17 Dec 2025 · 2 min
Brian Johnson takes his kids to the circus and his daughter Eleanor notices the performer "believed in himself." Self-belief, Johnson argues, is what lets you attempt hard things in the first place. Without it, you never practice enough to get good.
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Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. Last weekend I took the kids to Whole Foods. It's been a family tradition since Emerson was a baby. Now, that trip used to be the perfect time for me to get one on one time with Emerson while giving mommy a couple or a few hours to do her thing. Now it's the perfect time for me to get one on two time with Emerson and Eleanor while mommy gets a little time for herself. Note. If you're in Austin at the flagship Whole Foods on South Lamar on a Saturday or a Sunday afternoon and you see us, please say hi. It's always fun to run into heroic optimizers when we're out. Now, we live in the country, so it's a 35 minute drive to Whole Foods. We pass a big race track known as the Circuit of the Americas on our way. Now, we went to the circus there last year. So as we were driving by, I decided to practice the virtue of savoring by recollecting some highlights from our trip. Me. Hey, guys, remember when we went to the circus last year? Wasn't that awesome, kids? Yes. Me. What was your favorite part, Eleanor? I really liked the dogs. Me. Yeah, those dogs were funny and I loved all their tricks too. The motorcycle guys in that cage were crazy awesome too, huh, kids? Yeah. Emerson. So was that guy who jumped rope and did backflips on top of that huge spinning thing. Me. Oh my. Yeah, that guy was amazing. Cue philosophical teaching moment.
Me.
How do you think he got so good at doing that? Note. I have asked that question dozens and dozens and dozens of, if not over a hundred times. And as you know, if you've been following along, the answer I expected was a Carol Dweck, Angela Duckworth inspired growth, grit, mindset, practice. That's how they get good. So I was surprised when Eleanor said he believed in himself. That's how he was able to do it. Me. Wow, that's an awesome answer. Where'd you learn that, Eleanor? You? Me? Well, all right. Go. Me. Yes. He had to believe in himself to even think he could get good at that and try it in the first place. Huh? It all starts with believing in ourselves. There are so many things we may never try, and if we don't believe, we can do them, and that's today's plus one. You want to do the hard things that will help us show up as the best, most heroic version of ourselves. It all starts with a sense of self efficacy, a sense of agency, a quiet inner knowing that we can do the thing we want to do. Let's have that today. All of those little qualities we need to have, by the way, are linked in this plus one. Check out other plus ones for more.
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