It’s the end of week one of #LeadWithDrew. Each week my plan is to do a deep dive into a different topic and this week we’ve been looking at some of the key take-aways from Brian Johnson’s Optimize Mastery series. Brian aims to take the very best of ancient wisdom and practical science to teach us how to flourish, to live life according to our virtues.
Brian tells us step one is knowing the game we are playing. As “heroes” we are constantly striving to close the gap between the best version of ourselves and how we are showing up in the present moment. Brian calls this “flipping the switch” and doing so leads to a sense of deep joy. Brian contrasts this approach with a life of addiction to quick pleasures which often lead to sadness, depression and profound sickness.
The big lesson for today comes from Victor Frankl who tells us that we can find freedom in that gap between stimulus and response. When something happens (stimulus), instead of reacting, we can learn to choose how we respond. First, we must be aware of the gap. Next, we can choose our response. We call this “response-ability” – the ability to choose our response. This is how we “flip the switch” and express the best version of ourselves.
So to wrap up week one, we’ve learned that Rule #1 is to expect challenges. Our goal is not to be fragile, but resilient, or even better: anti-fragile which means when life kicks us around, we get stronger. Remember OMMS: Obstacles Make Me Stronger. Also, happy people have projects: we all need clear goals. We want to adopt a playful attitude toward life, to treat our mistakes as experiments, opportunities to learn and get better. When we are making our plans, don’t forget the second “O” in WOOP. We start with a “Wish” and a clear “Outcome.” But the real key is the second “O” – anticipating “Obstacles” and then putting together a “Plan” to overcome them. Finally – Response-ability means we have the ability to choose our response.
That’s it! See you next week.
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