Short Optimize +1 podcast (episode #1105) by Brian Johnson contrasting learned helplessness and learned optimism, referencing Martin Seligman's research and using Mark Divine's "courage wolf" vs "fear wolf" metaphor to illustrate how feeding fear strengthens helplessness. The episode encourages listeners to "feed the daimon Courage wolf" and ends with a PS promoting an event called Optimize 2020.
Questions this episode answers
April 14, 2020.
Optimize 2020.
Five days; 101 world-class luminaries; 1 million people.
You're listening to Optimize with Bryan Johnson. More wisdom in less time.
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one. In our last couple ones, we've been having fun spending some time with former Navy SEAL commander and perennial wolf tamer Mark Divine. Most recently, we named our courage wolf daimon and our fear wolf demon. As Dan Siegel and other mindfulness neuroscientists would say, it's always wise to name it to tame it. I mentioned the fact that I made a note on a piece of paper to make sure I included this idea in our Mastery Series session on how to create antifragile confidence, heroic courage, and responsibility. I had a bunch of other ideas already on that sheet of paper. And you know what I had written right above the the two wolves. Name them Learned helplessness versus learned optimism. The story I'll tell for that wisdom is basically all about Martin Seligman's research that we discuss in our notes on learned optimism and in this plus one on how to learn optimism. The weird part? Well, recall Mark's description of what happens when we constantly feed the fear wolf. He says if you constantly feed fear by thinking about the could haves, the should haves, the would haves, and the can'ts in life, if you allow negative beliefs, attitudes and conditioned behavior from whatever drama you experienced or stories you adopted, then the fear wolf gets stronger. Eventually, he gets so strong that the courage wolf is left cowering, unable to fight back. And that's almost a precise description of the learned helplessness state Seligman induces in his experiments. The very good news, we can learn optimism.
How?
Well, that's pretty much what we're doing every day with these plus ones and why we show up every day. One more time, let's feed the daimon Courage wolf today.
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Optimize 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, 1 million people. You can learn more and get your tickets to the online and offline event at Optimize Me 2020. Again, that's Optimize Me2020. Hope to see you there.
