A short YouTube 'Optimize Plus One' by Brian Johnson discussing the three life quests—universal, unique, and ultimate—framing them around the letter 'U' and treating heroism as an ongoing practice. Johnson recounts a metaphorical canyon journey to illustrate the 'trough of the you' (a moment of doubt) and advises using challenges as opportunities to practice one’s philosophy and turn setbacks into progress.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one. In our last plus one, we chatted about the three quests. Universal plus unique plus ultimate. I propose that we all have the same universal quest to become the best version of ourselves in service to our families, communities and world. What one can be, one must be. And we each have our own unique expression of that universal quest. What must you be? And ultimately, it's all about expressing that best version of ourselves right now. Optimus. Now what needs to be done? Now? When I was creating this part of our mastery series session on Hero ology, I didn't intend to make all three quests start with the letter U. But when I noticed that they all started with a U, I smiled. I mean, if heroes had a patron letter, it would definitely be a you. We talked about this basic idea years ago in our plus one called the dreaded you on your heroic quest and how to conquer it. Check it out. As we said in that plus one, imagine yourself at the start of an epic journey. You're looking out across a canyon and you can see a shimmering oasis on the other side of the canyon. It's epic. Super bright, shiny and awesome. And it's yours. You know it. You can feel it. Then you get to work and you descend into the depths of the canyon to get to the other side. It's dark in here. The trees are thick. So thick that you've got to cut your way through them. You look up and you can't quite see that epic version anymore, that epic vision anymore. Eek. Enter that whiny little voice in your head that wonders what the heck you're doing and questions why you're down here in the mosquito infested forest in the first place. That's the trough of the yew. Keep on going. Remember that all great heroic quests must include times of challenge. I mean, you'd walk out of a movie in which the hero never faced a challenge. Right now, the best way to get to the other side of the U, collect turnarounds, the inevitable glitches, turn them around and use those challenges to practice your philosophy today. High fives from me and the letter U plus U plus U plus Uh.
