Brian Johnson introduces the "Conquering Perfectionism 101" masterclass (an Optimal Living 101 series episode) and previews the course by listing ten core "big ideas" for overcoming perfectionism by becoming an "incremental optimizer." Key themes include rejecting the myth of perfect humans, distinguishing healthy vs. unhealthy perfectionism (optimalist vs. perfectionist), acceptance (ACT therapy), embracing incremental progress (aggregated + compounded over time), planning in small steps, celebrating present-moment success, adopting "good enough" standards, reframing suffering as pain × resistance, preventing burnout through scheduled recovery, and shifting from fear to daring. The episode also includes promotional remarks about Optymyze/Optimize Me membership and access to the full class and related content.
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Hey, this is Brian with a quick note before we jump into today's show. If you haven't signed up for the Optymyze Premium membership yet, A, what are you waiting for? And B, you can now get the first 30 days of optimizing for free. Just cruise on over to Optimize me and sign up. Over 10,000 people now start their days with Optymyze so they can actualize their potential. Including best selling authors, leading entrepreneurs and even NCAA championship teams. Two of them. So again, 30 days of free optimizing at Optimize Me. If you're already a member, thanks for your support. Now for the show. You're listening to Optimize with Brian Johnson. More wisdom in less time. Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to the Optimal Living 101 Masterclass Series. Today I'm thrilled to be chatting About Conquering Perfectionism 101, how to Quit being a perfectionist and start being an incremental optimizer. An incremental optimizer. We're going to talk about what that means in this class. And Conquering Perfectionism is a class near and dear to my heart. As a recovering perfectionist, I'm excited to share some of my favorite big ideas I've picked up. This class is also related to Conquering Procrastination 101 and Conquering Depression 101. We're also going to be doing Conquering Addiction 101, Conquering ADD 101 and some other fun classes. But for now let's take a quick look at our top 10 big ideas and then we'll jump in. Alright, Big idea number one. There are no perfect human beings. I hate to break the news to you but. But there are no perfect human beings. We're gonna talk about Maslow Rumi, Michael Beckwith and Dan Millman. And it's an important place to start. There are no perfect human beings and you are not going to be the first to be perfect. The second big idea is the optimalist versus the perfectionist. Tal Ben Shahar. His great book the Pursuit of Perfect tells us there's a big difference between the healthy expression of perfectionism. There's actually a healthy expression of having really high standards and, and the unhealthy. We're gonna talk about what that difference is. Big idea number three. Here's a hint. The optimalist accepts reality. We need to accept reality. We're also gonna talk about act acceptance and commitment therapy. One of my favorite new philosophical approaches to life. We're gonna look at the six core facets of acceptance and commitment therapy. Really excited about that. Our fourth big idea. Being perfect versus being being the incremental optimizer. I'm really excited about this. We're gonna have a new mantra embracing incremental optimizing aggregated plus compounded over time. That's the magic. The fifth big idea is to think tiny and plan in 3D. We gotta chunk down what we wanna do in our lives and not be overwhelmed by the pursuit of perfect. The sixth big idea is to celebrate life. Quit being a rat racer and experience instant success. It's easy when we're on the perfectionist track to always be one step away from really enjoying life. We've got to flip that around and enjoy right now. We're going to talk about how to do that. The seventh big idea is hardaholics versus good enoughists and floors and ceilings. Brene Brown tells us we want to be good enoughists. If you are a recovering perfectionist, your standards are high enough, you need to get comfortable with good enough. We're going to talk about how to do that. The eighth big idea is S equals P times R. Suffering equals pain times resistance. We're going to talk about that. The struggle switch and rumination versus reflection. Our ninth big idea is psychological injuries, pushing yourself too hard plus life paralysis and burnout. Some of the consequences of perfectionism. How to navigate that hint, Schedule deep recovery. And the 10th big idea is to move from fearing to daring. We've got an acronym, Fear F E A R. Then we're going to shift into DARE D A R E. This is going to be connected to Russ Harris's great book the Confidence Gap and the Happiness Trap, where he walks us through acceptance and commitment therapy. At the end of this, we are going to be daring to live our greatest lives as an incremental optimizer. Let's jump in. So if you enjoyed that quick overview, I think you'll love the full class. Become a member and get instant access to this class. Plus a bunch of other optimal living 101 masterclasses and over 300 philosopher's notes and a bunch of other goodness. It's only 10 bucks per month. I think you'll love it. Join thousands of other cool peeps at BrianJohnson Me Membership. It's BrianJohnson Me Membership.
