17 Dec 2025 · 0 min
Brian Johnson explores the Roman concept of a personal genius, a guiding spirit everyone possesses. He argues you need to show up so your genius can work through you, and recommends Elizabeth Gilbert's TED Talk on creativity.
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.
How's your genius? Get this Back in the Roman Empire's days of sexy togas and sweet sandals, they they believed everyone had their own little mini me, like genius, a guiding spirit that helped them rock it. If anyone did something amazing, whether it was artistic or athletic or rhetorical, it was said their genius had guided them. How cool is that? Correct answer. Very good news. It's still true. We all have our own genius within. The question is, how's yours? Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray Love, did a super cool TED Talk where she points out the fact that although it's her inner genius who's responsible for the creative goodness that might come through her on any given day, it's her responsibility to show up to write. I love that. How about you? What do you need to do to make sure your genius knows you want to play? Ponder that, and if you're feeling inspired, Google TED Talk and Elizabeth Gilbert and Genius for that brilliant TED Talk. I think you'll really enjoy it.
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