Brian Johnson (Heroic +1 #1,470) delivers a short motivational monologue reflecting on Stan Beecham's book Elite Minds and two powerful quotations from Abraham Maslow. He recounts Maslow's hyperbolic line about swimming 1,000 miles rather than giving up, then highlights Maslow's warning that deliberately planning to be less than one's capabilities will cause lifelong unhappiness. The piece ties these quotes to prior episodes about conquering fear and closes with a forceful call-to-action to 'step up' and give one's full effort.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. The other day, one of my new dear friends, who happens to be a big heroic investor, heroic coach and former Navy SEAL, sent me a text telling me that Elite Minds was an incredible book. I told him I loved it too, and shared a copy of our notes on it, to which he laughed and said, I've read the notes. That's why I got the book. Alrighty then. So that's why I reread my notes on Stan Beachum's great book before my meditation this morning. We featured a few of the wisdom gems from that great book in prior plus ones, including this one on A Thousand Mile Swims and this one on conquering fear, both of which are linked in this plus one. In fact, the one on conquering fear is basically exactly what we just talked about in our last one. Beecham tells us fear is keeping you from reaching your potential. Conquering fear should be your primary goal in life. Insert exploding head emoji. And this line from Abraham Maslow that Stan references is incredibly powerful as well. He tells us that Maslow told us, if I were dropped out of a plane into the ocean and told the nearest land was 1,000 miles away, I'd still swim. And I despise the ones who gave up. Insert another exploding emoji head. And before we move on, if you feel so inspired, take a moment and actually feel the intensity of the type of human being that would say something like this. If I were dropped out of a plane into the ocean and told the nearest land was a thousand miles away, I'd still swim. And he says I despise the ones who gave up. Then let's see if we can dial up your intensity to to a similar level and ensure you're not the one giving up. Today I want to chat about another line from Abraham Maslow that Stan drops in his great book. Then we'll explore some more powerful ideas from Elite Minds in our future plus ones. Here's the Maslow gem. Abe Grandpa Abe, as I refer to him when I look up at my heroic portrait of him on my wall. He tells us, if you deliberately plan to be less than you are capable of being, then I warn you that you'll be deeply unhappy for the rest of your life. You will be evading your own capacities, your own possibilities. Insert the third exploding head emoji. That's today's plus one. Remember what one can be. One must be. Are you planning on being anything less than you are capable of being? If so, I warn you that you will be deeply unhappy for the rest of your life. And I encourage you to step up. Show up and give us all you've got today. Day one. All in. Let go, hero.
