17 Dec 2025 · 6 min
Brian Johnson says to double down on meditation, movement, nutrition, sleep, and digital hygiene, especially now. He uses a formula: energy times focus times what matters, raised to the power of consistency, equals infinity. Michael Balchan closes with a note on Heroic resources.
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. I started typing this at 9:52am during my AM2 deep work time block on Monday, October 14, 2024. I dominated my AM1 protocol with a solid 30 minute meditation, some deep work on plus one family time, and a quick trail workout. And I just interrupted my journaling to write this plus one. I was inspired to create this after I journaled quadruple down all caps in bold after I wrote down Soul Force equation as I was journaling. Soul force equals parentheses energy times focus times what's important. Now close parentheses to the power of consistency equals infinity symbol. Now I strive to constantly practice the virtue of curiosity, paying attention to what's working and what needs work in my life. And as I reflected on what's working and what needs work in my life that morning I I realized that I need to step up my game and dominate my fundamentals even more aggressively than I have been. Although I've been doing pretty much all the things I tend to do to stay plugged in, I have, quite frankly gotten relatively for me, sloppy over the last X months with all the travel and dynamicism of my schedule. So as I type this, we were 21 days from the US election and I just decided to schedule the release date of this plus one for November 4th, day before the election. Deo Valente as you read this, I will have just landed in Athens to train our third cohort of heroic workshop instructors and experience the birthplace of Western philosophy and democracy with a group of heroes, a family, and Donald Robertson. Now, politics aside, as I type this to state the obvious, the tension in our nation and world is palpable and independent of the results of the US elections. I'm quite certain that this tension will be growing in the days ahead. Now, last week I read two of the most powerful and disturbing books I've ever read, Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari and the Chaos Machine by Max Fisher. As I discuss in those notes, which we just shared, check them out. The algorithms driving moral outrage on our social media platforms are shockingly polarizing and destructive. My aura sleep scores have reflected the thinking I've been doing on these challenges and how I can best support us in using the challenges as fuel to forge the strength we need to fulfill our mission to help create a world in which more and more of humanity is flourishing. Which leads us back to my journaling and the point of today's pause 1. Remember our Yoda inspired formula for how to cultivate emotional stamina and forge antifragile confidence. It goes like this. The worse we feel, the more committed we need to be to our protocol. Well, the parallel wisdom goes like this. The greater the challenges we face individually and collectively, the greater commitment we need to have to dominating our protocols individually and collectively. Which is why I wrote this in huge letters in my journaling. Quadruple down. Quadruple down on what? On truly heroically dominating all the things I do when I'm at my absolute best. My nutrition and movement are solid. Always a little room to improve, but they're great. But it's time to step back up my meditation practice. It's time to step back up my mindful use of electronics and digital news. It's time to step back up my digital sunset and sleep protocols. Now is the time to quadruple down. Why? It's the only possible way I'm going to be able to play my role well and maintain a sense of wise equanimity as we navigate these storms. But I'm not the one we most need to show up like that. And this plus one isn't about me. It's about you. We need you to show up as your heroic best. So here's to quadrupling down on the core habits that keep us plugged in and connected to our best selves all day, every day. Especially today.
What's up? This is Michael, President and head Coach at Heroic. One quick note before we go. I just think it's so amazing that Brian keeps reading all these books and distilling them into more wisdom in less time. By the way, thank you Brian for continuing to read the books distill them for us. I love not having to read the book, just getting them more wisdom and less time to the plus ones of Philosopher's Notes. And if you're into this kind of thing, expressing the best version of yourself and using your greatest gifts make a positive impact on the world. Make sure you head to Heroic Us to check out all the other resources that we have available to you. You can download a bunch of free goodies including Philosopher's Notes masterclasses in our scientifically proven Heroic app. You can also explore advanced resources to help you go next level, including live and virtual workshops, working one on one with the Heroic Performance Coach or even becoming a certified coach yourself as you master heroic Performance, the fundamentals of Coaching Excellence and Heroic Coaching prosperity. Again, head to Heroic Us to get the ancient wisdom, modern science and practical tools you need to activate your potential and change the world together. And please do hit subscribe Appreciate you have a fantastic day and see you again soon.
