Brian JohnsonChairman & Philosopher in Residence at Heroic

Why Growth Isn't a Straight Line

14 Jun 2026 · 1 min

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In this short talk, Brian Johnson explores how people struggle with uncertainty and the impulse to over‑plan. Citing Phil’s philosophy that any theory without action is useless, Johnson uses a beach‑ball metaphor: a ball pushed below water naturally resurfaces, just as we must push ourselves into action to rise above endless thinking. He argues that action fuels creativity, provides real data, and enables a cycle of learning and adjustment. The core message is to stop waiting for perfect certainty, take the next best step, gather feedback, and iterate, recognizing that personal growth is non‑linear and driven by doing rather than over‑analysis.

Chapters

We all want everything to be perfectly mapped out for us, and we know that that's silly, yet we still want it. We struggle with our ability to deal with uncertainty. Phil says any philosophy that doesn't end in action is useless. Most people, when faced with uncertainty, they just want to step way back and figure it all out, think about it. Phil says it's like a beach ball. A beach ball stays above the water, right? You push it down, what does it do? It wants to pop back up above the water. Phil says that's what we're like in our lives. We want to think and think and think, but we need to push that ball down. Into action. We need to do. And he says action drives creativity. You're never going to have it all figured out. You just need to be in the game. You need to do your best with what you believe to be the next best step. Get data, learn, and then adjust your decisions, adjust your action.