Brian Johnson records from a hotel during the Southwest Chess Championships, describing his morning routine with his son Emerson: yoga-like movements, 101 burpees daily, and a shared ice bath. He reflects on modeling virtues and cites Emerson's quote about enthusiasm.
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Hi, this is Brian. Welcome Back to another heroic plus one. I typed this from room 517 at the Doubletree Inn in Houston. It was 8:51am Central Time on day two of the Southwest Chess Championships. Emerson, when I typed this was currently 30 in the under 2000 division and tied with one other guy for first place. Let's go. I'm proud to say that I have been diligently and joyfully performing my wingman duties with excellence and Emerson just helped me with executing my protocol. Quick recap of the morning so far. After facetiming with Mommy and Eleanor we went for a little walk to get some early a.m. sun. Then we came back and did my opening series together. A little three to five minute series of yoga ish movements I've done basically every morning for well over a decade. That ends with a sun salutation and my first set of of burpees for the day. It was awesome to do it with him. I tell him everything, literally everything is more fun to do with him. I also tell him that if I was traveling and staying in a hotel and had a super busy day, which I tend to have when I'm traveling, I would have done a total of 10 sets of 11 burpees and that would have been my workout for the day. As it was, we just did our first three sets of burpees for the day, one walking back and forth in the room between sets. We'll do three sets of 11 burpees before his two other matches of the day as part of our pre match protocol with 13 in the final set to make sure we hit 101 total burpees for the day. Just like we did yesterday and just like we will do tomorrow and just like we've done before every single one of the 150 tournament matches he's played over the last two years. If there's an 11 year old kid with a more precise pre match chest protocol out there, I'd like to meet him or her. But that's not quite the point of this plus one. This is after we hammered the last set of 11 burpees. I asked him to help me get some ice from the ice machine on our floor. He's all in. He grabs the plastic recycled grocery bags I keep in my travel bag for such purposes and and we head out to get some ice. I hold the bag while he presses the button. Then he takes the full bag and runs to our room and dumps it in the bathtub that was already full of water from yesterday's ice bath. Then he runs back to take the next bag. We repeat that a few times and the bath is now filled with ice that's not melting, which is a good sign. It's appropriately freezing. Now, as I watch him race back to help with the last bag, I tell him, you know, we named you after Ralph Waldo Emerson for a bunch of reasons, and you embody one of my favorite quotes of his. He's looking at me with a smile and I continue. Ralph Waldo once said, enthusiasm is one of the most powerful engines of success. When you do a thing, do it with all your might, put your whole soul into it, stamp it with your own personality. Be active. Be energetic. Be enthusiastic and faithful. Be, and you will accomplish your objective. Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. Then I said, that's just like you. You do everything with so much joy and enthusiasm. It's one of my favorite things about you. He beamed. And that's today's +1. Two parts. First, let's model what that level of enthusiasm looks like for our family and friends and teammates. Second, let's make sure we notice and celebrate the virtues we see in our loved ones and teammates, who, if we're doing it right, are also our loved ones. Of course. And whether that virtue is enthusiasm and joy or creativity or a sense of humor or playfulness or grit or kindness or gratitude or any of the range of virtues we aspire to embody and recognize one of our heroic members. What's up? Obin inspired me to create a heroic target in my love protocol called I See Virtues in Action. I literally just got out my bat phone, tapped on practice, and then tapped on my love identity of you're a good wingman and just target swiped that. Now I see virtues in action. It's day one. We're all in. Here's to channeling Emersons. Both of them enthusiasm and let's go.
