Podcast episode in which Brian Johnson explains why he uses the phone number 212-451-2255 as a personal/brand mnemonic tied to his book series Areté. He connects the number to physical temperatures (212°F water boil, 451°F ignition) and to his plan to produce five volumes of Areté, each with 451 microchapters, yielding 2255 ‘degrees’ as a symbolic forge temperature. He also states concrete personal and organizational goals: reach 10,000 ‘plus ones’ by ~2051, hit 1,000 philosopher's notes by 2030 (currently 679), publish a new volume every 3–5 years, and help create a world where 51% of humanity is flourishing by 2051.
Questions this episode answers
212-451-2255
212-451-2000
212°F
451°F
2000+° (degrees Fahrenheit)
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome Back to another heroic one. In our last couple 1s, we've been having fun with a brilliant idea from one of my brilliant friends. As you may recall, he encouraged a team at his alma mater to remember that the hero's phone number is 212-451-2000. Water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit. Fire is ignited at 451 degrees. Swords are forged in at 2000 plus degrees. I then shared how I changed my identity from heroic philosopher CEO to heroic philosopher CEO equals 212-451-2255. To include this heroic phone number as a playful, inspiring reminder of my friend, our friendship, and our shared mission to serve those we lead heroically. I also mentioned the fact that I changed the last four digits of my number from 2000 to 2255. Why do they do that? For one simple reason I'll tell you about in a moment. First, quick context. As you know, if you've been following along, my book Arete has 451microchapters as a nod to the importance of hitting our activation energy point and as a practical demonstration of Admiral McRaven's Navy SEAL wisdom that when in doubt we should overload. As he puts it in Wisdom of the Bullfrog. And I quote McRaven whenever you were in doubt about the amount of explosives to use, always overload. Always put more energy, more force, more power into the solution than seemed necessary. It was the only way to guarantee success in the face of uncertainty and doubt. And by the way, fun fact, whereas when figuring out how much explosive to use, the seals say when in doubt, overload. The army guys like to say that when you're in doubt, use P for plenty. I love that. Now, as you know, if you've been really following along, my book are Activate youe Heroic Potential is Volume one. And every morning when I hit my three minute plus Heroic Strategic Vision Journaling target that science says is the most powerful way to keep your hope muscles in shape, I write down Philosopher symbolizing my role as a philosopher, the little phi symbol plus ones and PNS. Then I write 10,000 plus next to the plus ones and 1,000 plus next to PNS. Now this fires me up as I imagine hitting my 1000 philosopher's notes target by 2030. We currently have 679 philosopher's notes in our collection on the heroic app. Assuming one new note per week or 52 per year, I'll hit 1000 total notes in 2030. I like to quickly imagine that. Then when I write the 10,000 plus next to the plus ones, I imagine the fact that I'll hit 10,000 heroic plus ones in about 25 years. By the time I'm 75 years old, right before 2051 just got goosebumps typing that. Of course, that assumes I'm alive that long, which is an important thing to qualify everything with. But if I am, then exciting times. Now, right next to 10,000, I write volume 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Parenthetical note. All of this only takes me a few seconds to do. I'm literally chicken scratching it. But it powerfully imprints my vision on my brain before I go into strategic stuff for our Public Benefit Corporation to have a shot at fulfilling our mission to help create a world in which 51% of humanity is flourishing by the year 2051. Now, volume one of Arete is essentially a curated best of collection of my original 1500 ones. So I intend to create a new volume of Arete every three to five years. I intend to create five volumes between now and the time I die. Each of the five volumes of arete will include 451 of the best of these plus ones. So let's do the math. Five volumes of arete at 451 micro chapter degrees per volume. 2255. Now, 2255 degrees is the perfect temperature for a nice and toasty heroic forge. And that is why my heroic phone number is 212-451-2255. And that's today's plus one. And that's also way more than enough about me. I want you to know something very important to me. I am so grateful for you, I for your support and for the opportunity to serve you on our shared mission. I and we all at Team Heroic simply could not do what we do without you. Thank you for everything you do to support our Public Benefit Corporation and our movement and our mission to help create a world in which 51% of humanity is flourishing by the year 2051. I work so hard doing what I do for you. Sending tons of love to you and your families. It is day one. We are all in. Let's go hero.
