17 Dec 2025 · 3 min
Brian Johnson describes how his kids Emerson and Eleanor keep leaving toilet paper rolls on the bathroom floor. Instead of getting mad, he started using it as a reminder to feel grateful for their presence and growth. He suggests listeners pick an annoying habit from someone they love and turn it into a gratitude trigger.
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. Toilet paper rolls seem to have become a surprisingly prominent part of my life, especially my parenting life. Laughing but it's true. We talked about Emerson's Kramer like intensity in this plus one that also made it into my book. As you may recall, I discussed the fact that Emerson has a lot of energy and for whatever reason, every time he goes number two in the bathroom, he somehow manages to to launch the toilet paper roll off its little holder and the toilet paper somehow manages to wind up strewn across the floor. As discussed, my toilet paper roll 101 lectures did not have the intended effect. I used to get annoyed every time I saw the toilet paper on the ground. Then I trained myself to alchemize that cue trigger prompt from being a source of annoyance to to being an opportunity to appreciate the fact that I have an incredible fast growing. He's almost as tall as his mom, super energized, brilliant little boy who is quickly becoming a young man who will soon never leave the toilet paper on the bathroom floor again. And I'm definitely not ready for that. And I want to use every opportunity I can to remember just how blessed I am and to have a healthy little boy and how quickly he's growing up, etc. And apparently Eleanor inherited the same toilet paper gene as well. So this morning, as I picked up her toilet paper roll from the bathroom floor, it hit me just how easy it is for me these days to instantly smile when I see the cue trigger prompt of that toilet paper roll. And I knew I needed to create this plus one. Here's the practical application for today. What tiny little thing does one of your loved ones do that currently annoys you way more than it should? It could be leaving the dishes out, or the laundry on the ground, or the toilet paper on the bathroom floor. What is it? Think of one thing one loved one does. You got it? Great. Now imagine that annoying thing no longer in your life along with that person who does that annoying thing. No longer being there to do that thing. Then commit to using that currently annoying behavior as a cue, a trigger, a prompt to appreciate how absolutely blessed you are to have that perfectly imperfect human being in your life. Let's practice our philosophy today.
