ADVANCE PRAISE FOR

ARETÉ

“I wish this book was available fifty years ago when I was just
starting out on my own life journey. I wholeheartedly recom-
mend it.”
— John Mackey, co-founder and former CEO,
Whole Foods Market

“Optimization for the sake of optimization is ultimately

shallow. Brian Johnson draws from profound ancient wisdom,
activated with powerful modern science, to provide a deeper
alternative: the cultivation of heroism. This book provides the
answer for those who are asking that most basic of questions:
What should I do with my life?”
— Cal Newport, New York Times bestselling author of
Digital Minimalism and Deep Work

“This book will unlock the recesses of your true capabilities.

Brian Johnson shows even the most successful leaders that there
is more in the fuel tank to reach even greater heights. An absolute
must-read for those who want to reach the Mount Olympus of
leading superstar-performing teams.”
— Mike Manazir, Retired U.S. Navy Admiral, Top Gun Pilot,
bestselling author of Learn How to Lead to Win
 “This is a must-read for anyone looking to take their game
of life to the pro level!! The wisdom from Brian in this book is
unmatched and it will unequivocally change your life!”
— Sean Casey, New York Yankees hitting coach,
3x Major League Baseball All-Star

“Mark my words: Brian Johnson is going to change the

world, and this book is his ultimate manifesto. I’ve seen it
over and over—when people connect with the Heroic move-
ment they flourish. And flourishing is contagious. One
purpose-driven hero impacts others, and within just a few iter-
ations, the world. The science is solid; the history goes deep.
Areté will elevate us all.”
— Susan Peirce Thompson, PhD, professor of brain and
cognitive sciences, New York Times
bestselling author of Bright Line Eating

“From the beginning of this book Brian Johnson sets up

incredibly high expectations, promising us the best, most heroic
version of ourselves. And then, with each word, metaphor, story,
and research, Brian proceeds to overdeliver on his promise. You
have in your hands a life-changing masterpiece.”
— Tal Ben-Shahar, PhD, New York Times bestselling author of
Happier, taught largest class at Harvard

“As a close friend and mentor, Brian’s insights and guid-

ance have had a profound impact on my own personal growth.
His unwavering dedication to making a positive impact on the
world motivates me to be a better human being each day. Brian’s
burning passion for living life through the concept of Areté makes
his noble mission a cause to relentlessly support. We all want a
better world for our kids and future generations. Many of Brian’s
tenets of character and leadership have been woven into the very
fabric of our world-class warriors in Naval Special Warfare during
their basic training phase. Brian has been extremely gracious
to the families of our fallen heroes, for which I will always be
grateful. Brian Johnson is an exceptional individual that comes
along once in a lifetime who possesses the wisdom, leadership
qualities, and love of humanity that are necessary to make a lasting
difference in our world.”
— Mike Magaraci, former Force Master Chief of the
Naval Special Warfare Community

“In Areté, Brian Johnson masterfully integrates time-hon-

ored wisdom with contemporary science, creating a road
map for increased well-being. This will sound cheesy, but it’s
more than just a book—it’s a call for all of us to unearth our
untapped potential. Brian offers practical, tangible tools for turn-
ing our greatest challenges into fuel for resilience and personal
transformation. His new book is essential reading for anyone
seeking to harness their heroic potential and influence the
world in a positive way.”
— Sonja Lyubomirsky, PhD, Distinguished Professor
of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside,
bestselling author of The How of Happiness
 “Every hero needs a guide. But when they hand you the play-
book to leading a life of meaning… it’s the ultimate gift! This book
won’t leave your nightstand.”
— Todd Herman, bestselling author
of The Alter Ego Effect

