17 Dec 2025 · 6 min
Brian Johnson explains how certain challenges, like dyslexia or growing up poor, can build unexpected strengths when you engage with them. He uses the bat-and-ball test and Malcolm Gladwell's David and Goliath to show how difficulty can sharpen cognition, communication, and compassion.
You're listening to optimize with bryan johnson. More wisdom in less time. Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another micro class. This one's on Desirable Difficulty. It's inspired by David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell. The basic idea here is a very powerful one, that sometimes our difficulties are the very things that give us power. He uses an example of something called the CRT test, which measures your cognitive functioning. It's a rather hard test and they ask questions like a bat and a ball costs $1.10, right? The bat costs a dollar more than the ball. How much do the bat and the ball cost? Answer right, and you got to do it in a certain period of time. And they give you a bunch of questions like that right now. They judged, you know, Princeton versus MIT versus all these other schools and saw how well they did. MIT outperformed Princeton, for example. But then they did something funny. They took this exact same test and rather than present it in a normal font, they presented it in this weird 10% gray, hard to read font that was italicized literally. You had to like kind of squint to look at it and to make it make sense. Now this test, the crt, is already hard. And what did they do? They just made it harder. And strangely, by doing that, they radically improved the scores, such that the Princeton students who used to do worse than the MIT students were suddenly doing significantly better than them. Not by making the test easier, but by making the test harder. That's an amazing concept. And he uses that as the perfect metaphor to redefine the and to define something called desirable difficulties. In the book he talks about other stories like someone who has trouble reading, right? They have dyslexia. Well, that dyslexia. Not everyone is going to be able to move through dyslexia, for example, powerfully. But those who do often learn skills in communication and listening and other things that dramatically strengthened them. And the difficulty was actually desirable. I use the example in my own life. I joke that I used to wish that I grew up in an affluent, super well educated, happy, high functioning family. You know, the whole silver spoon and perfect genetic code kind of thing. I didn't. I grew up in a family that was basically lower middle class, super conservative, blue collar. I was a first generation college student. Father struggled with alcohol, his dad struggled with alcohol. It was a difficulty for me. And I had my own challenges in my 20s that I had to deal with. But the reality is those difficulties in hindsight I see as desirable. It's what has given me the compassion and the wisdom to be able to do the work I do now. If I didn't have those difficulties that I had to overcome, like the CRT students that had to squint and read a tough font, or the dyslexic kids that had to learn a different way to communicate and thrive in the world world, I wouldn't have achieved what I've achieved and what I continue to aspire to do in service to the world. So think about you. What are your stories about the things that have been the most difficult? How do you move those from the worst things that could have happened to you to potentially some of the best that have given you the strength? Now, I'm not minimizing challenges that we've had, but there are opportunities for us to see these difficulties as desirable to an extent that that we often don't give ourselves permission to do and the discipline to do so. There you go. Desirable difficulties. Let's leverage it as we optimize and actualize. Have another awesome day. See ya. Hi, this is Brian. I hope you enjoyed that micro class. If so, I think you'll enjoy everything else we offer at BrianJohnson me. Two basic things one our free newsletter. It's called the Optimizer. Over 50,000 people start their day with it and they tell us it's pretty awesome. And 2 our optimal living Membership Program. This is where I put all my best stuff. 10 bucks a month for a ton of wisdom. Two primary things in there philosopher's notes plus optimal living 101 classes. When you sign up, you'll get instant access to 250 philosopher's notes, which are basically six page PDFs and 20 minute MP3s where I capture my favorite big ideas for from great books. The PNTV episodes are kind of a mini version of all that goodness. You'll also get instant access to all my Optimal Living classes. This is where I take all the ideas we cover in the Philosopher's Notes and boil it down to the most practical stuff you can apply today. Classes include Confidence 101, Getting Stuff Done 101, Relationships 101, Habits 101, et cetera. You'll also get access to what we call micro classes that I think you'll love. We aim to astonish and we're blessed to have thousands of members telling us we're helping them change their lives and that this is the best 10 bucks they invest in themselves every month. Go to BrianJohnson ME membership to learn more. Thanks for your support and have an awesome day.
