17 Dec 2025 · 0 min
Brian Johnson explains optimism as a skill you train like a muscle, not something you either have or don't. He draws on Martin Seligman's framework of three P's to show how consistent practice rewires your brain toward hope instead of despair.
You're listening to Optimize with Bryan Johnson More Wisdom in Less Time this is a mini chapter from Brian's book A Philosopher's Notes. You can find it on Amazon.
Optimism Jim, let's say we're currently pretty pissy and pessimistic. Can we learn to be optimistic? Absolutely. Martin Seligman wrote an entire book called Learned Optimism where he outlines his suggested ways to get our optimism on. See the chapter on the three Ps of optimism for more. And all the ideas in this section are essentially about helping you build your optimism muscles. Here's one way to think about it. A pessimist is the emotional equivalent of a couch potato whose idea of exercise is picking up the remote and taking a quick bathroom break during commercials. Totally flabby and out of shape and unhealthy. If that pessimist wants to become a rock star triathlete esque optimist, he's gonna need to train hard. And not once in a while when he feels like it. But consistently. It's pretty much the exact same thing with our emotional well being. We've got to hit the optimism gym. Good news is, membership's free. We just need to show up and do the work. Little footnote here. Learned Optimism is an awesome book. You can check out the Philosopher's Note on it for my favorite. Goodness.
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