On the side of a bus is a big advertisement emblazoned with the word “Freedom!”

It’s an ad for a local casino.

Society is selling us the wrong form of happiness, Brian Johnson remarks in his year-long Optimize Mastery course.  

Brian quotes the philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti: “It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” 

The science shows us too many of these quick pleasures … continue reading

Yesterday, we explored the idea of human flourishing by living with virtue.  Today we are going to take a deeper look into the concept of virtues.

In Brian Johnson’s year-long course Optimize Mastery course, he challenges us to consider universal virtues and to discover our unique virtues.      

One tool to help us discover our unique virtues or character strengths is to take a short survey on the viacharacter.org website.  

Brian … continue reading

So far this week we’ve covered getting up an hour earlier to experience a “Miracle Morning.”    

Terrific.  That’s step #1.

But – will we be energized and ready to go?  

Today started lasted night, says Brian Johnson, creator of the Optimize Mastery program, year-long learning program I’m currently participating in (and loving!).  

In other words, the choices we make tonight will determine our level of energy and … continue reading

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 … continue reading

Aristotle tells us that to flourish as human beings we need targets.  We need goals.

This week we’re reviewing some of the key lessons from Brian Johnson’s Optimize Mastery course. Today’s lesson is: Happy people have projects.  That’s step one.  

In choosing goals we want to aim for something just beyond our comfort zone.  If it’s too easy, that’s boring.  If it’s way too challenging, we lose interest. Essentially, we’re … continue reading

Are we approaching life with zest or avoiding it? Is our real goal hoping to avoid challenge and failure? Put another way: do we see obstacles as threats or as challenges to get better?

This week we’re looking at some of the lessons from Brian Johnson’s Optimize course. The big idea for today is: happy people are open to life’s experiences. Brian encourages us to adopt a playful attitude towards … continue reading

Yesterday, we talked about Rule #1 from Brian Johnson’s Optimize Program: Expect challenges. Brian tells us that when life knocks us down, our goal should be to challenge ourselves to bounce back. Quickly. Turns out this skill is something we can practice, something we can get better at. The most successful people are not those who never fail, but rather those who learn to recover fast.

In her book Grit… continue reading