Brian Johnson (Heroic) describes how using the Heroic app and its Big Three protocol produced rapid, observable improvements in his relationships and daily energy. He recounts a personal anecdote where brief, intentional "micro moments of awesome" (target swipes) with his mother‑in‑law led her to say “something’s different with Brian,” and cites randomized-trial results claiming a 23% energy boost for users who hit one target and a shift from the 53rd to the 70th percentile of flourishing in 30 days with coaching. The piece explains how he teaches leaders to move from theory (philosopher’s notes, classes) to practice (checklists, targets) to mastery, and closes with a prompt to define one’s best self and a CTA to view 596 hug emojis in the app.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Heroic plus one. In our last plus one we talked about my micro moments of awesome with Eleanor and her five big hug with Eleanor, target swipes that led to an all time total of 596hugs with her tracked in our Heroic app we got a bunch of hug emojis. In the written version of this we got 51 hugs in fact represented via that little emoji. Now 596 of those are below. Now today I want to chat about one of the stories I often tell when I'm leading a Heroic workshop to teach elite teams how to fully leverage heroic for themselves and the organizations they lead. Now I start our Heroic workshop by establishing the intellectual framework and explaining how I've distilled a couple decades spent studying ancient wisdom and modern science into a practical framework that includes the seven objectives that form the backbone of of our Heroic Coach certification program, basic training in our app, our Arete book, and everything we do together. Then I give these leaders a quick tour of the theory section in the Heroic app as I show them how to get more wisdom in less time via the palaus ones, philosopher's notes, 101 classes, etc. Then I show them how to move from theory to practice to mastery by setting up their Heroic Big three protocol such that their prior best becomes their new baseline as they go next, next, next level in their performance, which will help everyone they lead in their organization go next next next level in their performance such that their organization activates its heroic potential. Everyone shows up more joyfully energized, productive, and connected. Now we have rigorous randomized controlled trial scientific research that establishes the efficacy of the app. We know that if you're like those who went through our study and hit just one target in the app, you're likely to be 23% more energized than those who don't. We also know that we can move individuals from the 53rd percentile flourishing to the 70th percentile in just 30 days with a little coaching and a few minutes spent in the app per day. And here's the personal story I often share to establish the power of the app. Quick Context I first started using the beta version of our app two years ago. Of course, I took the time to set up my Big three protocol. I started by naming my best self as I created an identity of my best self in energy, work and well then I identified the top virtues that best version of myself embodied in each of my Big three. Then most importantly, I made a checklist of the key behavioral targets I hit when I'm at my best. Of course, I did that for my energy work and well, now a little more context. As I've shared, we live out in the country outside of Boston. We have a guest tiny house on our property. Alexandra's awesome mom used to spend half of her time living with us. Love you, Nama M2 Kitty. Now, of course, I strive to be a good human being and I'm also a bit introverted and can get a bit locked in my head when I'm in busy focus mode, which is a lot of the time. So when I first got the app it Nama was living with us. I added a target in my love protocol to make sure I created a micro moment of awesome with Nama. Now, when I made that commitment, I programmed my brain to look for opportunities to connect with Nama and Alexandra and my kids and others. So for example, when I was working out on the trail and passed by Nama's tiny house, rather than rush by, I'd slow down, cruise over to say hi and spend a few seconds connecting with Nama. Literally just a few seconds of awesome. Target swipe. Micro moment of awesome with Nama. Now, only Alexandra knew that I had a beta version of the new heroic app, and I was using the app for just three days when Alexandra's mom told her something's different with Brian got goosebumps typing that, I got goosebumps saying that it was in that moment that I knew we had something special. Now again, I like to think that I'm a reasonably highly functioning person. And I found it remarkable that investing just a few minutes in our app each day, starting with our AM protocol, in which I committed to doing certain things to be in integrity with the best version of myself and that I am committed to being then hitting those targets during the day, could have such an immediate significant impact on the quality of my relationships with people I love. And that's today's plus one. Who are you at your best? What specifically do you do? Have you taken the time to get really clear on that? And do you have a simple virtuous checklist for those behaviors? Of course. There are an infinite number of ways to move from theory to practice to mastery to activate our heroic potential. But pick one and Crush it today. P.S. as promised, you can check out the one in the app to see 596 more hug emojis representing my hugs with Eleanor.
