You Are Heroic with Brian Johnson

The Plant Paradox. In a nutshell: The plants that nourish us can also hurt us. Dr. Steven Gundry is a renowned cardiologist and heart surgeon. He's a former professor at Loma Linda University and has authored 300+ peer-reviewed articles on using diet and supplements to eliminate a bunch of diseases. And, to put it in perspective: He's Tony Robbins's doctor. Big Ideas we explore include Rule #1 of nutrition (and life) (hint: STOP eating/doing stuff that doesn't work for you), the little edible enemies that are taking you down, the vagus nerve and it's communication from your gut to your brain, how fruit might as well be candy and 90% new you in 90 days.

Want this year to be the greatest year of your life? Here's how to go about making that happen. We'll start with a quick inventory of what's awesome. And, what needs work. Then we'll move on to imagine THE (!) best version of you in 10 years and 25+ years (eulogy you!) while reflecting on how to make the prior best version of you your new baseline. Then… It's all about being that version of you NOW. We'll revisit the fundies and your Big 3 while creating Masterpiece Days, avoiding the pickles and kryptonite dust, WOOPing everything and playing the game that is our lives as well as we can.

Pierre Hadot was one of the most influential historians of ancient philosophy. In this book, he gives us an incredible look at Marcus Aurelius and his classic Meditations. You can feel Hadot's incredible intellectual rigor and equally incredible passion for engaged philosophy. It's inspiring. Big Ideas we explore include spiritual exercises, your inner citadel, your daimōn, amor fate, turning obstacles upside down and carpe areté.

Got problems with your soul? These days, you'd see a psychotherapist. But, back in the day, it was the philosopher who'd help you optimize—they were the preferred physician of the soul. This book is about the philosophical roots of modern psychotherapy. Specifically, it outlines the connection between cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and Stoicism. Big Ideas we explore include being a warrior of the mind vs. a librarian of the mind, your highest human purpose, getting on good terms with your inner daimon, practicing the reserve clause and modeling your ideal sage.

In one of my coaching sessions with Phil Stutz he told me to write something down. (He often does that. 😃) He said, "Draw a horizontal line. Above that line, put 'Thinking Space.' Below the line, put 'Work Space.'" Then he asked me, "You know what the 'Thinking Space' is good for?" I didn't have a very good answer. He said, "NOTHING. Nothing happens in the Thinking Space." Hah. Obviously, stepping back and thinking about things is a vital skill but the fact is, nothing actually HAPPENS until we take action, use the tools and get to work on and in our lives. (And, as we've discussed numerous times, most of us don't actually THINK, we ruminate—which, we know, is not good. At all.(https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/rumination/) Phil says we all tend to live in the Thinking Space. He says we need to force ourselves DOWN—out of (over)thinking and into the Work Space. How? Use one of our +1 tools, get to work, do ANYTHING but overthink (or indulge in our Kryptonites). He tells us that it's kinda like a beach ball in water. You press it down and what does it want to do? Pop back up. Well, we want to get REALLY good at keeping that ball down. Today's +1: Do you (like me and most people on the planet), have a default tendency to spend too much time thinking about things and not enough time actually DOING things? Remember the beach ball. Push it down every time it pops back up.

Do you know how caffeine actually works? Most of us think that caffeine gives us energy. But what it actually does is mask our fatigue—making us feel more energized than we actually are. Here's the quick story on what's going on behind the scenes. One of the by-products of being awake and having your neurons fire is a neurotransmitter called adenosine. As adenosine accumulates in your brain, you get tired—cueing you to go to sleep to recover. Caffeine is structurally very similar to adenosine. So similar, in fact, that it can actually sneak into those little adenosine receptors and block the adenosine from doing its job of letting us know we're tired. And voila! You feel energized. Obviously, that's pretty cool. (Hah.) Today's +1: Two things we want to consider as we optimize our caffeine intake. 1. We want to know that when we use caffeine we're "borrowing" energy. Therefore, we'd be wise to use caffeine strategically rather than habitually. If we need caffeine to get going in the morning, what we really need is more rest, not more caffeine. 2. We also want to know that caffeine has a half-life of 5-8 hours—which means that if you have a coffee with 200 mg of caffeine at 2 pm, half of that (or 100 mg) is still in your system as late as 10 pm. (That's a lot!) Bottom line: If you're going to use caffeine, do it strategically and do it earlier in the day. Have a "caffeine curfew" to make sure you get a good night of sleep. Experts say no later than 2 pm and earlier if you're really serious about allowing your body to recover. So… How's YOUR caffeine intake? How can you +1 it?

Darren Hardy is the publisher of SUCCESS magazine. His message is clear: We are living in the era of greatest opportunity in human history. There's never been a better time to be an entrepreneur. NOW IS THE TIME to hop on the entrepreneur roller coaster. Big Ideas we explore include the importance of getting super freaky, practicing getting up after getting knocked down, setting the pace as an effective leader and remember it's the fear of fear we fear.

In our last couple +1s, we've been hanging out in an fMRI scanning our brains and seeing some fascinating stuff. Let's stay in there for one more study on how your brain lights up in different ways depending on the food you eat. First, a little background: David Ludwig is a professor and researcher at both Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health. He has both an M.D. and a Ph.D. and is one of the world's leading researchers on the science of optimal nutrition. He's overseen dozens of diet studies and authored over 100 peer-reviewed articles. In his great book Always Hungry?, he tells us about some powerful research. Get this: You can bring people into a lab and have them drink a milkshake that's identical in every way but one. One shake has "fast-acting" carbs and the other has "slow-acting" carbs. You have the people in the study drink their shakes and then, a few hours later, you scan their brains. Guess what. Well, before we even get into that fMRI machine, we see that the individuals who consumed the fast-acting carbs are reporting more hunger and their blood glucose levels have dropped more than the ones who consumed the slow-acting carbs. And… When we look at their brains, we see something amazing. The people who consumed the "fast-acting" carbs have a little part of their brain lit up that's called the "nucleus accumbens." The nucleus accumbens is the primary reward center of our brains. It's the part of our brains tied to addiction—addiction to stuff like alcohol, tobacco and cocaine. It's what drives you to compulsively consume more of something. And, it LIGHTS up when you eat fast-acting carbs!!! So, right as your blood sugar drops and your hunger increases, you have your nucleus accumbens screaming at you to have more of the sugary stuff. Not a winning combination. The solution? First, make the connection between your food choices right now and your future self x minutes and hours from now as per our last +1. And… Reduce or eliminate those fast-acting carbs. What qualifies as fast-acting carbs? Well, the obvious stuff like sugar (in all its forms!) needs to go. The less obvious stuff like bread and pastas also need to go. Let's cool off that nucleus accumbens as we Optimize our nutrition one bite at a time. +1. +1. +1.

