Podcast episode in which Brian Johnson recounts a powerful moment with his son Emerson after Emerson played (and won) at a chess tournament. Brian uses the moment to teach about courage — "walking through your fear doors" — and shares a personal origin story about entering a business plan competition at UCLA Anderson at age 23 (paying $500 for color copies) that led to winning $5 million to build his business. The episode closes with Michael Balchan (president and head coach at Heroic) promoting Heroic resources and thanking Brian for distilling books into practical wisdom.
Questions this episode answers
November 15, 2024.
23 years old.
$500.
$5 million.
The Anderson School of Business at UCLA.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. In our last plus one, we talked about the fact that Emerson didn't feel like going to the chess tournament that he wound up crushing. Now, right after he finished playing the last game, we were outside the Austin Grandmaster Chess Academy when we had what was for me, one of the most powerful moments of our relationship. Here's how it went down. When Emerson is playing really well in a tournament, he gets the opportunity to play on a top board. Those top boards have special technology that allow the game to be broadcast online so I can watch it live so he. Otherwise I can't watch him play. Right? So he was on a top board. For the last game of the tournament. I was watching online from the car where I'm camped out on days like this and then entering the move. So I've got one phone where I'm watching it. I got my bat phone where I'm entering the moves he just made on chess.com to see who is winning. They've got this probability of winning thing and they rate every move. It's amazing. It's an incredibly cool way to follow him while he's playing. Now, to state the obvious, chess isn't like baseball or basketball or soccer where you can watch your kids play. So when I get a chance to watch him like this, I love it. I probably sweat more than he does while he plays too. I'm all nervous. Anyway, he's dominating his opponent, who started playing in chess tournaments 25 years ago. In the match I'm watching. So I'm watching it and I see that the game's over and I go to the room to get him to celebrate. We walk outside. Then as we were standing there by ourselves and I got full body goosebumps typing this, I got down to eye level with him and I tell him that I'm really proud of him for showing up that day. Get emotional right now. Then I told him that some of the most powerful moments in my life have come when I did something I didn't want to do and almost didn't do. Note I talk about some of the fear doors that I call them I walked through in Arete and in some plus ones called Fear Door Part one, part two, and part three. Check those out, they're linked in this plus one. Now, the fear door I walked through that I shared with Emerson to make my point was a time when I was 23 years old and as I told him, had a lot more hair. He always finds that funny. So at 23, I was running my first business, and we had a chance to enter the business plan competition at the Anderson school of Business at ucla. If you've read the book or you know what I'm talking about, you know what I'm talking about. Now, I almost didn't go to that business plan competition because I didn't feel like we were ready. I told him that I had almost no money and. And the flight from the east coast, where I was living at the time, to Los Angeles was really expensive for me. And I told him that I went to Kinko's to print the business plan and had to decide whether I was going to do it in black and white or color. And that the $500 it cost me to do it in color was a lot of money for me at the time. But I flew out. I entered the competition. We got those color copies. We did our best. And he said, did you win? I said, we did. And I wound up $5 million to build that business. And it completely changed my life. But I said I almost didn't go because I didn't think I was ready. Then I said, I need you to know that some of the absolute best things in your life will happen when you have the courage to do the things you're afraid to do. I was emotional talking to him, just like I am now. And that, I said to him, is why I'm so proud of you for showing up today. And that's what the virtue of courage is all about. And that's today's plus one spotlight where it always belongs on you. What fear door do you need to walk through? Let's get really good at practicing our philosophy so we can help our kids and the next generation of heroes and everyone else in our lives do it with even more joy today.
What's up? This is Michael, president and head coach at heroic. One quick note before we go. I just think it's so amazing that Brian keeps reading all these books and distilling them into more wisdom and less time. By the way, thank you, Brian, for continuing to read the books, distill them for us. I love not having to read the book, just getting them more wisdom in less time to the plus ones of philosopher's notes. And if you're into this kind of thing, expressing the best version of yourself and using your greatest gifts, make a positive impact on the world. Make sure you head to heroic us to check out all the other resources that we have available to you. You can download a bunch of free goodies, including philosopher's notes, Masterclasses and our scientifically proven heroic app. You can also explore advanced resources to help you go next level, including live and virtual workshops, working one on one with a heroic performance coach or even becoming a certified coach yourself as you master heroic performance, the fundamentals of coaching excellence and Heroic coaching prosperity. I again head to Heroic Us to get the ancient wisdom, modern science and practical tools you need to activate your potential and change the world together. And please do hit subscribe, appreciate you have a fantastic day and see you again soon.
