Brian Johnson does burpees and pull-ups on a trail, then watches the sun and thinks about distance: 93 million miles away, light takes 8 minutes 20 seconds to reach us, Proxima Centauri is 4.2 light years off. He uses that scale to reset into gratitude and work.
Questions this episode answers
101 burpees
11 pull-ups (as part of his sets)
1,000 meters
Approximately 93 million miles
About 8 minutes and 20 seconds
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Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. This morning I was on the trail. Moving for 30 minutes. I banged out my last couple sets of 11 burpees to hit my 101 burpees for the day. I jumped up to hang from the tree branch that is my pull up bar to hammer out my 11 pull ups. I rode my thousand meters to hit that target. Target swipe. Target swipe. Target swipe. Target swipe, target, swipe. I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again. It's truly amazing to me how good I feel hitting those heroic targets in our app every single day. That's like me forging antifragile confidence. Today, surprisingly, never gets old. But that's not quite the point of today's plus one. This is As I was turning the corner on our trail, I was struck by the beauty and warmth of the sunlight peeking through the trees. And at the risk of getting roomy about it, I felt the sun gently caressing my mind and body and soul. It was a beautiful moment. I was in awe. Then I looked up at the sun and I thought to myself, wow. The sun is 93 million miles away. It took 8 minutes and 20 seconds for its rays to make it to Earth. That's astonishing. Then I reminded myself of the fact that you could fit over 1 million Earths into the sun. Then I thought to myself, what's really crazy is the fact that the next closest star, proxima Centauri, is 4.2 light years away. Wow. Now, on the trail, I'm in even deeper awe. And I'm humbled by the vastness of the universe and the preciousness of this gift that is my life. Then I thought of Michael Singer. He's the one who recently reminded me of just how vast our universe is in his great book, Living Untethered. Singer's teaching is all about how to, as per the subtitle of that latest book, move beyond the human predicament. One way to do that, Reflect on just how vast our universe is. It's an incredibly powerful way to maintain perspective on our little challenges. And that's today's plus one. If you feel so inspired the next time you look up at the sun, consider using it as a trigger prompt cue to practice your philosophy and put the virtues of gratitude and humility and awe into practice. Then take a deep breath, feel your feet on the earth and get back to work. Day one all in. Let's go. Target swipe. Appreciate someone or something.
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