This is a quick-reading, smart, practical guide on how to, as the sub-title suggests, "Kill Email Anxiety, Avoid Distractions, and Get Real Work Done. My kind of book. I *highly* recommend it. Big Ideas we explore include rats + rewards (real vs. random), progress hacks to conquer the progress paradox, saying "YES!!!" en route to saying "No" plus the physics of emails and 21st century superpowers.

Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is one of the world's leading researchers studying the science of well-being. He co-founded the Positive Psychology movement with Martin Seligman and has written landmark books on Creativity and Flow. After surveying thousands of people, Mihaly was able to shine some light on that elusive state in which we're at our best. In fact, he's the one who coined the word "Flow." Here's the basic idea: Imagine drawing two lines. On the x axis we have our Skill level. On the y axis we have our Challenge level. If the Challenge is high but your Skill is low, what will you experience? ANXIETY. On the other hand, if your Skill is high, but the Challenge is low, what will you experience? BOREDOM. Now, what if your Skill level matches the Challenge? Enter: FLOW. So, Today's +1: A quick inventory. Are you feeling Bored? Increase the level of Challenge. (For example, if you're doing a mundane, repetitive task, see how flawlessly you can do it or how quickly or both!) Feeling Anxious? Decrease the Challenge a bit and/or increase your Skill. Want to feel more Flow? Bring more awareness to the whole process, set a goal that focuses your attention (that is ALWAYS the first step, btw!!), eliminate distractions (Go Deep!!), and allow yourself to be fully immersed in the experience. Repeat. FLOW!!! +1. +1. +1.

In our last +1, we talked about the fact that the word courage comes from the Latin word for "heart." Just as our heart pumps blood to the rest of our body, our COURAGE pumps energy to our other virtues. Here's one of the simplest, easiest and most powerful ways to build your courage in any given moment. Strike a pose. A courageous, power pose. As we've discussed so many times, the relationship between our feelings and our behaviors is what researchers describe as "bidirectional." It goes both ways. Science says that feelings FOLLOW behavior at least as much as the other way around. In other words, by simply taking certain actions, we can influence how we feel. Amy Cuddy has demonstrated this in her lab at Harvard. In her great book Presence, she tells us that we all E X P A N D when we feel most powerful. Get this: Even blind athletes, who have never seen anyone else do it, will strike that victorious "V!" pose with arms triumphantly up in the air when they win a race. So, she started her research with this question: "Since we naturally expand our bodies when we feel powerful, do we also naturally feel powerful when we expand our bodies?" Spoiler alert: YES!!! In one study, individuals were split into two groups. One group assumed "low-power" poses in which they, essentially, took up less space (sitting while slouching, with their hands close to their bodies and standing with their legs close together, and their arms close to their bodies and their heads down). The other group assumed "high-power" poses in which they EXPANDED and took up more space (sitting in a relaxed, confident manner with legs out and hands behind head; standing like Wonder Woman or Superman with hands on hips, chin up and feet wide apart). After only TWO minutes of posing, here's what happened: "the high-power posers showed a 19 percent increase in testosterone and a 25 percent decrease in cortisol. Low-power posers showed the opposite pattern—a 10 percent decrease in testosterone and a 17 percent increase in cortisol, the exact pattern we predicted." That pattern is known as the dual hormone hypothesis. High testosterone + low cortisol = HIGH power. Low testosterone + high cortisol = LOW power. Think about that: Two minutes of posing produced those dramatic shifts in biology. Simply moving our bodies in a more expansive way significantly boosts our confidence and power. That's Today's +1. Feel the difference between going through life in a low-power, shrunken state vs. expanding into your most powerful self. Want to feel more confidence and power today? Smile. Strike a power pose. And go rock it.

In our last +1, we talked about the power of recommitting. You make a big commitment, then you fall a little off track. No big deal, REcommit and continue on. Today, we're going to add a little letter to recommitment. It's a "P." We'll drop it in right at the beginning. Giving us: PREcommitment. So, now we have: Precommitment. Commitment. And Recommitment. Science says precommitment is one of the most powerful tools in the Willpower tool chest. They even give precommitments a pretty cool name: Odysseus Contracts. Before we jump into ancient mythology and see what it has to say about modern science, let's remember: Will power exemplars play OFFENSE not DEFENSE (https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/want-willpower-play-offense-not-defense/). They use their finite willpower wisely to install habits that run on autopilot—avoiding the temptations that drain our willpower as we try to resist them. Offense. Not defense. One of the most powerful ways to do that? Decide in ADVANCE how we will handle a challenging situation. PRECOMMIT ourselves to the best possible action. So, back to mythology. What did Odysessus do when he and his sailors needed to get by the Sirens without crashing into the rocks? He precommitted himself to a course of action. How? By tying himself to his mast and commanding his sailors not to untie him regardless of how much he begged them to do so. THAT's precommitment. He chose to do something that locked himself into a virtuous course of action when he knew he'd be challenged. His sailors precommitted as well. Rather than tie themselves to the boat, they took an even smarter path and avoided the temptation in the first place by plugging their ears with beeswax. They didn't even hear the tempting sounds of the Sirens. Voila! Safe passage through that dangerous path. Again, THAT's precommitment. Odysseus Contracts. Someone struggling with alcohol, for example, would be much wiser to never go into a bar than to try to not drink once they're in there. Someone looking to Optimize their energy would be much wiser to not even walk down the fake food aisles at the grocery store than to buy the sugar and refined flour toxic goop and then try to resist eating it once it's in their pantry. Back to you and Today's +1: What Odysseus Contracts do YOU need to make with yourself?

