Brian Johnson delivers a short Heroic +1 podcast emphasizing that anyone can be a "psychological success" by accepting themselves and doing their best in the present moment. He connects Maslow's unpublished line from Future Visions — "anybody...under any circumstance...can be a psychological success" — with earlier points about imperfection, Tal Ben-Shahar's 'optimalism' metaphor (a guiding star, not a reachable shore), and Carl Rogers' idea that the good life is a process. The episode ends with a motivational call to act now and a plug for Heroic Us.
Chapters
Hey hero, if you're enjoying these daily plus ones, make sure you head to Heroic us to check out all of the other goodness we have to help you activate your best every day. And now, today's plus one. Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. In our last one, we spent some more time with Picasso and Maslow. We reminded ourselves that there are no perfect human beings. And I repeated the fact yet again that you and I will not be the first perfect human beings. We also explored the fact that although none of us will ever actually perfect ourselves, the best among us strive to perfect ourselves in service to something bigger than ourselves as we more and more authentically develop our own idiosyncratic style. Now we can spend a long time talking about how to conquer perfectionism, but I'll leave you to explore that 101 class and Tal Ben Shahar's brilliant wisdom from the pursuit of perfect separately. Check out those links for now. Know that as Tal says, I quote, the optimalism ideal is not a distant shore to be reached, but a distant star that guides us and can never be reached. As Carl Rogers pointed out, the good life is a process, not a state of being. It is a direction, not a destination. My goodness, that is good. Clap, Chef. Kiss. Let's go. Now, today I want to talk about some more Maslow wisdom. This gem is from a relatively unknown book called Future Visions that features some of Maslow's unpublished work and essentially the private journal entries of a brilliant human being. It's one of my all time favorite books. Check out the notes. Now in that great book, Maslow tells us, and I quote, anybody, any person whatsoever, under any circumstance whatsoever, can be a psychological success. At least in the sense of doing the best that one can and doing fully what one can to be himself or herself and to accept the reality himself or herself. And that is today's plus one. I don't care who you are and what you do or what you have done, you can be a psychological success right this second. How? Accept yourself and do the best you can and give us all you've got. Not someday today. Remember the very moment you live with. Arete, you are heroic. Close the gap. Give us all you've got, all day, every day, especially today. Let's go, hero. We hope you enjoyed today's heroic one. For more ancient wisdom, modern science and practical tools to help you flourish in energy, work and love, head to Heroic Us where you can get started on your heroic journey for free.
