Brian Johnson’s short +1 podcast episode centers on three core virtues—zest, gratitude, and hope—and presents a simple, evidence-based gratitude practice to improve well‑being. Johnson reorders the "big three" as Zest → Gratitude → Hope (and adds love and curiosity to the top five), cites Robert Emmons and Martin Seligman, and walks listeners through Seligman’s recommended nightly exercise: for one week, spend 10 minutes before bed writing three things that went well and why they happened. The episode closes with a PS promoting an upcoming event called "Optimize 2020" (five days, 101 luminaries, one million people).
Questions this episode answers
March 15, 2020.
For the next week, set aside 10 minutes before sleep and write down three things that went well today and why they happened.
Five days; 101 world-class luminaries; one million people (online and offline tickets at Optimize Me 2020).
You're listening to optimize with brian johnson. More wisdom in less time.
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one Gratitude. Yes, we've been chatting about it quite a bit recently. That's deliberate. You know how we recently established the scientifically validated top two virtues as zest and hope. Well, positive psychologists arm wrestle a bit about those top two virtues, while Ryan Niemick via the Power of Character Strengths tells us that zest plus Hope are our top two. Robert Emmons tells us that gratitude is even more predictive of well being than hope. Now we'll leave the arm wrestling debate on the precise order of those top two to our academic friends, but let's shine a bright light on the big three, Zest plus Hope plus Gratitude. And as I've been thinking about it, I actually like the order Zest plus Gratitude plus Hope. We're optimizing our energy zest so we can give our best to our work and love. And zest is still the undisputed number one virtue, although I'd say it's technically achieved and as a byproduct of wisdom plus self mastery or discipline on the fundamentals. Then we practice gratitude for the fact that we're alive and for everything in our lives, including all the challenges of course. Then we practice hope as we see a better future via a specific goal that inspires us. We know we can make it happen and make a plan to make it. So. Zest plus Gratitude plus Hope Little note here. Throw in love plus Curiosity for the top five virtues.
Now I love coming back to that.
And I'm constantly spinning those virtues around in my mind, trying to think about how to help us operationalize them more consistently in our lives. But that's not quite what I want to talk about today. Today I I want to talk about the what went well and why Gratitude exercise I referenced not too long ago. It's one of Robert Emmons top recommended practices. Here's how Martin Seligman puts it in his great book Flourish. I quote every night for the next week. Set aside 10 minutes before you go to sleep. Write down three things that went well today and why they went well. He says. You may use a journal or your computer to write about these events, but it is important that you have a physical record of what you wrote. The three things need not be earth shaking in importance. My husband picked up my favorite ice cream for dessert on the way home from work today, but they can be important. My sister just gave birth to a healthy baby boy next to each positive event answer the question what why did this happen? For example, if you wrote that your husband picked up ice cream, write because my husband is really thoughtful sometimes, or because I remembered to call him from work and remind him to stop by the grocery store. Or if you write my sister gave birth to a healthy baby boy, you might pick as the cause God was looking out for her, or she did everything right during her pregnancy. Writing about why the positive events in your life happened may seem awkward at first, but please stick with it for one week. It will get easier. The odds are that you will be less depressed, happier and addicted to this exercise six months from now. Today's plus one let's get to work and move from theory to practice. What went well so far today and why? Number one, this went well and this is why. Number two this has gone well and this is why. And number three this went well and this is why. Well done, high fives, etc. Here's to celebrating many more awesome moments and clarity on how they came about between here and our next one. Plus one plus one plus one.
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Optymyze with Brian Johnson. To find out more go to Optimize Me.
Hey guys, this is Brian with a quick little P.S. i'm really excited to let you know about an event we're working on. Plan is to make it the premier self optimizing event of 2020. We're calling it Optimize 2020. You the modern hero. Basic idea. Five days, 101 world class luminaries. One million people. You can learn more and get your tickets to the online and offline event at Optimize Me 2020. Again, that's Optimize Me 2020.