Ready to upgrade your vision of love? Then you're in for a treat with this fantastic book by Barbara Fredrickson. Barbara is one of the world's leading positive psychologists. The book is incredibly well-written, deeply inspiring and incredibly practical as well. In fact, I just told Alexandra that this book might be the one that most positively impacts my life. Big Ideas we explore include: Love 1.0 vs. Love 2.0, taking a trip to Vagus, identifying our prevailing desire, #1 tip: create 3 loving moments today, exiting our cocoon of self-absorption via loving-kindness meditation, and Love 2.0 x 2: compassionate + celebratory love.

In our last +1 we hopped on a treadmill with Will Smith and Smokeybot. Today, let's hop on a treadmill with well-being researcher Sonja Lyubomirsky. Sonja is one of the world's leading experts on the science of what is called "hedonic adaptation." Basically, hedonic adaptation is a fancy phrase for our tendency to get used to good things. The way we so easily adapt to awesome stuff is kinda like being on a treadmill. You get fired up about making $x per year or having a certain car or house or whatever then you get to that point and quickly adapt to it—now wanting the NEXT $X per year or house or car or whatever. Then guess what? There you are on your treadmill, working harder and harder and not going anywhere. That's hedonic adaptation. On a related note, Maslow told us that getting used to our blessings is one of the most "nonevil evils" out there. It's not an obvious evil-evil but it's an evil thing nonetheless. So, how do we deal with this tendency to so quickly adapt and take things for granted as we sweat and get nowhere on that happiness treadmill? Well, first, know that this tendency exists. Know that nothing "out there" is E V E R going to make you happy. Ultimately, creating a durable sense of well-being is an inside job. Today's +1: Let's step off the treadmill. Another thing Maslow taught us is that the most actualized among us have "fresh appreciation" for the things others tend to take for granted. Let's appreciate the amazing things you have in your life. How about three things/people that are awesome in your life right now? (That you might be taking for granted!) 1. __________________ 2. __________________ 3. __________________ Practice gratitude (https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/gratitude/).Grateful flow (https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/grateful-flow/). Celebratory love. etc. Regularly. Step off the treadmill. Appreciate the awesome.(https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/celebratory-love/) Repeat. +1. +1. +1.

This book combines two of my favorite things: Stoicism + Ryan Holiday's wisdom. Stoicism was one of the most influential philosophy of the Roman world and has continued to influence many of history's greatest minds. As Ryan says: It's time to bring it back as a powerful tool "in the pursuit of self-mastery, perseverance, and wisdom." This is one of the my favorite books ever. Big Ideas we explore: the #1 thing to know about Stoicism, how to create tranquility, a good answer to "What's the latest and greatest?!," the 2 essential tasks in life and the art of acquiescence (aka amor fati).

Continuing our movement-is-good for you theme, let's talk about how Michelle Segar looks at this. You may recall that Michelle is one of the world's leading researchers on the science of actually DOING the things you know are good for you. In her book No Sweat she tells us that we need to find "opportunities to move" throughout the day. Her clients like to shorten that to OTMs. OTMs. Opportunities to Move. Little things. They exist all day, every day. And, if we want to make our TRILLIONS (!) of cells happy so we can shine with a deeper level of radiant, energized enthusiasm, we'd be wise to look for more OTMs throughout our day. Simple stuff. So mundane, unsexy and seemingly unimportant that we can easily overlook them. You know, like parking as far away from the store (or gym or whatever) as possible so you get a few more steps in. Or, even better, just walking to the store and leaving your car at home. Or, once you're in the store, using a hand-held shopping basket rather than a cart. Tiny little opportunities to move more = good. Or… If you really want to go all in and be like one of the 100 Fittest People of All Time like Dean Karnazes, you can go from finding Opportunities to MOVE all day to basically working out all day every day. In our interview, The Ultramarathon Man Dean told me that's how he likes to roll. Apparently, right before our chat he banged out a quick (12- or 14-min) high intensity interval training workout. And, he planned to do another mini-workout right after our chat. Simple sequence of burpees, pull-ups and sit-ups. All day. Every day. That focus on moving his body has allowed him to do the seemingly impossible like run 350 miles at once and run 50 marathons in 50 US states in 50 days. (Wow.) So, Today's +1: Whether you're looking for Opportunities to Move (OTMs!!) or Opportunities to Workout (OTWs!!), let's move a little more today. And tomorrow. And the day after that… +1. +1. +1.

A former U.S. Navy SEAL Commander, Mark Divine integrates the ancient warrior traditions with grounded, practical virtue and 21st century get-it-done effectiveness in a way that I find incredibly inspiring. Big Ideas we cover include the power of front-sight focus, how to DIRECT your mind, going Yoda on your commitments and creating micro goals when things are tough.

Men's Health says that Dean Karnazes is one of the 100 Fittest Men of ALL Time. He's done crazy things—like running 350 miles at once. Plus running a marathon to the South Pole in negative 40 degrees. Then there was the time he ran 50 marathons in all 50 US states in 50 days—finishing with the NYC Marathon which he banged out in 3 hours flat. (Nice!) In our interview about his great book The Road to Sparta, I asked him what ONE piece of wisdom he would share with someone looking to Optimize their lives so they could make a positive difference in the world. His response? He quoted the ancient Chinese proverb: "Be not afraid of going slowly. Be afraid only of stopping." Going slowly? Not a problem. Stopping? Eek. That's when we get in trouble. Whether it's writing a book or running a marathon or doing whatever challenging thing worthy of our attention, KEEP GOING!!! Steve Chandler has a great line for this. He says we need to "Stop stopping." All of which leads us to today's +1 Questions: What epic quest are you on right now? What's your next baby step? Keep moving!! No matter how slowly. And… What's the habit you just KNOW would most benefit you? That keystone habit that, when in place, will most help you Optimize? The one that, when you do it, you feel GREAT!! Yes. THAT ONE. KEEP DOING IT!!! It's OK to suck. But it's not OK to skip. (https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/how-to-avoid-habit-suicide/) Remember: STOP STOPPING! +1. +1. +1.

