Brian Johnson (Heroic +1 #1655) urges listeners to stop treating themselves as the center of the universe by performing small, secret acts of service for others. He recaps a previous exercise about finding three tiny, reward-free kindnesses, gives two personal examples (swapping an Oura ring charger and replacing a bottled spring water), and cites David Reynolds' Constructive Living—including the line, "the most peaceful people I know have given themselves away"—as the philosophical foundation. The episode ends with an energetic call-to-action to complete 1–3 micro acts of loving service immediately.
Chapters
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. In our last plus one we talked about finding three tiny little top secret things we could do for a loved one without expecting a reward or them even knowing about it. I shared my super tiny act of love of swapping out my Oura ring charger for Emerson's. And another crazy tiny little thing I like to do is noticing when our two and a half gallon wifey approved bottled spring water needs to be swapped out for a full water bottle and doing it as a tiny little act of love for Alexandra so she doesn't need to do it. Now here's a little more context on Patricia's wisdom and the practice of doing nice things for other people. So quick context. Patricia is a big fan of David Reynolds. So am I. Reynolds wrote Constructive Living, which has to be in the pantheon of best little books. Most people have never heard him. He's the guy who gave me the phrase now what needs to be done? Check out our notes on the book for more. Now in that same book, Reynolds also tells us that, and I quote, the most peaceful people I know have given themselves away. On the other hand, the most miserable people I have known have been self focused. They worry about getting their share. They evaluate everyone's acts in terms of how they themselves are affected. Then he tells us the Japanese language uses a single word for self centered and selfish. The word means literally the self in the middle of the heart, the ego in the center of the mind. It means putting old number one first. That's today's plus one. It's time to move ourselves out of thinking we're in the center of the universe. How? Let's find a micro act of service or three we can engage in to deliberately take our focus off of ourselves. What are those acts for? You think about it and go hit them today. 1, 2, 3. And if you feel so inspired, go dominate your first micro act of loving service right now. Seriously. 1, 2, 3. Let's go.
