17 Dec 2025 · 1 min
Brian Johnson explains arete, the Greek word for excellence, as his one-word philosophy. He argues human suffering comes from the gap between who you could be and who you are, and that expressing your best self moment-to-moment leads to flourishing. His practical cue: high five your inner daimon at choice points.
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Optimize plus one. To the extent there's a gap between who you're capable of being in any given moment and who you are actually being in that moment, you will experience a level of discontent, regret, anxiety, depression, as per our last plus one, a bad daimon, AKA unhappiness. The trick to closing the gap between who you're capable of being and and who you're actually being so you can enjoy the mental and emotional well being of eudaimonia. The Greeks had a word for that too, and if I had to summarize my entire philosophy in one word, it would be that word arete. The word arete directly translates as virtue or excellence, but it has a deeper meaning, something closer to expressing the highest version of yourself, moment to moment to moment. When we do that, there's simply no room for the regret or anxiety or disillusionment. When you're at a choice point today, think orate high five your inner daimon and experience the joy of flourishing.
