552: Brian Johnson - How To Activate Your Heroic Potential, Develop Charisma, Become Intrinsically Motivated, Build Emotional Stamina, & Live With Arete
Nov 6, 2023
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Brian Johnson, founder of Heroic Public Benefit Corporation, discusses topics such as developing charisma, living with arete, and activating your heroic potential. They explore the concept of intrinsic motivation, the importance of overcoming fear, and the need for continual improvement in personal protocol.
Developing charisma involves showing up fully, understanding your power, and authentically caring for others.
To embody our potential, we must constantly practice and adhere to our personal protocol, especially during challenging times.
Prioritizing intrinsic motivation leads to sustainable happiness by focusing on personal growth, relationships, and meaningful contributions.
Deep dives
Moving from theory to practice to mastery
Moving from theory to practice to mastery is the key to personal growth and development. It involves taking ideas we know theoretically and putting them into action. This process requires continuous effort and a moment-to-moment practice of embodying our highest potential. By bridging the gap between who we can be and who we currently are, we can achieve personal growth and fulfill our potential.
Living with RTA: Closing the gap between who we are and who we can be
Living with RTA (Right Thought, Right Action) is about closing the gap between our potential and our actual selves. RTA is about consistently expressing our best selves in every moment. By rewinding and reflecting on our actions, we can identify areas where we fell short and learn from them. Cultivating targeted thinking helps us clarify our goals and the necessary actions to achieve them, enabling us to become the best version of ourselves.
Intrinsic versus Extrinsic Motivation: Pursuing what truly matters
Intrinsic motivation, which revolves around becoming a better human being, deepening relationships, and making meaningful contributions, leads to sustainable happiness. In contrast, extrinsic motivation, driven by external factors like fame, wealth, and material possessions, often leaves individuals feeling unfulfilled. Recognizing the importance of intrinsic motivation allows us to prioritize personal growth, relationships, and meaningful contributions in pursuit of a more fulfilling life.
Key Point 1: Charisma is achieved through presence, power, and warmth
Charisma is about being fully present with the person in front of you, showing them that they are important. It requires a combination of presence, power, and warmth. Presence means being fully focused on the conversation and not being distracted by other things. Power is about projecting your best self with a calm and deliberate demeanor. Warmth is crucial to make others feel comfortable and cared for. The combination of presence, power, and warmth creates a deep sense of charisma.
Key Point 2: Developing unshakeable confidence and personal protocol
Confidence is built through trust, specifically trust in one's ability to respond to any situation. This trust is developed by consistently doing what one says they will do. In order to cultivate unshakeable confidence, one must also focus on becoming anti-fragile, which means growing stronger in the face of challenges. This can be achieved by having a clear personal protocol, which is a set of behaviors or habits that are adopted when one is at their best. By consistently following their personal protocol, individuals can forge stronger confidence and resilience.
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Charisma: Presence, Power, and Warmth - Show up, be fully there. In that moment with the person in front of you. Flip the switch. Understand your power. And deeply care for others. Be warm, not cold. And it’s important that each of these is expressed with authenticity. That’s how to develop more charisma.
How to develop our protocol - A simple exercise. Get a sheet of paper. On one side write “DO.” On the other side, write “DON’T.” Think of yourself at your best, what do you do? That’s your protocol. And remember that the worse you feel, the more committed you need to be to your protocol
It’s always day one. Brian thinks of his time spent with the Navy SEALs. They work to earn their trident every single day. Today is the day. It’s always the right day to earn it. It’s always day 1.
Arete – An ancient Greek word. We translate it into English as ‘virtue’ or ‘excellence,’ but it has a deeper meaning. Something closer to ‘expressing the best version of yourself moment to moment to moment.’
Inter-leaving - The basic idea is simple: If you want to learn something, you’re better off varying your practice rather than grooving one identical rep after another.
Epictetus - One of his students took great lecture notes and captured his wisdom in a manual called the Enchiridion. The Greek word for Enchiridion is translated as “handbook,” and it’s important to note that the word literally means “within” + “hand.”
Intrinsic versus Extrinsic motivation – Which motivation leads to greater levels of happiness and flourishing? Why? It’s why people who get to the peak of what David Brooks calls the “First Mountain” look around and wonder why they don’t feel fulfilled. They got all the stuff they were told would make them happy and… they’re not.
Phil Stutz wrote the Foreword – Practice comprised of unusual people. “They refuse to be defined by any single accomplishment. Their Identity is based on a process of endless possibility. They don’t stop creating.”
Two primary obstacles getting in our way are fear and laziness. This comes from Phil Stutz...
AM and PM Bookends – “Get these right and you’re 80% there.”
Targeted thinking - What do I want? What's needed to get that done?
Consistency - "Who you are speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you say."
Unshakeable confidence -- Anti-fragile confidence. You have intense trust that you have what it takes to respond.
Anti-Fragility - The more life kicks you around, the better you get.
Emotional stamina - The worse you feel, the more committed you are to your protocol.
Protocol - Think of yourself at your best... What are you doing?
Hero - An ancient Greek word for protector
Get clear on your identity
Sleep, meditate, work out, work, love
Pilots have checklists before they fly a plane... We should use one too each day.
Create your "Do" and "Don't" list
Intrinsic vs Extrinsic motivation -- Deepend relationships, help in your community, focus on your eulogy virtues today...
Hire a coach... We all need a coach
A great coach has believable hope, they see your potential
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