A short Optimize +1 podcast by Brian Johnson in which he describes his morning journaling routine, sketches the "cardinal virtues" (wisdom, self-mastery, courage, love), and recounts seeing a red cardinal shortly after writing them. He connects the bird to the word "cardinal" (church dignitaries and Latin 'cardo' meaning hinge) and frames the virtues as hinges for personal optimization. The episode closes with a P.S. promoting an event called Optimize 2020 (online/offline).
Questions this episode answers
Wisdom; self-mastery; courage; love.
Optimize 2020 — described as five days, 101 world-class luminaries, one million people (online and offline tickets).
Chapters
You're listening to Optimize with Bryan Johnson. More wisdom in less time. Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one. As we've discussed countless times, I start my days with at least a minute or three of journaling. These days, it's a super quick sketch of our optimized virtue compass, then a quick trip through the big three times two plus one. So the other day I sat down to begin my deep work session with the quick sketch of our compass. And you know what I saw? Right after I wrote down the four cardinal virtues of wisdom plus self mastery plus courage plus love. I saw a cardinal. I kid you not, this beautiful red little bird decided to cruise by. I'm sitting there at my desk in my new outdoor office, and I glance up from my journaling right after writing those cardinal virtues down to see a beautiful red cardinal perch itself on the limb of a tree a couple dozen feet away. And I thought to myself, thank you, optimizing gods. And I thought to myself, it's official. I now have a new favorite bird, the cardinal. Which of course led me to Google. Google why are cardinals the bird called cardinals? Slightly awkward phrasing, but it got the job done. Thank you, Google. Enter our first result. I quote, northern cardinals are named for the male's brilliant red plumage, which reminded European settlers of the rich red vestments of Catholic cardinals in the church hierarchy. The bird's crest is also reminiscent of the headgear of some higher religious officials. End quote. Fascinating. Then it was time for a trip to our friendly dictionary for today's etymological lesson. The dictionary tells us that the noun form of cardinal can refer to either our friendly bird or Catholic dignitaries. The adjective form means of the greatest importance. Fundamental, as in the four cardinal virtues are worth journaling every morning to remind ourselves of the game we're playing and how to play it. Well, now for the ancient origins of the word. Let's see, here it is. Back in the day when Latin was all the rage, the word cardo, from which we get cardinal, meant hinge, as in the hinge of a door. Makes sense. Those cardinal virtues, they're the hinges on which the door to our optimist best self opens. Let's push that door open today. 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 Me2020. Hope to see you there.