Patrick McKeown is one of the world's leading teachers of the Buteyko Breathing Method which was created in the 1950s by a Russian doctor named Dr. Konstantin Buteyko. McKeown suffered from asthma for decades until he found the Buteyko Method. At which point, he reversed his asthma symptoms and then dedicated his life to helping others optimize their breathing. In this book, he extends the Buteyko Method into an approach he calls the Oxygen Advantage. Big Ideas we cover include the #1 obstacle to optimal breathing, Oxygen Delivery 101, the #1 breathing tip, and how to dial in your sleep.

In our last +1 we chatted about the difference between FALLING in love and STANDING in love. It's easy to fall in love. It's considerably more challenging to stand in love—whether we're talking about an intimate relationship with a significant other, a child or a dear friend. So, know this: We're inevitably going to run into conflict and challenges in our intimate relationships. THAT'S A GIVEN Today's +1 is a key practice for STANDING in love. Leading mindfulness and neuroscience and relationship expert Dan Siegel tells us that when something inevitably goes wrong in a relationship we want to REPAIR it as quickly as we can. One of the examples he uses to make his point is a story about a time when he, Mr. Mindfulness, "flipped his lid," turning off his prefrontal cortex and going full limbic-lame yelling at one of his kids. (Laughing as I type that as a) It's always refreshing to see a world-class teacher and practitioner humbly reminding us that no one is perfect and b) I very much know the feeling as the father of a very energetic 4-year-old. 😃) So, we have an interaction that we're not proud of. Then what? Then, you REPAIR the relationship as quickly as you can. Something like, "Wow. I got really impatient / loud / fill-in-the-blank. I flipped my lid! I'm so sorry about that and I can see what Needs work (https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/needs-work/). I just want you to know I'm sorry and that I love you and that I'm committed to getting a little better at handling those challenging moments in the future." * insert potential hug * We don't want those little micro-moments of negativity to stew into jumbo-resentments and unhealthy cauldrons of ick. Take a deep breath. Drop into your heart. Label the emotion Name It to Tame It! (https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/name-it-to-tame-it/). Practice some Active Love (https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/active-love/). Use whatever tool you need to do to regain your Equanimity (https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/the-equanimity-game/). And then Repair. Today's +1 Optimizing opportunity: Any Repairs waiting for you?

In our last +1, we talked about the importance of identifying and installing your #1 self-care habit. Today I want to talk about another SUPER important thing: Identifying your significant other's (or kids' or friends' or colleagues') #1 self-care habit. Fact is, great relationships are only created by two healthy people. 1 + 1. If you want to Optimize the love in your life, you'd be wise to a) start by Optimizing yourself and b) support your partner (assuming they want the support!) Optimize THEIR lives. And our #1 self-care habit is a REALLY (like, Jumbo-REALLY!!!!) good place to start. For example, my #1 is sleep. Alexandra knows this. And, she knows that she doesn't really want to be around me when I'm not meeting this fundamental need. So, we prioritize this to make sure I'm getting good sleep. (Thank you, Darling!!) Alexandra's #1 self-care habit is time alone every day to meditate/reflect/create/etc. Knowing this, we prioritize it to make sure she gets that time. So… What's YOUR #1. And… What's your PARTNER'S #1? Find out. Help them rock it. And watch your relationship flourish. +1 that 1 + 1.

Dr. Craig Malkin is an author, clinical psychologist, and Instructor of Psychology for Harvard Medical School. He's also one of the world's leading authorities on the science of narcissism. In this book, he shares "The bad—and surprising good—about feeling special." The short story? Narcissism is a lot more nuanced than we might have been led to believe. Big Ideas we explore: the Myth of Narcissus, the Spectrum of Narcissism, healthy narcissism (no, that isn't an oxymoron), how to bring it forth in our lives, and the passionate life (passion + compassion = magic!).

In our last +1, we talked about Scott Adams's wisdom on Wishing vs. Deciding (https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/deciding-vs-wishing/). The key difference? When we DECIDE, we get clear on what we want AND we get clear on the price we'll need to pay. Then… We get busy paying it. Scott tells us that one of the ways to reduce the price and make it more palatable is to create systems. He's ALL about systems. In fact, he tells us that "Goals are for losers." (Hah.) We obviously need goals but he says we should, at the very least, word-glue them together so we have goals-systems or systems-goals. His point is that if all we're doing is chasing a goal, we're constantly going to be "losing" because the goal is always at some far-off spot we may never reach. On the other hand, when we figure out the SYSTEMS we're constantly WINNING every single time we successfully execute the system. For example, if you're trying to lose 20 pounds, you have a goal. Eating right is a system. Trying to run a 4-hour marathon is a goal. Exercising every day is a system. As Scott says: "A system is something you do on a regular basis that increases your odds of happiness in the long run. If you do something every day, it's a system. If you're waiting to achieve it someday in the future, it's a goal." Leadership guru John Maxwell has a GREAT way to describe systems as well. He says that systems are good strategies repeated. So… What are YOUR goals? And, more importantly, what are your SYSTEMS that will get you there? Here's to Optimizing your systems-driven, perpetual-small-wins-creating machine!!

Harvey Dorfman was one of the world's leading mental training experts. Major League Baseball described him as a "pioneering sports psychologist." He earned World Series rings as the mental skills coach for both the Oakland A's and Florida Marlins. In this book, he covers the A to Z of mental discipline. Big Ideas we explore include Carpe momentum (seize the task at hand!), the peak performance cycle (approach + results + response), the blind men (and their elephant), and Percussus Resurgo ("Struck down. I rise again!").

