A short podcast micro-class (host: Brian Johnson) on how to make healthy habits stick by attaching immediate, felt meaning to them. Drawing on John Durant's Paleo Manifesto and research cited from Michelle Segar, Johnson contrasts knowing (abstract understanding) with doing (consistent practice) and argues that immediate rewards (feeling good now) increase adherence—e.g., participants who felt an immediate benefit exercised ~32% more. He gives examples (sleep routines, brief workouts, nutrition) and encourages reframing habits to provide present-moment motivation. The episode ends with a promotional segment for Johnson's newsletter and membership.
Chapters
You're listening to optimize with brian johnson. More wisdom in less time. Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another micro class. This one is on Making It Meaningful. Inspired by the Paleo Manifesto, John Durant, Making It Meaningful. Durant makes the point that there are two aspects to optimizing our lives. Knowing versus doing. We talk about this quite often throughout these notes. Knowing versus Doing. Knowing, as Michael Beckwith says, is rudimentary. Optimal living, he says, rudimentary spirituality, doing, actually applying the wisdom. That's the advanced stuff. But to do something consistently, we need to focus on meaning. Meaning matters. He says most of the research is done here, helping us know what's best. But even if we knew, even if science unequivocally said this is what's best for you, we'd still have a challenging time doing. So we need to focus on meaning now. We talked about Michelle Seager in no Sweat. We'll have a link to her note below. And the fact that in research she did, when she asked people, why do you exercise? What's the meaning behind your exercise? 75% of them who responded gave her an abstract answer. Something like live longer or feel better. Generally feel better, right? Abstract. 25% of the people said, you know what? I want to feel good. I want to feel centered. I want to feel good right now. That's why I exercise. And guess what? The 25% of the people who had an immediate need being met of feeling good exercised 32% more than the group that had an abstract sense of meaning. Meaning matters. And when it comes to taking action consistently, we want to have immediate rewards. You need to associate your behavior that you're taking right now, not with some abstract weird thing. No one gets motivated by living longer. But really. But what you'll get motivated about is feeling good right now. Most of the things you do when you don't work out are making you feel good immediately. So if you can make your workout or your good night of sleep or your good nutritional habits feel good now and associate your behavior with that good feeling, you created some powerful meaning. So for example, sleep. I know that I feel great when I sleep. I've got my little self care hierarchy. It's at the foundation. So I'm excited to turn off my electronics and TV because I know that I'm going to feel great when I wake up tomorrow morning. That's an immediate now goal. It's not some abstract, well, I'm going to live five years longer on average. If I go to bed at a reasonable hour. I want to feel great tomorrow? I want to have another great day. Another masterpiece day. When I work out, it's not so that I can live longer. It's so I can feel centered and I can feel creative Before I work on this stuff. I work out, I go put in even just a simple 10, 15 or 20 minute workout. I move and I know that I'm going to feel great. I'm going to have that base in place so I can actualize my potential right now. Today. Not abstract eating is the same thing. So look at your habits you're trying to install and notice what meaning you're giving them. And I promise you, if you can make a meaning be more relevant right now, you're going to be more likely to engage in it. The research showed 32% more exercise when they have an immediate sense of gratification. Play with that. Have fun with it. How can you create a new narrative for your healthy behaviors so you can move from knowing to to doing? Have fun with that. Look forward to sharing more. 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.
