Brian Johnson walks through a four-step method to boost performance: picture your best self, list what blocks you, identify the biggest obstacle, then replace it with a better habit. He uses Pete Carroll and sports psychologist Michael Gervais's work with the Seattle Seahawks as an example.
Foreign. Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another micro class. This one's on what's in the Way? What's in the Way? Inspired by Mind Hacking by John Hargrave. John tells a great story of Pete Carroll, Seahawks coach. Check out our notes on Win Forever. So Pete Carroll, before he started his adventure with the Seahawks, right when he was beginning, had dinner with one of the world's leading sports psychologists, a guy named Michael Gervais. And the two of them hit it off. And Pete said to him, hey, how about we create a masterpiece together? What do you say? We create a masterpiece together? Let's make the Seattle Seahawks extraordinary. And what they did was they made mental training as important as the physical training. And Michael Gervais came in and he helped lead the charge with this. And what he did was he had his athletes imagine themselves performing at their absolute best. I mean, just on fire. Peak performance. What does that look like for you? He would ask, what does it feel like? Vividly capture the elements of you showing up at your highest potential. Right. Peak performance. But he didn't stop there. Then he would say, okay, what gets in the way between you experiencing this more consistently? What's in the way of you shining as brightly as you can? Let's identify those things and let's create a strategy to remove them. Because if we can get rid of these things, then you can shine here more consistently. That's what we want to do. So you can approach this from a ton of different angles. But let's just think about it right now. First, imagine you performing at your best. What does that look like? Capture it, feel it, imagine it. Know what your masterpiece days look and feel like. Then think about the obstacles. What gets in the way? Oh, that blocks me. That blocks me too. So does that. Oh, that doesn't help. What are the things that you do that get in the way of you being that more often? Then think about your number one thing and figure out what you're going to do to eliminate that. You can use a ton of different tools. We talk about it in habits 101. One of the simplest and most powerful is if you then to remove your Kryptonite. If I feel tempted to do X that then I will do Y instead. This will take me on a negative track. That will take me positive. Systematically remove the things that are getting in the way of you showing up at your peak. That's what it's all about. At the end of the day, let's optimize and actualize. Hope you enjoyed. Look forward to Sharing more soon. See ya. 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 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 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 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 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 SA. Hope to astonish you. There you go.