In our last +1 we talked about the magic of creating a hoped-for future vision that has super-strong "Pull Power." Today we're going to talk about Pull Power's best friend, Pulling Power. Step 1. Create a vision for your future that truly fires you up. Got it? Great. Pull Power in place. Step 2. Now, imagine that future sitting there in a bag on the ground about 25 feet in front of you. That bag weighs a lot. It's tied to a rope that's right down by your feet. Step 3. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to sit down on the ground of your current reality, dig your heels in and PULL that bag of future awesome all the way to where you are. That's Pulling Power. It's what you do with the Pull Power. Steve Chandler captures this brilliantly in Wealth Warrior where he tells us: "The only good use of any future is artistic. You paint a picture of your positive imaginary future on your whiteboard. Then you PULL THAT PICTURE—WITH EVERY OUNCE OF STRENGTH YOU HAVE—into the present moment." Today's +1. Can you see that future in front of you? Ready to pull it into your reality? Sit down. Rub your hands together. And PULL with everything you've got. +1.

Irresistible. That's the perfect word to describe the growing array of addictive technologies that are capturing so much of our attention these days. And, it's the perfect name for the book. Adam Alter is an associate professor of marketing at NYU's Stern School of Business. This is a great book on, as the sub-title suggests, "The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked." Big Ideas we explore include the fact Steve Jobs didn't let his own kids use an iPad (why?), why addiction is about more than just personality (and what matters), how to add 11 years back to your life, what happens when your brain gets pickled and the simple question you can ask to Optimize.

Get this: Scientists can bring people into a lab and have them hold a pen in their mouths in one of two different ways to elicit two very different outcomes. One group comes in and holds a pen between their lips. The other group holds the pen between their teeth. (Try it to feel the difference!) Guess what? The group that holds the pen between their teeth (which, you may notice, creates a sort of smile) are HAPPIER at the end of the experiment than people who hold the pen between their lips (which, you may notice, creates a sort-of frown). Kinda nuts. How could something THAT simple lead to a significant change in well-being? Well, as we've discussed many times, FEELINGS follow BEHAVIORS. And, even something as mundane as unknowingly moving your happiness muscles into the shape of a smile can make you feel better. Moral of the story: Work today with a pen between your teeth! Hah. Not really. But, DO remember that feelings follow behavior. The little things you do matter. Stand up tall. Act the way you'd act if you were feeling great even if you're not feeling great. And, shockingly, you'll find that your feelings follow that behavior more than you may initially believe. And… Smile more today. It's kinda weird to feel how quickly your whole mood can soften and elevate when you shift from a serious (or negative) facial expression to a simple, soft smile. (Try it right now!) +1 Smile. +1 Smile. +1 Smile. (I'm smiling as I type that.)

We're on a roll with the whole "embrace challenges on your epic quest!" theme so how about one more +1 on the subject? Malcolm Gladwell wrote a great book called David and Goliath in which he walks us through some fascinating stories that demonstrate the fact that sometimes what we perceive to be our greatest weaknesses can actually be turned into our greatest strengths. Scientists call these "desirable difficulties." Imagine that, difficulties that are desirable. Like what? Well, how about a girl's basketball team packed with kids with no experience playing basketball and, therefore, no traditional talent. Oh, and the head coach knows nothing about basketball. That's a weakness right? Sure, but what if they turned that weakness into an asset? That's what one team Gladwell features did. They decided to break all the rules and simply HUSTLE more than anyone else by running a full-court press all game. (Hah.) Which worked. It so disoriented their competitors who were used to people playing by traditional approaches that they won. A lot. Personally, I used to wish I grew up in a happy, stable, affluent, well-educated family with a silver spoon in my mouth and optimal DNA in every cell. (Laughing but I *still* wish that was the case at times! 😃) And... Now, I can see that growing up in a lower-middle class, blue collar, super-conservative Catholic family struggling to pay the bills with a father who struggled with alcohol (and whose father struggled with alcohol and killed himself) was, ultimately, a huge blessing. The resulting challenges that I experience(d) and have overcome/continue to overcome in my own journey ARE THE PRIMARY REASONS I CAN NOW DO WHAT I DO. Thanks to the wonderful cocktail of my compromised Nature AND Nurture, I was forced to develop a set of skills that I otherwise never would have been forced to create. I also have a deep sense of compassion for the inherent challenges of battling demons along with wisdom on how to overcome them that I can integrate into my work to serve even more profoundly. Like that girl's basketball team, I compensated by running full-court presses on my fundamentals (eat + move + sleep + breathe + focus!) ALL.THE.TIME. (Hah.) +1 for today: How about YOU? Can you create an even more compelling, coherent narrative about YOUR life and how your difficulties have proven to be desirable? Let's do that.

What do you think is the most important, underappreciated muscle in your body? Think about that for a moment. What's your guess? I think this is the most underappreciated muscle in my body: ___________________________. Well, get this: Breathing experts tell us that the award for the most underappreciated muscle in the human body goes to… your diaphragm—that little, SUPER (!) important muscle down there right below your lungs. Recall: You can live for weeks without food, days without water, and only minutes without oxygen—which makes breathing pretty important, eh? Yet, how often do you think about it? And, do you specifically train your breathing to make sure it's optimized? If you're like most people, the answer to the above questions is: "Never." And, "No." Today's +1: Let's hit the diaphragm gym. The simplest way to practice some "resistance" breathing? Breathe through your nose. All the time. Period. If you're a mouth breather you'll notice that breathing through your nose takes a little more work. That's a good thing. Through your nose. Deep but light. Nice and slow. Repeat. One rep after another. Let's get that diaphragm in shape!!

