Brian Johnson shares a story about his son asking for a takeout box to explain why confronting small fears matters. He cites Emerson on doing what scares you and Huberman's research that the brain grows when you step outside your comfort zone. The message: take one small action daily to become afraid of one fewer thing.
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May 4, 2024
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Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. In our last plus one, we talked about a recent family trip to our favorite restaurant and how Emerson forged a little more confidence and became afraid of one less thing by stepping through a little fear door. See part one, part two and part three on a series of fear doors and doing something he was afraid to do. It was simple. Walking into the restaurant and asking for a takeout box. Note it's in those seemingly super mundane everyday moments in which we are given the best opportunities to forge intense trust in ourselves as we conquer the fear that gets in the way of us activating our heroic potential. So after we celebrated his willingness to act in the presence of fear and pointed out Grandpa Phil's wisdom that every time we eat what he calls a death cookie, see that plus one linked in this one and do the thing we're afraid to do, such that we become afraid of one less thing. Mommy and I shared some more wisdom on the subject. I told him that his namesake Ralph Waldo said the same thing 150 years ago when he told us, always, always, always, always do what you were afraid to do. He literally uses that many alwayss. Then I told him that Ralph Waldo also told us, do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain. And I told him that good old Ralphie also told us God will not have his or her work made manifest by cowards. Then on our drive to watch Kung Fu Panda 4, it was great. Mommy told us that Andrew Huberman recently had a great podcast in which he talked about the neuroscience supporting that truth that our brains literally grow when we go one step out of our comfort zone and do the thing we're afraid to do. And note, our brain shrinks every time we don't. And that's today's plus one, plus one, minus one, plus one, minus one,plus one or minus one all day, every day. Step forward into growth. Close the gap. Do the thing you're afraid to do. Let's grow our brains as we become afraid of one less thing today.
