Brian Johnson argues that a clear purpose fuels willpower and consistent action. fMRI research from the Marshmallow Test shows people whose future self feels real in the present have stronger willpower. Angela Duckworth's work on grit demonstrates how commitment to purpose drives the habits that matter.
Chapters
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 purpose equals engine. It's inspired by the common denominator of success. In the last micro class, we talked about the definition of the common denominator of success, which is successful. People make a habit of doing the things that failures don't like to do. They're not driven by their feelings or driven by compelling results. How do they get that fire? Via their purpose. Purpose 101. If you haven't checked out that class yet and you're not feeling totally on purpose, check it out. It's one of my favorite classes and a lot of people have loved it. If you are really feeling like you're living on purpose, and obviously you have an engine that's allowing you to move through a lot of the things that you weren't able to move through when you didn't have the same level of clarity. We need to know our strongest why and stay connected to it if we want to form the habit of doing things that we often may not like to do and no longer be driven by our feelings rather than our identity. I just recorded a class called Willpower 101, which we're going to share soon. And imagine this is you and you're cruising into an FMRI machine, right? Fmri, which is scanning your brain. And it's just fascinating stuff. Walter Mischel shares this in the Marshmallow test. And he says you can bring people in an FMRI and then ask them to think about themselves and a certain part of their brain will light up when we think about ourselves. Then he says, okay, now think about a stranger and a different part of our brain lights up the self kind of center and then the stranger center, right? Then he says, okay, now think about your future self. And this is the whole study. What he wants to see is when someone thinks about their future self, does it look more like themselves but. Or does it look more like a stranger? And what's fascinating is they've discovered that if your future self maps over your self right now, right? And it shows up and lights up the same basic place in your brain. You have higher levels. You tend to have higher levels of willpower than people whose future self is more connected and lights up the part of their brain that's more associated with their a vision of a stranger. And their willpower is lower than people who are connected to their future self. Now that's crazy. When you think about it. Practically speaking, what we want to do is connect to our purpose, our reason for being alive, which is really what fires us up about what we're creating in our future. Right. This is what I feel like I'm called to do today, tomorrow, the day after that, for the rest of my life. Is how Angela Duckworth describes it. Right? If you want grit, you need to have a clear purpose. Till her last dying breath, Angela Duckworth tells us she is committed to doing scientific research that helps kids develop character. Period. End of discussion. She has a very clear sense of her future self. And I guarantee you, if you put her into an fmri, you're going to see I would be willing to bet a significant amount she's showing up like that. Her willpower is going to be stronger as a result of that and she's going to do the little things more consistently on a day in and day out basis. She's going to make a habit of doing the things that failures don't like to do. The common denominator of success. So what is your purpose? Can you state it in one or two sentences? What is it? See your future self ten years from now. Who are you? What does your life look like? And then see that the little choices you're making right now. Right. Are affecting that future self. Be driven by a purpose such that you have the habit of doing the things that you know you want to do, whether you feel like it or not. That is how our purpose serves as our engine. I hope you enjoyed and let's go out and make all this happen. Have another awesome day. See you. 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 two, 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 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, etc. 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.
