17 Dec 2025 · 3 min
Brian Johnson describes a broken Suunto heart rate monitor that gave wildly inaccurate readings on an easy hike. He uses it as a metaphor: when you're tired, your negative thoughts are just as unreliable. Ignore them, stick to your plan, and build emotional stamina.
You're listening to Optimize with Brian Johnson. More wisdom in less time. Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one. In our last plus one we talked about the fact that as per legendary tough guy Vince Lombardi, fatigue makes cowards of us all. Then we operationalized a super simple antidote to cowardice via a super simple PM bookend routine. How'd that go for you? I mentioned the fact that we'd connect that fatigue coward phenomenon to my heart rate monitor. So let's do that. Not too long ago, I introduced you to my suunto watch. I love it. It works great. Except when it doesn't. Every once in a while I'll be training at a mellow pace and my watch will be telling me that my heart rate is way higher than it could possibly be. To put it in perspective, my target maffetone approved aerobic zone is 131 to 141. Now, I usually train in that zone every other day. On my mellow recovery days, I do the same trail at a slower pace and stay well below the that 131. So imagine my surprise one day when I'm going at a super mellow pace and look down at my watch to see it telling me that I'm at 160 something. I'm like, really? No way. That's not possible. I'm pretty sure I'm not blowing up right now. So I got my little strip detector. Things a little wet via a little spit didn't help. I took off my heart rate monitor strap, put it back on, still didn't help. Now I'm basically standing still and it's telling me I'm still blowing up. That's not happening. So as a professional optimizer and lover of wisdom, I'm not allowed to waste lemon squeezing opportunities. See that plus one. So after a moment of almost frustration, I carried on with my hike and decided to simply ignore the data. Which is when the metaphorical learning moment hit me. That data from the heart rate monitor was, for whatever reason, literally useless for me during that workout. So I ignored it. And guess what? You know that voice in your head that shows up when you're tired? You know the voice that says life sucks, boo hoo, yadda yadda, blah blah blah, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Well, guess what? When you're tired, that data your mind throws at you is about as useful as my broken heart rate monitor. Ignore it. Carry on with your day. Go build your emotional stamina muscles as you execute your protocol and practice having good bad days. Then figure out what needs work so you can wake up tomorrow morning feeling way better with a working monitor that gives you good data. That's today's plus one. Happy trails. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Optymyze with Brian Johnson. To find out more, go to Optimize Me.
