Phil Stutz, MD Reads the Foreword to Areté: Activate Your Heroic Potential

Hey guys, this is Brian and I am thrilled to share with you Phil Stutts forward from my new book Activate your heroic potential. I am honored and humbled that Phil, who wrote the Tools and Coming Alive and was featured in the Netflix documentary called Stutz, wrote the foreword to my book. I've worked with him for eight years now, 401 on one sessions and truly just honored that he wrote such a gracious and general forward that I am excited to share with you today. Hope you enjoy it and thank all of you who have already purchased the book. If you have not yet pre ordered a book, you can consider doing so finding it on Amazon. We've got some special gifts if you buy 1, 3, 10 or more copies of the book. We'll talk about at the end of this, but hope you enjoy. Thank you for all your support. Day one all in. Let's go hero.

Phil Stutt says Forward. I've been a psychiatrist for 45 years. That's a long time doing the same thing. Many of my colleagues have retired, worn down by the grind. What keeps me going is my patience. I've been fortunate enough to have a practice comprised of unusual people. They are not unusual because they've succeeded in conventional terms, even though most of them have. They are unusual because they refuse to be defined by any single accomplishment. Their identity is based on a process of endless possibility they don't stop creating. Working with these people can be profound, but it's also a lot of fun. Because I live in la, many of them are in show business, which also means they are famous. Eventually that rubbed off on me and I was designated as the shrink to the stars. I cringe when I hear that phrase. Yes, I have treated a lot of actors, but I've treated a lot of others in business, politics, the arts, medicine, etc. They all wanted the same thing. To unleash as much hidden potential as possible. Just the way a seed holds inside it the potential to become a tree. Every human being has a soul that holds inside it a vision of a future self. But that vision won't emerge by itself. Your soul has to be trained until it is strong enough to have an impact on the world. My job is to guide and encourage my patients as they move through this soul training. Rather than being the shrink to the stars, it would be more accurate to call me the shrink to the soul. You are about to read an extraordinary book written by an extraordinary person, Bryan Johnson I say that without hesitation because I have worked with Brian every week for years. At each meeting I poured into him the totality of everything. I had learned over 45 years on any topic. I had done this with many others, but no one even approached his ability to absorb information at dizzying speed and then make it his own. But that's only half the story. Training the soul is mostly a process focused on the individual. Brian is also a genius at connecting people and nurturing a collective soul force. In short, I know greatness when I see it. And Brian's greatness just keeps on growing. Brian has a profound impact on everyone who crosses his path. In today's digital media world, he's considered an influencer. But when I hear that term, I think of someone with a lot of Twitter followers, or someone who is plugged into the design and fashion worlds. The driving force for that kind of person is the fear of not being cool, which is ultimately the fear of being left out. Brian had no interest in working on this superficial level. It barely scratches the surface of what a human being is capable of. He would accept nothing less than the unlocking of the hidden potential in each human being. And just the way this potential goes unexpressed in each of us, the entire human race has its own hidden potential. Brian's goal was to uncover this collective potential. Without it, our survival as a planet is severely compromised. But to guide our whole species to its highest potential is a daunting task. It requires no less than the ability to inspire every single human being. This may sound grandiose, even impossible when you read it in the pages of this book, but when you're in Brian's physical presence, you can feel a boundless, almost supernatural enthusiasm that makes anything seem possible. Brian is a dreamer, and he dreams big. What sets him apart is that he is disciplined and practical in pursuit of those dreams. Most self help books are products waiting to be sold. They have little ambition beyond catching the attention of potential readers. We read them to give ourselves a non specific sense of hope. Brian doesn't criticize others, but he would never publish a book with such modest goals. Especially now. Because right now we face a challenge so all encompassing that it puts our very existence at risk. The challenge comes from an enemy that wants to destroy us. This enemy is invisible, but its effects stare us right in the face. Take a hard look at the institutions that form the foundation of modern society. Government, education, the church, science, finance, media, medicine, the judiciary, etc. In every area, there is a lack of discipline, leadership and transparency. This is a picture of a world that is falling apart. A world of chaos, fear and darkness. And only if we Put that world back together again. Will we be strong enough to defend ourselves? Sounds bleak and overwhelming. Enter Brian Johnson. He didn't know it. The world didn't know it. But he had been preparing for this moment all his life. The moment when the two sides of his soul, his two major talents, would work in harmony to defeat the enemy that had turned our world into a living hell. A force that could overcome evil. Here are the two sides of Brian. One, his drive to bring out the heroic potential of the individual. The state of functioning you'll need to reach if you want to do anything big and frightening. He presents this as a modern form of the hero. In a war, the hero runs towards the battle. The more conflict around him or her, the more inspired the hero becomes. Two, his drive to unify the human race as a unified whole. The human race is capable of anything. The problem is that evil works to prevent unification. It focuses on the differences between us, not the common ground. Brian has proven to me and to his thousands of followers that you can stay focused on the unique path towards your personal potential and at the same time live within a structure that applies to all human beings. He calls the values and habits that have this universal relevance. Virtues. The cardinal virtues Brian leans on have been present throughout all cultures across all time, including love, courage, wisdom and discipline. This is only the forward, not the book. I couldn't begin to cover all that you'll find as you read further, but understand the opportunity that you and I have been given. We are present at the inception of a new way to work with human beings. That is exactly what is needed right now. Its timeliness comes from the extraordinary amount of conflict, confusion and fear spreading without resistance over our world. What Brian has developed is much more than a bunch of coping mechanisms for the overstressed modern person, although that would be an improvement for most of us. He's developed a training program for the soul. Commit to this training and you will gain the ability to transmute your biggest problems, your darkest days, into unstoppable courage, endless enthusiasm, and an unshakable faith in the future. This book will change your life. And if enough of us commit, it will change the world. Phil Stutts, M.D. los Angeles, California.