Singer’s Formula for Success: Do Whatever Is in Front of You With… (Heroic +1 #1,384)
17 Dec 2025 · 0 min
Brian Johnson shares a story about teaching his son Emerson to snap fingers to show why everything is hard before it's easy. The lesson: master a skill by doing the work in front of you, over and over, until it clicks.
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Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. According to Wikipedia, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theater director and critic. According to the heroic quote Art Alexandra put on a refrigerator. He once said that everything is hard before it's easy. And that's what I thought of when Emerson came into my office this morning and told me he wanted to learn how to snap his fingers. Him? How do you make a sound that click? He said when you rub your fingers together. Me? You mean this snap? Him. Yeah, me. Well, you go like this and then you do that and then boom. Him. That's really hard to do while he's trying to do it with his little fingers. Me? Of course it is. Until it's not. Remember everything is hard before it's easy. Right? Him. Yeah, me. So how are you going to get good at it? Him. Practice. Me? Exactly. Fast forward to the end of the day and him. Him. Snap. And his little 10 year old version of it. The little guy's fingers were sore from practicing so much, but he could snap. Then we talked about all the other things that were super hard before they were super easy. Whistling, carving, reading, writing, not sucking his thumb. Pooping in the toilet is always a go to and well, that's today's plus one. Remember everything is hard before it's easy. Anything currently hard in your life, Perfect. Whoop it and decide whether or not you are willing to pay the price to make it happen and get to work. Day one all in. Let's go.
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