17 Dec 2025 · 3 min
Brian Johnson introduces a decision framework: at each moment, choose plus one (toward growth) or minus one (toward safety). These tiny choices compound into your destiny. Self-actualization means what you can be, you must be.
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Hi, this is Brian. Welcome to the very first Optimize plus one. Abraham Maslow studied the greatest people of his generation, people like Eleanor Roosevelt and Albert Einstein. He told us about the importance of actualizing our potential. In fact, he said what one can be, one must be. This need to self actualize is at a certain stage of development as important as our need to breathe. It's kind of like Soul Oxygen. So part one of this plus one is a question for you. What must you be? Think about that for a moment. What must you be? Part two. Maslow also told us that in any given moment, we have a choice. We can step forward into growth or we can step back into safety. Forward into growth, back into safety. Forward into growth or back into safety. I like to think of this as plus 1 or minus 1. Moment to moment to moment, we have a choice. Plus 1 or minus 1. Plus 1 or minus 1.plus 1 or minus 1. Step forward step or go backward. Step forward or go backward. How we feel at the end of the day is largely determined by those micro moments of decision. You let enough of those minus one moments trickle into your life and you're going to want to crack open a bottle of something or do whatever you do when you're off. Alternatively, sprinkle a ton of plus ones into your day and you're feeling radiantly alive and in love with life. Oh, and aggregate and compound those micro moments into days and weeks and months and years. That's your destiny. So let's choose wisely. Plus one. Plus one. Plus one little. P.S.
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Maslow also said that if you deliberately plan on being less than you are capable of being, then I warn you that you'll be unhappy for the rest of your life.
Yikes.
Remember, one, one, one.
Hey, this is Brian with a quick question for you. Do you know what the word optimize literally means? It's from the Latin optimus, which means the best. In our case, we're talking about helping you create the best version of of you. So another quick question. What's the best version of you look like? How does that version of you show up in the world helping you be that version of yourself all day, every day is what our Optimized membership program is all about. Now, we obviously give away a ton of content for free, and we give our 10,000 plus premium members a ton more. Members get hundreds of Philosopher's Notes, which are 20 minute book summaries that help you apply the best big ideas from the best optimal living books to your life today. Plus members get dozens of hour long optimal living 101 masterclasses, more wisdom in less time for your busy life on everything from the science of setting and achieving goals, how to optimize your energy via the fundamentals of nutrition, movement, sleep and meditation, and how to be super productive day in and day out, while of course enjoying the whole process. Every facet of your life Optimized equals you at your absolute best.
