Brian Johnson records a short Heroic +1 micro-essay from a flight after working with elite athletes. He sketches his morning routine and micro-targets, then focuses on the central lesson: get very clear about what you deeply want, determine who you must become to achieve it, and willingly "pay the price" (sacrifices, discipline, hard work). He uses personal examples (sleeping 3h25m on a red-eye, burpees, cold showers) and quotes William James and Josh Waitzkin to underline loving the process of paying the price to become the best version of oneself.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. I'm typing this on a Delta flight from a top secret European city, returning from a top secret mission serving some elite athletes. The trip was fantastic for so many reasons, it's hard to put into words just how much I love working with super elite performers, whether that's special warfare operators or executives, or in this case, some of the best athletes in the world. As William James says, and I quote him, seek out that particular mental attribute which makes you feel most deeply and vitally alive. Along with which comes the inner voice which says, this is the real me. And when you have found that attitude, follow it. So I started the day with some burpees on the beach, followed by a quick cold shower before hopping in the car with a European heroic teammate or what's up, Brian? Then I did my normal search for micro moments of awesome as I interacted with everyone from the TSA agents to the coffee shop baristas. Then, after I settled into my seat, I swiped the targets I'd hit so far that morning. Meditate for 15 to 60. Sometimes it's minutes, sometimes it's seconds. 101 burpees, train for 30 minutes, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And here, here's the heroic target I want to chat about today. I love paying the price to fulfill our mission. Target swipe. Quick context. During the last 72 hours, after giving a talk on how to forge antifragile confidence to that group of elite athletes, I worked one on one with about 10 of them, helping them get set up with the heroic app and supporting them in dominating on a range of fronts. Now, one of the most consistent themes working with these guys was helping them get clear on what they really, really, really, really want to achieve in their lives, then getting equally clear on knowing who they need to be to achieve that, and most importantly, knowing what price they're going to need to pay to achieve what they really, really, really, really want. Now, most normal people never take the time to get clarity on what they really want, and even fewer are willing to actually pay the price to get it. Which, for the record, is one of the main reasons I so love working with the world's most elite performers. Which is why, as a personal example, when I get something like 3 hours and 25 minutes of sleep on my red eye flight out to see these guys, goosebumps know that's part of the price I've decided I'm going to pay to fulfill our mission. Not only do I refuse to even think about whining about it. I smile as I remember my commitment to love, paying the price to fulfill our mission. And that's today's plus one. What do you really, really, really, really want? You got it. Awesome. Note if that doesn't make your heart skip a beat and your palms sweat a bit, ask yourself that question again and think a little bigger. Now, what price are you going to need to pay to make that dream a reality? Note I don't care what price you just set, I can assure you it's probably going to cost you about 10x whatever you just considered now, as we wrap up our time together and send you off to dominate the day, let's remember Josh Waitzkin's wisdom on the subject. In the Art of Learning. He tells us, and I quote him, one thing I have learned as a competitor is that there is a clear distinction between what it takes to be decent, what it takes to be good, what it takes to be great, and what it takes to be among the best. Here's to not only striving to be among the absolute best in the world at what we do, but much more importantly, striving to be the absolute best version of ourselves. And here's to loving the process of paying the price to become all we're destined to be in every area of our lives, moment to moment to moment, all day, every day. Especially, as always, today.
