Brian Johnson shares Edwin Locke's insight: people who avoid pain are "the living dead." Vulnerability, hard work, and uncertainty aren't obstacles to a good life. They're what make it worth living.
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic one. Caroline Adams Miller is one of my favorite human beings on the planet and her book Creating youg Best Life is one of my all time favorite books. In fact, it's at least tied for first as my all time favorite positive psychology book. Note. We have notes on nearly all the best positive psychology books from Seligman's flourished Angela Duckworth's Grit. So that sang a lot. Now why is this book one of my all time favorites? Because Caroline has a remarkable ability to make the basic science of well being super practical. And the density of truly practical, scientifically grounded wisdom in this book is astonishing. Now I'm typing this right in the middle of creating the philosopher's note on her great book. I was typing out a quote that will appear on the sidebar in the PDF slash between big ideas in the app and I was so blown away by one of them that I had to stop everything and make sure I shared this in a plus one first. A little more context than the quote I think you'll love. Now, a guy named Gary Latham wrote the forward to creating your best life. As you may know, Dr. Latham and his colleague, Dr. Edwin Locke are the world's preeminent authorities on the science of goal setting. Their theories are known as Locke and Latham's goal setting theory. Latham's two page forward in the book is amazing. In it he tells us, and I quote, this book is a must read because it brings science to life. Your life. I agree. Again, I highly recommend you check out the book. And by the way, an aside. Since I actually created this note, typed it out before I filmed it, I wrote the forward to Caroline's next book called Big Goals. It's going to be awesome on the science of goal setting. More on that soon. Now here's the quote from Edwin Locke that stopped me in my tracks and made me create this plus one. Edwin Locke tells us, and I quote, there are two kinds of people in the world. The vulnerable and the dead. Those who live only to avoid being hurt are the living dead. Pause. Soak that in. Insert head exploding emoji. That is today's plus one. I repeat, there are two kinds of people in the world. The vulnerable and the dead. Those who live only to avoid hurt are the living dead. Now if there are two kinds of people, I wonder, which one are you? As we contemplate that, let's remember Phil Stutz's three unavoidable realities of life. My beloved Yoda tells us that we will all experience pain, uncertainty, and the need for constant hard work, but only for the rest of our lives. Now if you fail to embrace that reality and you're trying to avoid those three things, then, well, at the risk of being harsh, but leaning on one of the world's leading scholars for the intense inspiration. You are the living dead. Lets not be that. It's time to forge the wisdom, discipline, courage and love to activate our heroic potential today. P.S. remember, we love Poo Puh and we love puke. P U C W. Check out those plus ones.
Heroic +1: What’s THE Most Creative Act in the Universe?: Turning Around Glitches (#2024)
