17 Dec 2025 · 0 min
Brian Johnson on moving past shame and self-judgment through radical self-acceptance and small, consistent practice. He describes growth as non-linear, with plateaus and breakthroughs, and argues that service to others and playful curiosity matter more than perfection.
The content you're about to hear was captured during a live coaching session in the Optimize Coach program multiple times every month. Coaches Connect live with Brian, Michael, Alexandra and members of our world class luminary guest faculty for wisdom, guidance and encouragement. For more head to Optimize me coach.
Maybe a little color on the journey, things that were powerful for you in integrating this more and more consistently, having that true radical self acceptance and compassion, etc. Yeah, well, I appreciate the reflection. Even that, just to be clear, is still a work in progress and none of us are ever going to get completely rid of that period. I mean, there's so many things that come to mind on that and I think the Most salient is plus 1, plus 1, plus 1, plus one chip away. You know, the golden Buddha is underneath that, that stone and the mud and the dirt and the cheap looking stuff and we're consistently chipping away. But I think we get to a tipping point to mix metaphors where we realize that no, no, no, the underlying essence of me is divine. It's good, it's pure. And there may be and there are some things that are still there that are there and that will always be there, but I'm not going to let that continue to drive the show. So there's that tipping point of demon versus Daimon too. And Phil talks about this. I'm sure he's talked to you about the 5149. We don't even need to get to 99% self acceptance if you just get to 5149 where you slightly tip the scales. And this is why we're not asking for 100% enlightenment. 1% gain today, 1% gain the next day, 1% gain or whatever it is, 2 or 3% and then backwards 2 or 3%, which is how it's going to be. It'll be zigging and zagging throughout 300 days and forever. It will not be straight up into the right period. That's naive. Mastery is very challenging. Zig and zag and then it's plateau. I'm doing all the work, I'm not getting anywhere. Then boom, next level. I just personally experienced that. I put in the work, I put in the work, I put in the work, I put in the work and boom, I got to another level just recently. It's exciting to see and a big part of that actually is truly getting post ambivalent acceptance, but also very clear on the heroic path and all the things that I encourage. You know, me teaching this mastery series for the second time. And going deeper into it transformed me. So to Michael's point, these ideas are alive and I'm living them, and I encourage us to live them. And why it's client number zero is we are constantly in that state of evolution. And when we truly embrace the cycle and the process of evolution, then we're powerful. Not when we arrive to a certain spot, but when we realize we're never going to arrive at a spot. There's no there there. But we're going to become masters in the practice of showing up and the true master again. For every mile they take toward their destination, they hope their destination gets two miles further away. When you get that on a visceral level, not just intellectually, but viscerally, it's life changing. Because then you stop thinking you should be there and you get excited and realize, oh, my God, I literally have no idea what I'm capable of. This was my conversation with Phil yesterday. We were talking about where I am and the power and where we're headed and all this stuff. And he literally said, you have no idea. And you need to act as if you have no idea of what you're capable of. Gives me tears in my eyes. You have no idea what you're capable of. I would say to everyone here, none get curious and get playfully fierce about getting just a little more clarity on what that might look like. And again, make it fun. And then ultimately, don't make it about you. If it's about you and you looking good in the world, you get the brakes on. You got your foot on the brakes. If you make it about service and you make it about being a radiance exemplar, yes, for yourself, but in service to something bigger than yourself. Call it God, call it the universe, call it whatever you want. In service to your spouse, in service to your kids, in service to your community. You guys are my community. I so profoundly am committed to you guys. Boom. Makes my life a lot easier. And then, guess what? I don't need to show up as the guy that has it all figured out. That is another. As a coach, flip that switch. Be the one that is so real and so authentic that you don't need to pretend to be anyone but you. The amount of energy you get back when you do that is insane.
We hope you enjoyed that. Part of a live coaching session from the Optimize Coach program. For more info, head to Optimize Me Coach.
