-leverage lifestyle changes.   After that stabilization and Optimizing process, we went deep into what research shows to be a REALLY powerful targeted therapy for cancer: a ketogenic diet.   In fact, we hired the woman who literally wrote the book on it.   That book is called Keto for Cancer. Its author, Miriam Kalamian has been my brother’s day-to-day nutritionist for the last x weeks. She and her book are AMAZING.   If you’re wondering what nutritional approach we’re following, THAT’s it.   I’m laughing as I type this but my brother went from pretty much eating whatever he wanted whenever he wanted in whatever quantity he wanted to following a nutritional plan with the precision of an Olympic athlete such that he knows, in his words, whether or not he can have a couple more walnuts with lunch. (HAH!)   All of which begs a few questions.   First, you may wonder: What’s a ketogenic diet? And, why is it rel

This is an introduction to Public Speaking 101. Get the workbook + watch the full class here: https://www.optimize.me/public-speaking We’ve had a lot of people ask for a class on Public Speaking. It tends to freak a lot of people out which is why Idea #1 features Jerry Seinfeld’s quip that most people are so afraid of public speaking that they’d prefer to *receive* a eulogy than give one. (Hah.) Alas, if you have any fears over speaking in public, you’re not alone. Enter: Common humanity. And, enter my own stories about my fears and my favorite ways to alchemize that energy. (“I’m excited!” + “Bring it on!” + threat vs. challenge, etc.) Other Ideas include Rule #0 (aka, it’s not about you), Rule #1 (aka BE you—amplified!), systematically organize (and overprepare!), plus Optimizing your pre-shot routine before letting it rip!

So, on one hand, as per our last +1, science shows that genes play a surprisingly small role in the cause of cancer.   Yet…   Guess where nearly all of that $100 billion of research money has has been spent?   Yep.   We’ve spent $100 billion dollars on research and we spend $100 billion dollars on cancer medications every year operating under the assumption that cancer is, primarily, a genetic issue.   To put it directly, that appears to be the essence of why we’ve failed to win the war on cancer. We’ve been looking at it from the wrong perspective.    Result: No improvements in the real death rates since the 1950s.   Here’s the short story on the two conflicting theories regarding the origin of cancer:    The dominant theoretical orientation within Western medicine is something called the “somatic mutation theory” (or “SMT”) of cancer.   It basically says that cancer is CAUSED by genetic mutations.    Now, there’s no question that cancer cells are pretty wacky genetically. In fact, the sheer

What You Can Do on a Daily Basis to Optimize Your Nutrition in an Easy and Practical Way.

In our last couple +1s, we had some fun at the hospital with our Stoic friends Seneca and Epictetus.    Recall Epictetus’ wisdom that sometimes good philosophy feels more like a trip to the hospital than a spa. (Ouch!)   Seneca echoes this wisdom in Letters from a Stoic where he says, “Be harsh with yourself at times.”   Now, of course, this does NOT mean that we need to go around like that albino monk from The da Vinci Code mutilating ourselves. (Yowsers!)   But…    It DOES mean that, at times, with a base of (and, ultimately, OUT OF a deep sense of) self-compassion, we need to give ourselves a Zen stick to the head and wake up from the bad habits that might be dragging us down.   As with the virtuous mean chat we had awhile ago, there’s a virtuous mean here.    TOO MUCH harshness is destructive — we’ll develop a sense of self-loathing that Aristotle would consider a vice of excess.    TOO LITTLE harshness on the other hand, and we run the risk of being a bit too self-contented. That would

Once upon a time in a land far away, there was an old farmer.   This man had a horse.   Then, one day, his horse ran away.    All the neighbors said, “Gah!! That’s such a bummer. What bad luck.”   The man said, “Maybe. It is what is.”   Then, one day, the horse returned!! And, lo and behold, the horse brought along a bunch of wild stallions with him!   All the neighbors said, “Wow!! That’s incredible. What good luck!”   The man said, “Maybe. It is what it is.”   At this point in the story, I should mention that the man also had a son. This son was pretty excited about the new horses. Especially one particularly wild stallion he wanted to ride.   So, he hops up on the horse and, WHAM! He gets slammed to the ground and breaks his leg.   All the neighbors said, “Ohhhhhhhhh, man! What bad luck. I can’t believe that happened. Now your son can’t work the fields. That’s really bad.”   The man said, “Maybe. It is what it is.”   Then one day, the army came marching into the small village. There wa

In our last +1, we talked about Phil Stutz’ great phrase: “Endlessly evolving process.”   Phil likes to draw upward spiraling loops to describe the flow of evolving into the best version of ourselves.   In fact, his spiraling loops are almost identical to Ray Dalio’s spiraling loops. Remember his? We unpacked his 5-Steps to Success model not too long ago.   The super-quick recap: You start with an audacious goal. Then you fail. Then you figure out why you failed. Then you design a better solution to your challenge. Then you get to work on the solution.    Then you spiral up and repeat that process of evolving into a slightly better version of you. (For how long? E N D L E S S L Y.)   Now, Dalio tells us that it’s REALLY important to fall in love with that process. ESPECIALLY (!) the part most people shy away from — that whole failing part.   “But can’t I just evolve without all those mistakes?”   (Insert laughter from all philosophers ever.)   (Still laughing.)   “No. You can’t.”   Therefore

Please extend your pointer finger and shake it as if you’re lecturing someone — saying something like, “You shouldn’t do this, this and this! Do that, that and that!”   Thank you.   Now, look at your hand and count how many fingers are pointing at the person you’re lecturing and how many fingers are pointing back at you.   Unless you’re missing a digit, you should see one finger pointing at the lucky recipient of your lecture and THREE fingers pointing back at you.   You may want to pay attention to that the next time you’re lecturing someone.   Debbie Ford tells us that this practices is a really handy way to notice our “shadow” — the stuff we haven’t integrated in our own lives that, unfortunately, we tend to project onto others.   She tells us to “attend our own lectures” because, more often than not, whatever lecture we’re giving someone else is the one WE desperately need to attend.   Today’s +1. The next time you start telling someone all the things you think they need to start doing more