Brian Johnson shares his son Emerson's chess tournament results, then describes seeking "micro moments of awesome" in everyday life. At Whole Foods, he connects with a produce employee named Maurice over shared Southern California roots, and chooses a staffed checkout to engage with a human rather than self-checkout.
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Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Heroic Plus One. In the last couple Plus Ones, we mined some wisdom from a recent chess adventure weekend, the Middle School National Chess Championships. Let's continue. First, the update. Emerson wound up drawing his opponent in round 6. He's entering the final round in about the same position in which he started, tied for 28th out of 233 of the best kids in the country. Nope. He wound up taking a couple of byes for the late games as he wasn't feeling 100% as he picked up something from the last week of school and we wanted to make sure he got a good night of sleep. Perfect. Now, he missed tying for first in last year's Nationals by half a point. Next year, he'll probably enter in the top 10 and have a shot at winning. Awesome. Now, we had a couple-hour break between rounds, so we went to Whole Foods to pick up some food. Rotisserie chicken and orange and some coconut water for curious souls. Now, I don't get out much. I'm a bit of a hermit these days. So anytime I'm out and about, I'm actively looking for ways I can create micro moments of awesome, or to get more technical on you, micro moments of positivity resonance, which is how Barbara Fredrickson puts it in her great book, Love 2.0. Check out the notes. You know, those moments in which you're truly present and connected with someone. Even if only for a few moments, you can create super powerful micro-moments of resonance. That's the essence of what Barbara calls Love 2.0. And that's what I'm looking for on this trip to Whole Foods. Now, the first moment occurs as I'm grabbing some iceberg lettuce. I say hi to the guy who's stocking the shelves and he says, looks like some cilantro fell down there. Let me get it. I say, yeah, I know what that's like. I used to work in the produce department for 5 years. I used to close the store down. He says, no way, that's awesome. I like to work the mornings, get to unload the trucks and get it all set up. And I said, yeah, driving forklifts is awesome, huh? He agrees and asks where I worked. I told him it was way back in the day in California at a grocery store called Lucky's that's now called Albertsons. Fun fact, my dad worked in that same grocery store for 39 years, most of that as a produce manager with the last part as a supervisor. And I started my first job bagging groceries The day after I turned 16, literally, and worked in the produce department through high school and college at UCLA. Now he says, no way, I grew up in California. And I say, no way, what part? He says, Southern California, Newport Beach. I say, dude, that's crazy. I grew up in Fountain Valley, 15 minutes from him. I went to Mater Dei. He says, ha, I went to Corona del Mar High School. Goosebumps. Then he turns around to show me the back of his jacket that says OCC. short for Orange Coast College. I asked him what led to him moving to Austin, and we're less than 90 seconds into our interaction and we're already long-lost bros. He asks Emerson what his name is and gives us both a fist bump and a big smile as he tells us his name is Maurice. Now, if Dr. Fredrickson was there, she'd check the box on the creation of positivity resonance. Now, you can literally measure that in your brain, in your HRV, all that stuff. Now, that's the first successful creation of a micro moment of awesome for the day. I wasn't done yet. The second one came when I went through the normal checkout line rather than the self-checkout. That's another personal practice of mine. Any chance I get, I interact with a human being. No self-checkout for me unless I'm really in a hurry. And That's today's +1. See if you can create a micro moment of awesome with someone. Have fun. Let's go. Hey, this is Brian. Thanks for spending a few minutes with me today. If you enjoyed it, please hit subscribe so that the best of the show keeps landing in your feed. Then head over to heroic.us. That's heroic.us where you'll find the full library of wisdom I've created over the last 20 years. As well as the app, advanced training programs, coaching, and everything else we've built to help you optimize your life, actualize your potential, and live heroically. It is day 1. We are all in. Let's go.
