You Are Heroic with Brian Johnson

McRaven's Ten Core Virtues   Admiral William H. McRaven is one of my very few living American heroes.   We've created Notes on three of his great books.    We started with Make Your Bed —a short, brilliant, inspiring manual all about "Little Things That Can Change Your Life... And Maybe the World" that was inspired by the commencement address he gave at the University of Texas at Austin that went...

Red Lights? GREEN LIGHTS!    We've been having some fun exploring Brian Cain's wisdom on mental performance mastery.   As you know if you've been following along, we started by checking in to see if you've been punched in the face lately ( ), then we broke some arrows with our neck to dominate the Ability + Strategy + GOYA = Results equation , then we did some 1% math (remember: 1% is 14 minutes a...

And Heroic Apps to Dominate the Day and Decade   Not too long ago, we spent some time with Brian Cain and some of his wisdom from a couple of his little fables: One Percent Better and The 10 Pillars of Mental Performance Mastery .   I want to revisit some of his wisdom.   Let's talk about your goals.   We'll invite Cainer back to the party to help us check them out from a couple different perspect...

"True Surrender" = "The Art of Acquiescence"    In our last couple +1s, we talked about Michael Singer and his practical wisdom.   As we discussed, he has quickly become one of my favorite new teachers. He clearly practices his philosophy and his philosophy is a good one.   As I was reading his latest book, I was struck by the parallels of his wisdom and Stoicism.    Although they take different a...

Opportunities to Practice   In our last +1 , we talked about using the WEATHER as a prompt to practice our philosophy.   I shared my new favorite temperature which, as you may recall, is WHATEVER THE TEMPERATURE IS RIGHT NOW! (Hah.) (Seriously though! )   I promised we'd chat more about Michael Singer and his idea of practicing "surrendering" to reality by picking some low-hanging fruit.   Here's...

What's Yours? Emerson just walked into my office zipping up his camo winter jacket to go with his camo pants.   He told me: "It's COLD! It's 52 degrees out this morning!"   Fall arrived in a hurry out here in Austin and we went from the 100's to the 90's to, for former Californians, chilly quickly!   Now…   Emerson and I have a new joke—which is why I replied by saying, "Oh!! 52 degrees—that's my...

Stoic Negative Visualization Part Deux Not too long ago, w e talked about Happy our Rooster . He wasn't doing so well then and, I'm sorry to say, he didn't make it.     We talked about Happy and his crowing in the context of remembering to practice alchemizing things that might (at least on occasion!) annoy us into reminders of just how precious the little things in life are.    As you may recall,...

And Notice When You're Not This morning I was on the trail, listening to my 33-minute playlist of 11 of my favorite songs by my favorite band The Score while getting in my 30 minutes of movement and 15 minutes of MAF work .   I had just hammered out 10 pull-ups and 100 burpees and 1,000 meters of rowing. I pulled out my bat phone, which I use to hit Heroic targets when I'm training and in Deep Wor...

You Don't Rise to the Occasion, You Sink to…  Continuing our tour through Brian Cain 's mental toughness fables, let's talk about another Big Idea from The 10 Pillars of Mental Performance Mastery .   Remember: Brian has coached an INCREDIBLE number of SUPER-ELITE athletes and coaches. Eight UFC Champions. Four Cy Young Winners. MVPs. Olympians, etc, etc., etc.   One of the things he teaches them?...

The Best of the Worst and Worst of the Best In our last several +1s, we've been having fun hanging out with world-class mental toughness and peak performance coach, Brian Cain .   And, trust me.   Any time spent with Cainer is going to be fun.   He is EASILY one of the most inspiring human beings on the planet. You can't help but feel energized just being in his presence.   So…   Today we're going...

Want to Get 998,822,690,009,590 Times Better?   In our last +1 , we talked about Brian Cain's wisdom on The 1% Intention.   Let's review the math.    There are 24 hours in a day. 60 minutes per hour. That's 1,440 minutes per day.   1% of that?   14 minutes and 24 seconds.   1% of your day.   Here's the question: What's the #1 thing you KNOW you could be doing that, if you spent just 1% of your day...

Close the Gap TODAY In our last couple +1s , we spent some time hanging out with world-class mental toughness coach Brian Cain .    We broke some arrows, ate some fire and got an invitation to a big UFC event where one of his fighters made Epictetus proud by smiling as he got punched in the face.     Today we're going to spend some more time with Cainer.    We're going to talk about getting 1% bet...

