+1: #1050 Galileo on Optimizing

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Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one. In our last couple ones, we've been hanging out with Emerson, playing the I love you game and taking a quick look at the story of our world. Today we're going to spend a little more time with Emerson virtually. Hey, buddy. And history first. Quick aside. At the optimized coach graduation weekend, it was amazing how many of our coaches came up to Alexandra and me and told us how much their kids loved seeing Emerson in the plus ones. I actually got misty typing about that and thinking about it. Thank you to all the parents who brought that up and celebrated Emerson. They told us that the plus ones with him were a great way to share the wisdom with their kids and that their kids looked forward to more plus ones with the little philosopher. So here we are with those plus ones. Now back to the story of the World, Volume 2. From the Fall of Rome to the rise of the Renaissance. After the fall of Rome, Western Europe entered what is known as the Middle Ages or the Dark Ages. Then there was a rebirth or renewed interest in ancient ideals that fueled the Renaissance. Renaissance literally means rebirth. As you know, a key player in the Renaissance was a guy named Galileo. In addition to his creation of a super powerful telescope that let him view the moons of Jupiter, that strengthened his belief in Copernicus theory that Earth revolved around the sun, not the other way around. Did you know that Galileo also invented the thermometer? Might want to give old G a virtual fist bump of gratitude every time you check the temperature today. Which leads us to page 339 of the Story of the World, Volume 2. And to the point of today's one, here's the passage I quote. Galileo was one of the first modern scientists because he used the experimental method to find out how the world worked. Rather than trying to decide whether or not his ideas lined up with philosophy, Galileo made theories about the world and then tested them through doing experiments. Measure what is measurable, he once said, and if something cannot be measured, figure out what how it can be. Now, I love the idea of running optimizing experiments, but only all day, every day. N equals one style. But it's that last part that got me to fold the page over. Measure what is measurable. And if something cannot be measured, figure out how it can be. When I read that, I immediately thought of virtue. If we believe all the ancient wisdom traditions and modern science, virtue is the number one thing that's driving our sense of flourishing and well being. But are we measuring it and how do we measure it? Of course, there are an infinite number of ways to attempt to measure virtue, but I think the most important thing to do is to simply step back long enough from the hustle and bustle of daily living and all the time management we do and think about virtue management long enough to appreciate just how important it is. Which is why we encourage you and require our coaches to reflect on your virtues every single morning. Identifying who you are at your best, articulating the virtues that version of you embodies, and then committing to being that optimus vest version of yourself today. Then for the super serious optimizing scientists among us, we check in at the end of the day, channeling our inner Pythagoras, see that plus one to see how we did so we can get a little better tomorrow. And that's today's plus one virtue. Let's measure it today.

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