This is a short spoken mini‑chapter (audio/video transcript) by Brian Johnson that lists and briefly explains ten principles for living optimally: optimism, purpose, self‑awareness, goals, action, energy, wisdom, courage, love, and entheos (spirit). The speaker frames the book around these ten principles and signals future expansion on each.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian with another mini chapter from A Philosopher's Notes. This one's called the 10 principles of optimal Living. From what I can see, the essence of optimal living comes down to these 10 principles. Number one, optimism. If we can't tame that crazy drunk monkey in our mind and shape the contents of our consciousness, nothing else matters. Period. Number two, purpose. What inspires you? What's your dharma, your purpose, your highest calling? Living an authentically awesome life requires creating an empowering vision and keeping your eye on your highest goal without losing yourself on a manic Holy Grail chase. Number three, self awareness. From the Oracle of Delphi and the Buddha to modern science, it's clear we've got to know ourselves. How well do you know thyself? Number four, goals. Whether it's meditating first thing tomorrow morning or starting your business or family or painting or whatever, we've got to have goals that inspire us. Number five. Action. All that's nice, but we've got to follow Guru Nike's advice and just do it. Are you just doing it or are you just talking about it? Number six, Energy. We're going to have a hard time reaching our potential if we have a hard time getting out of bed or getting out of debt. Are you honoring the simple fundamentals of nutrition, exercise, rejuvenation and money? Number seven, wisdom. Wisdom is all about approaching life as our classroom and looking at every moment as another opportunity to live our ideals. Number eight, Courage. The word comes from the Latin word for heart. It's the virtue that pumps blood to all the other virtues. Without it, none of this other stuff matters. So how's your courage pumping? Number nine. Love. Love, love, love. How are your relationships? Are you studying love like you'd study a sport or a musical instrument or a language you want to master? Number 10, entheos. God, spirit, the universe, whatever you call the force that beats, beats our hearts and keeps the planets in line. It's the center and circumference of everything. Connecting to it is a very good idea. You plugged in the 10 principles of optimal Living. The book is essentially organized around these principles, and I'm excited to go into detail and give you some big ideas on each of them. For now, hope you enjoyed and have an awesome day.
