A short micro-class by Brian Johnson that contrasts 'sacrifices' with deliberate 'decisions' using Georges St. Pierre's approach from The Way of the Fight. Johnson urges listeners to define a clear target (telos), cut distractions by decision rather than framing them as sacrifices, and recommends a simple practice: list one thing to do more of and one to do less of to stay aligned. The episode closes with a promotion for his newsletter and paid membership resources.
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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's on sacrifices versus decisions. It's inspired by Georges St. Pierre GSP's the Way of the Fight. Awesome book. Check out the note below. He made a great distinction in this book between sacrifices and decisions. So basically, GSP created a target. Remember, Greek word telos equals target, right? Which is basically his mission, his purpose, whatever you want to call it. But basically he decided that he was going to be the best fighter he could possibly be the best in the world, world champion at what he does. That was his target. It was a very clear aim. And he's sitting here and he's identifying, well, what do I need to do to get there? And then anything that got in the way of him achieving that outcome was removed. But he didn't do it with like a whiny, oh, I'm making sacrifices, I can no longer party and I have to get up early to train. Those weren't sacrifices. Those were decisions that he made as a powerful creator in pursuit of his ideal vision. So remember, the word decision comes from the Latin de ser, to cut, right? There's your scissors, cutting off certain things from your life. So for you, what's your target? What's your purpose? What's your sacred calling? As Stephen Cope puts it, into the great work of your life. He tells us the story of all these great human beings from Gandhi and Darwin and all these other great guys who structured their entire lives just like GSP did, to do this. They stopped doing this stuff and they did this. They made a decision to cut certain things out of their life. So for you, might be helpful to make a list. What are the things you're going to do more of and what are the things you're going to stop doing? Anytime I use that to pursue big goals, and I also use that anytime I feel myself a little off balance, I say, look, what's one thing I need to do more of and what's one thing I need to do less of? Constantly come back to that, to recalibrate, get the equanimity and continue to perform on a high level. So for you, what is it? This is your target. This is where you are. This. Hello. This is what you're committed to doing, what goes and what gets amplified. Make the decision. Don't ever call them sacrifices again. They're not. They're conscious decisions. You're excited about it. Let's go out and optimize and actualize sacrifices versus Decisions. Hope you enjoyed. I look forward to sharing more soon. 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 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 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.