Teresa Amabile is the Director of Research at Harvard Business School. It's pretty much impossible to read a book on business, creativity, or happiness at work and not run into her research. She wrote this book with her husband, leading developmental psychologist Steven Kramer. In it, we learn the secret of joy, engagement and creativity at work. Hint: Small wins! On (important distinction) meaningful stuff. Big Ideas we explore include the power of our "inner work life," the 3 key influences to optimizing it (progress, catalysts, nourishers) and how to get on the progress loop and stay on it!

First: Welcome to our 100th +1. It's a special milestone. Kinda excited about it. 😃 Let's celebrate it with one of my favorite words ever: euthymia. Seneca talks about the power of euthymia in his classic essays. He tells us that euthymia is all about knowing yourself and having the courage to walk your own authentic path. The English translation of that beautiful word? Tranquility. It's the feeling we have when we truly TRUST ourselves. When we know we're headed in the right direction and we're able to quit comparing ourselves to everyone else and stop second guessing ourselves every 5 seconds. Which leads us to today's +1 reflection: How's YOUR tranquility? Here's one way to energize it. In Ego Is the Enemy, Ryan Holiday riffs on Seneca's perspective on euthymia and tells us: "So why do you do what you do? That's the question you need to answer. Stare at it until you can. Only then will you understand what matters and what doesn't. Only then can you say no, can you opt out of stupid races that don't matter, or even exist. Only then is it easy to ignore 'successful' people, because most of the time they aren't—at least relative to you, and often even to themselves. Only then can you develop that quiet confidence Seneca talked about." So… Why do YOU do what you do? That's the question. Stare at it. Answer it. Say yes to your path. And say no to all the other silly distractions. +1 all the way to energized tranquility.

Atul Gawande is a surgeon, writer, and public health researcher. He's also an extraordinary, best-selling author of a number of books. Short story: Want to get things right? Use a checklist. Sounds too silly to work but… It does. Period. Big Ideas we explore include two reasons we err (ignorance + ineptitude), what to do about it (checklists!), how to reduce your Masterpiece Day mortality rate by at least 47% (checklists!), why Van Halen doesn't like brown M&M's (checklists!), and your Big 3 Keystone Initiative (checklist!).

In our last few +1s, we've been chatting about reaching the Peak of our potential. What's the alternative? Well, did you know that the Latin root of the word mediocre LITERALLY means to get stuck in the middle of a rugged mountain? Yep. Medius = "middle." Ocris = "rugged mountain." Mediocrity. That's not where we want to get stuck. 😃 How do we make it through that mid-way point and summit the peak of our potential? Let's open up our Thesaurus for some clues. We'll start with synonyms for mediocre: "ordinary, average, middling, middle-of-the-road, uninspired, undistinguished, indifferent, unexceptional, unexciting, unremarkable, run-of-the-mill, pedestrian, prosaic, lackluster, forgettable, amateur, amateurish." Those are all great ways to get stuck. Guess what? There's one antonym for mediocre. Can you guess what it is? "Excellent." Yep. That's the ticket. EXCELLENCE. When we hit those inevitable tough spots on the rugged mountain that is our heroic quest, we need to show up with excellence. We need to do our best. You may recall the Greeks had a word for that. Areté. It's the best way to high five your inner daimon as you joyfully summit. (https://www.optimize.me/plus-one/how-to-high-five-your-inner-daimon/) Let's do that. One step at a time. Right up to the peak of that rugged mountain. +1. +1. +1.

For those of you in the States celebrating today, Happy Independence Day. For everyone else around the world, Happy 4th of July! 😃 The 4th of July. Of course, today we're celebrating Independence Day. But it's important to note that we're not celebrating the day we *won* our independence. We're celebrating the day we DECLARED our independence. Of course, there was SEVEN YEAR'S worth of blood, sweat, and tears that went into the Revolutionary War to back up that declaration (!!), but that's a pretty cool distinction when you think about it for a moment. So, Today's +1. Two parts. First, let's celebrate all the little Independence Days of our lives. Those moments when we declared our Independence from the bad habits that were tyrannizing our lives. With that in mind: What are three bad habits from which you've won your independence? 1. ___________________________ 2. ___________________________ 3. ___________________________ Fantastic. High fives. Fireworks! Now, it's time to make a new Declaration of Independence. From which keystone bad habit will you Declare your Independence from this day forward? I think the preamble to your Declaration goes something like this: "When in the Course of an individual's life it becomes necessary for that person to dissolve the bands which have connected them with bad habits and to assume among the powers of the earth, the self-mastery and virtue to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the scientific wisdom of the ages requires that they should WOOP their plans to win their Revolutionary War within themselves. As such, I [ INSERT NAME ], hereby declare my Independence from THIS bad habit: _____________________________. I hereby WOOP the successful Revolutionary War against said habit. This is my Wish: _____________________________ This is my Outcome; I shall experience these Benefits: _____________________________ These are my Obstacles: _____________________________ This is my Plan to deal with those Obstacles: _________________________." Enter: A powerful "necessity to act." Here's to winning that Revolutionary War and honoring your Declaration of Independence!

I planned to read this book since Cal Newport referenced it in Deep Work. I finally did so in preparation to teach Productivity 101. It's fantastic. If you're a business leader or entrepreneur I think you'll particularly enjoy it. Big Ideas we cover include the 4DX, the whirlwind, your Wildly Important Goals, Lag vs. Lead measures, the power of keeping score, and avoiding the blackhole of the magnificently trivial.

Imagine this: It's your first day of art class. You signed up for an intro class on pottery. (Nice! Go you!) The teacher does something a little weird. He points to one half of the class and says, "On the last day of class I'm going to bring in a bathroom scale. You guys will get an 'A' if you produce 50 pounds of pots. A 'B' for 40 pounds. 30 pounds gets you a 'C.'" Then he points to the other half of the class and says, "You guys? You'll get an 'A' for creating an amazing pot. I just need one pot from you. Make it awesome and you get the 'A.'" Fast-forward to the end of the semester and who do you think created the best-looking pots? Answer: The group that produced the 50 pounds of stuff to get an "A." Why is that? Well, as the authors of Art & Fear put it: "It seems that while the 'quantity' group was busily churning out piles of work—and learning from their mistakes—the 'quality' group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay." So, question: How do YOU approach your creativity? Are you trying to create the "perfect pot"? Or, are you willing to lean in and produce a TON of stuff—learning from your mistakes and, eventually, getting better and better? Today's +1: Go create a bunch of pots. Remember: 50 pounds and you'll get an "A." P.S. Maslow comes to mind. He tells us: "It seems that the necessary thing to do is not to fear mistakes, to plunge in, to do the best that one can, hoping to learn enough from blunders to correct them eventually."

