+1 #185: The Angel's Advocate

Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one. Michael Gelb wrote a great book called how to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci. I can still remember reading it shortly after selling my first business over 15 years ago. It was life changing for me. Michael has a bunch of great exercises and distinctions to help us tap into our potential. Here's one of my favorites. Now, we all know about the devil's advocate. The devil's advocate is a very important part of any creative process. When we deliberately look for the things that can go wrong. It's kind of like the obstacles part of Woop. Where we rub our dreams up against reality. But here's the deal. We need to start with our vision of what's possible before we look at what might go wrong. Enter the angel's advocate. Your. Your angels advocate is amazing. She has a magic wand, and when she waves that wand, she can make all your dreams come true. But first, you need to know what your dreams are. So let's put our little angel to work. What's the most important thing in your life right now? What is it? Got it. Fantastic. Now imagine that a little angel just floated into your world and is currently hovering right in front of you. She's smiling at you, ready to work her magic. But again, she needs to know what you want. So if everything went perfectly in this most important part of your life, you worked hard, got a little lucky and all that. What would this part of your life look like? Take a moment to hang out with your angels advocate and capture that vision. Now, my most important thing is everything going awesome would look like what? Fantastic. I call that waving the wand. When I'm strategizing about a creative project, I'll often grab a blank piece of paper and write, wave the wand at the top, and then imagine everything going perfectly. Thank you, Angels advocate. Then. Well, then I invite the devil's advocate in to help me. Whoop it. They make a great team. But let's remember to lead with the angel. And let's not forget to let the devil's advocate in to help out the cause. So one more quick check in. Are you stronger with the angel or with the devil? Do you need to dream a little more, or do you need to rub that vision up against reality and plan a little more? Let's optimize their relationship just a little more. Plus one style today. High fives to you and your advocates. 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 if you're like us, you're all about optimizing your life so you can actualize 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 an asterisk and mark all out. 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, modern science and 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.