Brian Johnson reflects on a trip to Athens and walking routes the ancient philosophers took. He notes that modern travel gives us privileges Marcus Aurelius couldn't have imagined. Donald Robertson's work inspired the insight.
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Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic one. I started typing this while en route home from Athens after an extraordinary week with nearly 200 members of our heroic community. I was sitting in a chair almost exactly 30,000ft in the air. Now anytime I think about what's actually happening when I am blessed to experience the miracle of flight, my head explodes. Thank you to the countless anonymous, brilliant, hard working humans who have made this trip possible. I am committed to not taking you and or the experience for granted, but as granted. So having just spent the last week walking in the same hallowed grounds in which Socrates and Plato and Aristotle and Zeno and Marcus Aurelius once walked, as you can imagine, I'm in an even more philosophical mood than normal. Hard to imagine that's possible, but it is. Now I have pages of notes and over 15 plus one sketched out that I'm excited to unpack so I can share some of the wisdom gained from the trip. Today I want to reflect on some Donald Robertson inspired wisdom. Fun fact. One of the absolute highlights of our time in Athens was spending time with Donald Robertson on the same grounds where Plato's Academy once existed. Donald gave an extraordinary lecture on how to think like Socrates. Check out our notes on his new book and note how the depth of his wisdom was only matched by the depth of his enthusiasm in sharing it. It's hard to put into words the combo of that and his Scottish accent. Now one of the things Donald pointed out was the fact that Marcus Aurelius once made a trip from Rome to Athens. Donald encouraged us to consider the fact that he and Socrates and Plato and Aristotle and Zeno were walked the same route we did up to the Acropolis. But you know how long it took Aurelius to sail from Rome to Athens? A full week. You know how long it would have taken him to make the 5,000 mile trip I'm making today in about 10 hours. Trick question. Of course Aurelius and all those other heroes of mine couldn't have even dreamt of of doing what I'm doing right now, let alone actually do it. And that's today's plus one. Let's remember the fact that we are blessed with privileges the absolute most powerful people in the world couldn't have even imagined a couple thousand or even a couple hundred years ago. And let's always strive to remember the people who made and make this all possible all day, every day, especially today.
What's up? This is Michael, president and head coach at Heroic. One quick note before we go. I just think it's so amazing that Brian keeps reading all these books and distilling them into more wisdom and less time. By the way, thank you Brian for continuing to read the books distill them for us. I love not having to read the book, just getting them more wisdom and less time to the plus ones of Philosopher's Notes. And if you're into this kind of thing, expressing the best version of yourself and using your greatest gifts to make a positive impact on the world, make sure you head to Heroic Us to check out all the other resources that we have available to you. You can download a bunch of free goodies, including Philosopher's Notes masterclasses in our scientifically proven Heroic app. You can also explore advanced resources to help you go next level, including live and virtual workshops, working one on one with the Heroic Performance Coach, or even becoming a certified coach yourself as you master Heroic performance, the fundamentals of Coaching Excellence and Heroic Coaching prosperity. Again, head to Heroic Us to get the ancient wisdom, modern science and practical tools you need to activate your heroic potential and change the world together. And please do hit subscribe, appreciate you have a fantastic day and see you again soon.