Optimize: https://optimize.me/ (← Get Free Stuff + Free 2-Week Trial!) Optimize Coach: https://optimize.me/coach (← Join 2,000+ Optimizers from 70+ Countries!) Here are 5 of my favorite Big Ideas from "The Effective Executive" by Peter F. Drucker. Hope you enjoy! Peter Drucker is considered the father of modern management. This book was originally published in 1967. It's *remarkably* well written and lucid. And, of course, packed with Big Ideas on how to optimize our effectiveness. We cover the 5 key practices/habits of the effective executive: time (first things first; second things never!), contribution (what can you contribute?), strengths (make yours productive; make weaknesses irrelevant), concentration (the secret to effectiveness), decisions (boundary conditions help).

Brad Stulberg is a writer focused on health and the science of human performance. (Amy Cuddy calls him her favorite health and science writer.) Steve Magness is a coach to some of the top distance runners in the world. Together, they've written a super-engaging, quick-reading book on how to pursue growth in a healthy, sustainable way—aka, without burning out. Big Ideas we explore include the secret equation of sustainable awesome (Stress + Rest = Growth), just-manageable challenges, the iPhone Effect Part 3 (aka how to decrease your productivity in one step!), the optimal work/rest ratio, and the paradoxical twist of fulfillment.

Continuing our theme of making TODAY (and every day!) a Masterpiece Day, let's take a quick look at Time Blocks. Gary Keller wrote The ONE Thing. He also created the largest real estate agency in the world. In his great little book, he tells us how important it is to ruthlessly focus on what's most important—the key activities that drive the real results. He takes the 80/20 principle to the extreme and has you continue drilling down on the most important things until you get to the ONE Thing that drives the whole show. And then he has you ruthlessly focus on what you need to do TODAY to make that ONE Thing a reality—knocking over the next domino in a chain of dominoes that inevitably leads to the outcome you're looking for. Just figuring out what your ONE Thing is (over the long run and today) obviously takes a lot of Deep Work. Gary tells us we need to create "Time Blocks" during our day. He calls them the #1 "power tool" of time management. The rules? You turn off ALL distractions for a set amount of time and you focus on whatever you decided is the most important thing. Then we make a habit of doing that. Every. Single. Day. For me, my #1 creative thing is a ruthless consistency on what I call my AM1 Deep Work time block. It's the time after I get up before the family gets up that I use to do that day's most important work. In fact, I'm working on this +1 at 5:51 AM while the family sleeps. We're on a mini vacation. I can hear the ocean waves as I type away on my iPhone. I'm excited for the family to get up and have another great day—feeling complete that I've already crushed it today. (Yes, that's just another way I'm weird. I'm in good company though. In On Writing, Stephen King tells us he never misses a day of writing. Something magical about it…) I LOVE my Deep Work time blocks. You? When's your best time to go Deep? Schedule it. Shut the doors. Turn off all distractions. Make it a sacred ritual. Then aggregate and compound those tiny little gains over an extended period of time +1 style!

Optimize: https://optimize.me/ (← Get Free Stuff + Free 2-Week Trial!) Optimize Coach: https://optimize.me/coach (← Join 2,000+ Optimizers from 70+ Countries!) Here are 5 of my favorite Big Ideas from "The Art of Learning" by Josh Waitzkin. Hope you enjoy! Josh Waitzkin is an extraordinary human. Ever heard of the movie Searching for Bobby Fischer? That's the story of Josh life. Literally. After a childhood and young adulthood spent dominating chess, Josh then went on to master Tai Chi and became a World Champion. But what he REALLY became was a master of learning and peak performance. Big Ideas we explore include the two approaches to leaning, the downward spiral (what it is and how to avoid it), honoring your unique disposition, investing in loss, knowing your goal (decent, good, great, among best!), the power of stress and recovery and the ultimate secret of mastery.

In our last +1 we talked about Spinny Fingers and how to quickly regain our equanimity when life spins us around. Here's another way. Mark Divine is a former Commander in the Navy SEALs. He tells us that in the chaos of war, elite SEALs are taught to "simplify the battlefield." When the fog of battle rolls in and things are nowhere near as clear as they were a moment before, it's absolutely essential that we simplify everything. Commander Divine tells us that we need to identify THE next most important target and then put ALL of our energy into successfully executing that micro-mission as we maintain what he calls "front-sight" focus. Simplify. Identify next target. Focus. Execute that micro-mission. Repeat. That's an incredibly effective way to roll. ESPECIALLY when things are most challenging. That's today's +1. How can you simplify the battlefield of your life? What's THE most important thing right now? Give it your front-sight focus. Hooyah! P.S. The last four digits of my phone number are 5320. Mark tells me that "5320" just so happens to be the call signal for a junior SEAL. It's become a fun game to sign off my text messages to the Commander with -5320. 😃