Break Arrows with Your Neck Lately?   In our last +1 , we talked about the fact that Brian Cain recently visited me and the Johnson fam out here in the country outside of Austin.    I casually mentioned that the kids and wifey and I had fun learning how to eat fire and break an arrow with our necks and do other fun things we didn't think we could do.    Today I'd like to talk more about those brok...

What to Do the Next Time That Happens   Brian Cain is one of the world's greatest mental toughness coaches.    His client list includes four Major League Baseball Cy-Young Award winners, eight UFC world champion mixed martial artists, World Series and Super Bowl Champions and MVPs, Olympic medalists, and countless other elite athletes and coaches.    He's also a friend and longtime student of mine...

Stay in the Ring and Let's Go!   In our last +1 , we spent some time riding appropriately big waves and reminded ourselves that, when we're wisely surfing the beautiful oceans of life, we remember to ENJOY the waves.    Today we're going to bring my all-time favorite teacher (Epictetus!) back to the party to hear his take on the subject.    But…    Before we go there…   Let's pause for a moment an...

With Yoda and Laird   In our last +1 , we revisited our thinking on our Targeted Thinking practice.    As you may recall, we added a Step 0 to the protocol that involved accepting our reality COMPLETELY before we shift to figuring out how we'd like to create a better reality and what, specifically, we will do RIGHT NOW to create it.    Today I want to chat more about acceptance.    We'll bring my...

An Update on Our Targeted Thinking Protocol   In our last +1 , we continued our discussion about what to do when you're going 0 for 12 in life and discussed the importance of doing that ONE thing that is most important RIGHT NOW.   Then, because I can't go longer than a few +1s without referencing my tattoo that serves as the one-word summation of my entire philosophy, we brought my right forearm...

To Get What You REALLY Want   Not too long ago , we chatted about MLB All - Star Sean Casey (The Mayor!) going 0 for 12 one season when he was batting nearly .400.    As you may recall, his coach told him that he didn't care about those numbers. What his coach cared about was whether or not he was dominating his protocol.   In that context, I asked you if YOU were going through a rough patch—perha...

"Why Is It on the Ground Again?!"   In our last +1 , we talked about our rooster, Happy . He's still hanging in there.     Today I want to continue the theme we explored in that +1 and see if we can get better at using the things that currently trigger us to feel annoyed , to instead, trigger us to feel grateful.   Here's an example from the Johnson house to help you think of things YOU might want...

Alchemizing Bread Crumbs, Dishes and Legos   Alexandra just walked into my office to tell me that she thinks our rooster, Happy, is dying.    Before we talk more about that…   Yes, our rooster's name is Happy .    Emerson and Eleanor are phenomenal pet namers. We have Happy the Rooster, Lovey and Floppy and Spikey and Longbeak and Goldie the chickens .    Then there's Zap —the dog that showed up o...

And… How to Make Yours Heroic    In the last few +1s, we spent some time talking about how to win the game of life by focusing on WHAT'S IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW.    I'd like to continue that discussion. And, this time, I'd like to invite my friend Sean Casey back to the party so he can share HIS insanely (!) inspiring take on the subject.    Quick context.    As we've discussed, Sean was voted the fri...

Gandhi, the Gita, Bagger Vance, and YOU   In our last couple +1s, we've had fun hanging out with some world-class peak performance coaches: Harvey Dorfman and Phil Stutz.    What did they teach us?   They tell us that it's ALL ABOUT focusing on the PROCESS of TAKING ACTION rather than the unhealthy obsession on the OUTCOMES.     They, of course, are not alone in this perspective.    We talk about...

On Action, Action, and More Action   In our last +1 , we hung out with one of the friendliest guys in baseball (The Mayor Sean Casey!) and his legendary coach Harvey Dorfman.    I want to spend a little more time with Sean and bring another legendary coach to the party— MY coach, Phil Stutz .    It's funny because when Sean told me the story shout how Harvey RUTHLESSLY focused on the process goals...

Who Cares? Work Your Protocol, Hero!   One of my new dear friends is a guy named Sean Casey.    Sean is a former Major League Baseball player. He was an All - Star who played first base. They called him "The Mayor" because he chatted up EVERYONE who made it to first base.     He was SUCH a nice guy that Sports Illustrated declared him the friendliest guy in baseball.    I met Sean through a mutual...

Breath + Heroes + Virtues + Stillness + Quest   I n our last +1, we talked about my new Heroic Mantra Meditation practice.    Our one-word mantra?   Areté.    On the inhale…   Areté. Areté. Areté.    On the exhale.    Areté. Areté. Areté.   Repeat.    I actually came up with that idea while rowing. I paused the workout on my ol' Suunto watch, went into the house, grabbed my batphone (that I use fo...