24 Sept 2026 · 2 min
Brian Johnson shares a micro-practice of holding doors open for others as a way to slow down and spread kindness. A woman once commented on his Southern courtesy, and research shows small positive actions ripple outward. He invites listeners to practice this simple act daily.
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another Heroic Plus One. We're kind of on a roll inventorying all the little ways we can practice our philosophy while out and about. Today we'll talk about another favorite practice. First, chess update. Eleanor won her first chess trophy. Let's go! Proud dad. She's one of the top 100 9-year-old girls in the country, 6 months into playing competitively, number 70 at the moment. And was number 30, um, 8-year-old girls right before she turned 9. So here's today's micro practice. Super simple. Hold the door open for someone. Now, I tend to be in my head and in a hurry, so I like to find ways to slow down. If I'm in the elevator, I want to be the guy who holds the door while everyone else gets out. If I'm walking into a building, I like to hold the door open for the person who's behind me. Even if they're right on the edge of being so far away that you can pretend you didn't notice. Fun fact, I'm typing this +1 as I wait for Eleanor to finish her first round of the day. We just did our quick pre-match protocol, which included 3 sets of 11 burpees. We did the last set outside, then we walked inside. I held the door open for a woman who was right at that edge of being so far away I didn't need to wait. What did she say? Well, she said, I must be in the South, where men hold the door open for you. She said, I'm from Missouri, where they don't do that. Sorry about the shade, Missourians. Some of the nicest people I know are from Kansas City. But I repeat, tiny things matter. That tiny little act of kindness created a tiny micro ripple of awesome, and research shows that positive little acts like that do in fact ripple out. And so do negative ones. That's today's plus one. Do something nice for someone, however small, all day, every day, especially today. 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.
