1: There is a big difference between perfectionism and optimization.

Perfection is the distant star we can never reach.

Philosopher Brian Johnson has a year-long Heroic Coach program that focuses on Optimizing.

The person who is mistake-free is sitting around doing nothing, Brian tells us.

As professional optimizers, we accept our imperfections. We have high standards. But we accept ourselves, and we accept reality.

Our commitment? To do our absolute … continue reading

Brian Johnson has read and distilled the key learnings from over 500 books as part of his Philosopher’s Notes.

His rule #1?

Expect obstacles and challenges.

It’s a new year. One thing we know for sure? There will be challenges.

Rather than be surprised when obstacles present themselves (and they always do!), Brian encourages us to embrace the challenges we face as opportunities to hone our skills.

Because dealing … 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

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