+1 #160: Presence

You're listening to the Optymyze with Brian Johnson podcast. Unlock the full Optymyze experience and join over 10,000 premium members at Optimize Me.

Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one. In our last plus one, we talked about the fact that the word courage comes from the Latin word for heart. Just as our heart pumps blood to the rest of our body, our courage pumps energy to our other virtues. And here's one of the simplest, easiest, and most powerful ways to build your courage in any given moment. Strike a pose. A courageous power pose. As we've discussed so many times, the relationship between our feelings and and our behaviors is what researchers describe as bidirectional. It goes both ways. Science says that feelings follow behavior at least as much as the other way around. In other words, by simply taking certain actions, we can influence how we feel. Amy Cuddy has demonstrated this in her lab at Harvard. In her great book Presence, she tells us that we all expand when we feel most powerful. And get this, even blind athletes who have never seen anyone else do it will strike that victorious V pose with arms triumphantly up in the air when they win a race. So she started her research with this question. She said, since we naturally expand our bodies when we feel powerful, do we also naturally feel powerful when we expand our bodies? Little spoiler alert. Yes. In one study, individuals were split into two groups. One group assumed low power poses in which they essentially took up less space, sitting while slouching with their hands close to their bodies and standing with their legs close together and their arms close to their bodies and their heads down. The other group assumed high power poses in which they expanded and took up more space, sitting in a relaxed, confident manner with legs out and hands behind their head, standing like Wonder Woman or Superman, with hands on hips, chin up and feet wide apart. After only two minutes of posing, here's what happened. Amy tells us the high power posers showed a 19% increase in testosterone and a 25% decrease in cortisol. Low power posers showed the opposite pattern, a 10% decrease in testosterone and a 17% increase in cortisol. The exact pattern we predicted, she says. Now that pattern is known as the dual hormone hypothesis. High testosterone, low cortisol equals high power. Low testosterone, high cortisol equals low power. Think about that. Two minutes of posing produce those dramatic shifts in biology. Simply moving our bodies in a more expansive way significantly boosts our confidence and power. That's today's +1. Feel the difference between going through life in A low power shrunken state versus expanding into your most powerful self. You want to feel more confidence and power today? Smile, strike a power pose and go rocket.

Isn't it a bit odd that we went from math to science to history, but somehow missed the class on how to live? For some wacky reason, optimal living 101 never made the schedule. Of course, it's too late to go back and change that and you're too busy to read full time to catch up. But. But if you're like us, you're all about optimizing your life and actualizing your potential. So imagine this. Imagine having someone read the best books on how to optimize your life and pull out the big ideas that can really change your life. You know those sections you underline and asterisks and mark all up? Then imagine that guy me connecting those awesome ideas to other great books and helping you actually apply the wisdom to your life today. Well, that's what I do with something we call Philosopher's Notes where I've distilled hundreds of great books into 20 minute super practical summaries. Then imagine me taking the absolute best big ideas from those great books and sharing them with you in hour long Optimal Living 101 classes on everything from productivity, purpose and confidence to nutrition, goal setting and conquering procrastination. Helping you optimize every facet of your life so you can actualize your potential. You've got a personal trainer. I'm kind of like your personal philosopher. Ancient wisdom plus Modern science plus Practical tools. That's what our Optimized membership program is all about. If you're feeling it, we'd love to have you join us.