17 Dec 2025 · 6 min
Brian Johnson breaks down how to reach big dreams: Georges St. Pierre and Ronda Rousey got there by taking roughly 2 million steps. A 1,000-mile journey needs about 2,112,000 steps at 2.5 feet per stride. Big goals are dreams plus the daily work.
November 4, 2016.
About 2.5 ft.
Approximately 2,112,000 steps.
30 days.
Over 10,000 people.
Hey, this is Brian with a quick note. Before we jump into today's show, if you haven't signed up for the Optymyze premium membership yet, A, what are you waiting for? And B, you can now get the first 30 days of optimizing for free. Just cruise on over to Optimize me and sign up. Over 10,000 people now start their days with Optymyze so they can actualize their potential, including best selling authors, leading entrepreneurs, and even NCAA championship teams, two of them. So again, 30 days of free optimizing at Optimize Me. If you're already a member, thanks for your support. Now for the show, 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 dreams plus 2 million steps. It's inspired by Georges St. Pierre's the Way of the Fight. It's a fun idea. So GSP had the vision of being the world champion, and he told his dad, who literally thought he was crazy. What are you talking about? World champion in mma. What? How are you gonna do that? But he had a vision, he had a very clear sense of what he could do. And we've talked about this a lot. We talk about it in the note. But you know, when you're going for great things, you kind of look a little crazy until you do it, and then you look like a genius. John Elliott describes that, and I quote him in the note. Ronda Rousey, another MMA fighter, shares basically the exact same story. No woman had ever fought in the ufc. People thought she was nuts to think she can do that, but she had the dream. Anyway. The idea here I want to share is related to the dream and that craziness, but then more importantly to the journey. So GSP tells the makes a cool distinction. He says, look, I knew that if I wanted to reach my dream, right? And let's say it's a thousand miles away, right? Lao sue, the journey of a thousand miles begins with what? Well, it begins with our first step. But then he said, and then I knew I would have to take another one and another one, and another one. And I got to thinking, what's the math on that? If the journey of 1000 miles begins with the first step, which is obviously true, we all heard that a million times. But then it continues with a second step and a third step and a fourth step. How many steps are involved in the thousand mile journey? Well, here's the quick math. Roughly, if your stride length is about 2.5ft. I'm six foot one. That's about what it is, right? And my math is correct, then if you want to go 1,000 miles and you need to take 2,112,000 steps if you want to arrive at your 1,000 mile destination. So your big dream, your target, your goal, your mission, your purpose, your dharma is way out here. You tell people about it and they might think you're a little crazy, but you're willing to put in your 2,112,000 steps, aka your 10,000 hours. Because you're all in and you're committed to mastery, which you know only comes when you are willing to do this day in and day out. So There you go. Dreams plus 2 million steps. Keep that in mind. You're excited. You know that you got a big goal. Then break it down. You got a thousand miles. Just focus on this next step. But also know that you're going to need to persevere for roughly 2,112,000 steps to reach your target. Hope you enjoyed. Look forward to sharing more. Walking shoes. Get some good ones. See ya. Isn't it a bit odd we went from math to science to history but somehow missed the class on how to live? For some wacky reason, optimal living 101 never made the schedule. Of course, it's too late to go back and change that and you're too busy to read full time to catch up. Yet. If you're like us, you're all about optimizing your life and actualizing your potential. So imagine this. Imagine having someone read the best books on optimal living and pulling out the big ideas that can truly change your life. You know those sections you asterisk and underline and mark all up? Then imagine that guy me, connecting those ideas to other great books and helping you apply them to your life today. Well, that's what I do with something we call Philosopher's Notes where I break down each great book into a simple 6 page PDF, 20 minute MP3 and 10 minute Philosopher's Notes TV episode. Then imagine me taking the absolute best big ideas from those great books and sharing them with you in fun, inspiring, super practical optimal living 101 classes on stuff like purpose 101, confidence 101, business 101, meditation 101, that sort of thing. You got a personal trainer? I'm kind of like your personal philosopher. Ancient wisdom plus Modern science plus common sense plus virtue plus mastery plus fun. That's what our optimized membership program is all about. We'd love to have you join us, check us out at BrianJohnson. Me join?
