Brian Johnson explains why personal growth isn't a straight line but a series of zigzags. Your worst days now can eventually surpass your best days from years ago. The key is accepting setbacks and staying consistent, the way George Leonard described mastery.
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another micro class. This one's on Zigzags. It's inspired by Change youe Brain, Change youe life. Daniel Amen, MD. Here's the basic idea. Dr. Amen tells us that no one, but only no one, gets better in a straight line. We all want to go from feeling not so great to feeling awesome in a straight line, but he says that's just not how it works. No one gets better in a straight line. The people he sees are kind of hanging out down here, right? They're not doing too great. They come and see him and they make some gains. But guess what? They always go down. They might even go down there, right? Then they go up again. Then they go down. Then they go up. Then they go down. Then they go up. Then they go down, up, down, up, down. And then they reach a sustainable level of happiness. But even then, pay attention there. There still are highs and lows. Now, a couple things I want to highlight here. What's exciting is that as we do the work, over time, our highs consistently get higher. Wow, that's cool. And our lows consistently get higher. And what that means is that your worst day at this stage of the game is still way better than your prior best days. That's exciting. But we want to embrace the fact that all change occurs in growth spurts like this. As George Leonard says, in mastery, you take three steps forward, then you stumble back a step, two steps forward. And sometimes you stumble back three steps. Sometimes it may even go like that. It may not feel good, but you get back on the game and you realize that's part of the process, and you do what needs to get done next. But you remember, growth does not occur in straight lines. Think zigzags. This is the path to mastery. It's exciting. Let's make our highs higher and our lows higher as we optimize and actualize. Have an awesome day. See you. Isn't it a bit odd we went from math to science to history, but somehow missed the class on how to live? For some wacky reason, optimal living 100 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 asterisks 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 with 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 five 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.