You know those times when you need to initiate a tough conversation and you're kinda sorta dreading it and avoiding it? One of my old mentors once told me that you just need to move through what he called "sweaty five-minute conversations" to get to the other side of clarity and resolution. Most of us avoid the challenging conversations because we aren't willing to endure those few minutes of discomfort. I definitely used to avoid them. Now, I remember that Speed Is a Force then I WOOP it, chant "Bring it on!" + "I'm excited!" and jump in. It's become a really powerful practice for me as I've mastered it over the years. But here's the funny thing. Once upon a time, I needed to have one of those "sweaty conversations" with that mentor of mine. Guess how it turned out? It was, by far, LITERALLY, the worst conversation I've ever had in my life. HAH. Seriously. I kid you not. As Campbell said, when you dare to go after bliss, there's always the chance for a fiasco. :) Here's how Campbell puts it: "The hero journey is one of the universal patterns through which that radiance shows brightly. What I think is that a good life is one hero journey after another. Over and over again, you are called to the realm of adventure, you are called to new horizons. Each time, there is the same problem: do I dare? And then if you do dare, the dangers are there, and the help also, and the fulfillment or the fiasco. There's always the possibility of a fiasco. But there's also the possibility of bliss." So, today's mission, should you choose to accept it: The next time you find yourself avoiding a challenging conversation, see if you can recognize the fear and then get to work on it with one (or more) of our growing array of tools. Perhaps you can remember that your infinite potential exists on the other side of that fear and chant "Bring it on!!" to yourself. Maybe you can practice Active Love on the person who's currently stressing you out. I'd definitely recommend you WOOP it! Wave the wand. Create your Wish. See it going perfectly. Experience the benefits. Then anticipate the obstacles and make your plan to deal with them. Then, if you feel that now's the time, jump in and move through those few seconds/minutes of sweaty palms and make it happen. You'll win or you'll learn. :) P.S. I know for a fact that if I had that challenging conversation of a decade ago today it would have ended so much better. But I never would have gotten to where I am without the pain of that fiasco. And so it is. 😃

George St-Pierre is one of the greatest mixed martial artists in the world. Ever. Of course, he wasn't always one of the greatest. At one point, he was just a young guy working as a garbage man who DECIDED he was going to be the best in the world. People around him thought he was crazy. (Of course they did. Who says stuff like that? Hint: People who have a shot at making it happen.) So, when GSP decided (!) he would be the best in the world at what he wanted to do, he also decided what he WASN'T going to do. "Train instead of party. Work instead of play. Perfect practice instead of casual repetition." ALL of his energy went into achieving his goal and making his dream a reality. (You should see the consistency in his schedule. Astonishing.) In his great book The Way of the Fight, GSP makes the important distinction that all those things he was no longer going to do weren't sacrifices. They were decisions. Sacrifices vs. Decisions. There's a huge difference between the two. One comes with a little whiney voice. The other comes with the calm confidence and grounded, authentic power of a committed person. Today's +1 practical application: Who have you DECIDED to be? What decisions do you need to make to focus your energy? P.S. Remember: The Latin root of the word decide literally means "to cut off." When we make a true decision, we CUT OFF all other options and go ALL IN. Let's do that.

I'm a HUGE fan of Phil and Barry's first book, The Tools. Coming Alive is kinda like The Tools Part 2. In this book, we get four new tools to go along with the original five tools. Big Ideas we explore include how to connect to our Life Force, defeat Part X (their name for that part of each of us that gets in the way), build our confidence and learn to see problems as gifts as we live a GREAT life.

Have you ever made a mistake? (Hah.) Right. (I've made a mistake or 3 million as well.) Here's the deal: When we approach it with the right mindset (that would be a growth, experimental mindset), we come to realize that those mistakes are P R E C I O U S. The data we get on what DOESN'T WORK is priceless. Therefore, never (!) beat yourself up about a mis-take. Simply remind yourself that we either win or we learn and that no movie was ever shot from start to finish without a ton of re-takes. Then say to yourself "Needs work!" as you rewind your game film, see yourself executing the oopsed scene perfectly and then get back at it. Repeat. Forever. So… Practical Reflection Time: What was your last mistake? What did you learn? Run it through our little Mis-take process above and +1 it.

In our last +1, we talked about the fact that Speed Is a Force. Jim Rohn said the same thing a little differently. He told us about the "Law of Diminishing Intent." The basic idea: The likelihood of doing something diminishes the further away you get from the initial moment of inspiration. So true. And your confidence erodes as well. Not a winning combination. Jim Rohn's protégé, Tony Robbins, echoes this wisdom as well. He tells us that we must never leave the moment of inspiration without taking action. Then we need to follow that up with sustained, MASSIVE action. That's powerful. Remember: Don't let your intention to do something great diminish. Seize the opportunity. Take massive, sustained action. Speed is a Force. Stay grounded. And use it wisely. (Got anything in your life that could use some energy?)

Speaking of perfectionism, let's look at the essence of Tal Ben-Shahar's great book The Pursuit of Perfect. Tal is one of the world's leading positive psychologists. He taught the largest class in Harvard's history: Positive Psychology 101. He tells us that there are two distinct forms of perfectionism—one of them is actually adaptive and the other is not. He tells us they are so different that they need different names. There's the unhealthy perfectionist who suffers from all the things you'd expect from perfectionism: anxiety, depression, etc. He calls them a "Perfectionist." Then, there's the healthy, high-functioning perfectionist who uses those high standards to fuel their growth. He calls them an "Optimalist." Perfectionist vs. Optimalist. Here's the primary difference between the two: The (unhealthy) Perfectionist fails to embrace reality. They actually think they can work for 16 hours a day in pursuit of their great work while staying super healthy and being a great spouse and parent and being super active in the community and a great friend to dozens and... (I get stressed just typing that.) The source of their misery is the fact that they fail to embrace the constraints of reality. They simply CAN'T do all of those things. So, when they inevitably fall short of their expectations, they beat themselves up mercilessly and experience all the negative effects of unhealthy perfectionism. The (healthy) Optimalist? They have really high standards and want to be a great creator, spouse, parent, friend and vital human but they rub their vision up against reality. They see only so many hours in a day and construct their optimal life within the boundaries of those healthy constraints. Note: The word "optimal" is derived from the Latin optimus which means the "best"--not the "perfect." The best. The best within the constraints of our individual realities. Do you tend to be a Perfectionist or an Optimalist? How can you hold your high standards AND embrace the constraints of reality just a little more today? +1.