Brian Johnson argues that adaptability, not innate talent, is the gift everyone shares. Drawing on Anders Ericsson's Peak, he explains how the brain and body improve through practice, then previews the difference between naive, purposeful, and deliberate practice.
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another micro class. This one's on the gift. It's inspired by Peak secrets from the new science of expertise. Anders Ericsson, the world's leading authority on what makes great performers great. He makes the important point in the introduction that we all have the gift. Too often we see somebody who's performing at this amazing magical level, right? And we may see ourselves over here, and we're like, huh?
Wow.
That person's amazing. They're awesome. They have a gift and I don't. And Anders makes the very, very important point that, yes, their gifts are extraordinary, but we all have the same gift. We. Which is what? Which is adaptability. We have the ability to improve, to adapt. Our brains and our bodies are extraordinarily adaptable, and we need to know that we have the gift as well. What these people do more than other people who may not think they have the gift, is they use that gift of adaptability to. To its fullest extent. How do they do that? Well, that's what we're going to talk about in this series of micro classes. The short story is they practice, then they practice, then they practice some more. Next micro class, we're going to talk about more details on what proper practice looks like and juxtapose naive practice, purposeful practice, and deliberate practice. But for now, I want you to know that we all have the gift. And the downside, the toxic, the dark side of not thinking that you have the gift and believing too much in innate talent, that it was somehow about this person's genes or whatever that made them great, is that when things are hard for us or our kids or whatever, we think we must just not have it, right? We don't have that gift.
We don't have it, and then we don't even try.
So his whole point, and why he kicked the book off this way and he ended the book this way, is that we all have that gift of adaptability. We just need to lean into it and practice wisely. More on that in a moment.
Isn't it a bit odd that we went from math to science to history, but somehow missed the class on how to live? For some wacky reason, optimal L 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 under line 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 is 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 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've 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.
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