“This book is your next read AND your training template

for a life well-lived. Philosophy, ethics, and morality in our
modern world have devolved into relativism and opinion,
with little action to back up the blather. It wasn’t always this
way. In ancient Greece and Rome, the Stoics understood that
a personal philosophy not backed by powerful action and
habituation of virtues simply displayed a lack of character.
Brian Johnson is a Stoic reincarnate. Not only does he have
a deep love for marrying ancient with modern wisdom, but
also has a passion for embodying such wisdom in his own
life—through daily discipline and effort. In short, he is willing
to do the work of self-examination and character refinement
espoused by the Stoics, Yogis, Taoists, and other philoso-
pher-practitioners of the past. In Areté: Activate Your Heroic
Potential, Brian shares this wisdom with us so that we, too,
can be men and women of character and deep integrity. It is a
message that is both timely and urgent. Thank you Brian for this
important work.”
— Mark Divine, Retired Navy SEAL Commander,
New York Times bestselling author of
Unbeatable Mind and The Way of the SEAL
 “I have followed Brian Johnson’s work for over a decade.
He is the coach of coaches. The impact he’s had on me and,
as a result, those I coach, is immeasurable. If you’re looking
to level up every aspect of your personal and professional life,
this is a must-read.”
— Brian Cain, mental performance coach for
MLB, UFC, NFL, PGA & NCAA champions

“Brian is the most Stoic guy I know. When I’m in a jam, when
the universe is turning my life upside down, Brian is the man I
call. Every Spartan in the world should read Areté.”
— Joe De Sena, CEO and founder of Spartan

“Most of us have read our share of self-improvement

books. Areté is something else entirely—a self-illumination
book. Each page sheds light on the undiscovered capacities
that have been too-long hidden away within each of us. Brian’s
genius lies in holding out these golden finds for us to recog-
nize as our own, while simultaneously unleashing the untapped
stores of purpose-driven energy we need to wield them well.
This book will serve as a daily devotional for many. For those
willing to dig deeper, it will serve as a treasure map, dog-eared
pages and highlighted passages marking a clear trail back to our
own best gifts.”
— Pilar Gerasimo, award-winning health journalist,
podcaster, and author of The Healthy Deviant
 “This book is a life-changing masterpiece that will leave
a lasting impact on anyone who reads it. If you’re search-
ing for a roadmap to a meaningful life, look no further. The
wisdom Brian shares in Areté is the compass that will guide
you towards a life of purpose, happiness, and the realization
of your true potential.”
— Brandon Guyer, Los Angeles Angels
mental toughness coach,
founder of Major League Mindset

“This book threatens to be one of the all-time best and most

timeless masterpieces of personal productivity and self-develop-
ment. From ancient wisdom to modern science, training the body,
mind, and soul, optimizing energy, love, sleep, work, and beyond,
it is a profoundly thorough treatise on everything you need to live
as a full and complete human. Shove aside any books you’ve been
planning to read and move Areté to the front of the line. You’ll thank
yourself forever if you do.”
— Ben Greenfield, founder of Kion,
bestselling author of Boundless

“Brian Johnson’s virtues of zest, service, and optimism are

only matched by his kindness, generosity, and love. These virtues
were embodied in Brian making Heroic available to the corps
of cadets at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
These future Army officers now have access to tools to assist
them in leadership development, self-mastery, and antifragil-
ity. The beauty of this is not just the self-development aspect
of cadets using Heroic, but that upon graduation and commis-
sioning, they will take these virtues and skills to their platoons
of America’s finest young women and men. This book gives
heroic leaders from all walks of life access to Brian’s wisdom.
I highly recommend it.”
— Scott Parsons, PhD, Assistant Vice Chancellor for
Character and Ethics Development at Texas Tech,
former Character Development Integrator at the
United States Military Academy at West Point

“I’ve known Brian Johnson for over twenty years, and I’ve
never met anyone more focused and dedicated to making a
difference in the world. He lives an authentically heroic life by
constantly challenging himself to grow and learn, by unapologet-
ically eliminating all distractions, and by never giving up on his
dreams. With Heroic, Brian has created a powerful and inspiring
company to help us all live our lives to the fullest. Areté is a must-
read for anyone who wants to be a hero.”
— Kelly Perdew, general partner of Moonshots Capital,
winner of The Apprentice Season 2, West Point graduate,
Airborne/Ranger trained, JD/MBA

“No one is doing more in our time to bring practical wisdom

to the world than Brian Johnson. He searches through ancient
philosophy, modern science, and the best thought of our day to
find the insights and tools we all need to propel our lives upward
and forward with true excellence. He finds all the best stuff and
brings it to us in a powerfully actionable form in this new book.
It’s an amazing achievement. I’m hoping that millions of people
will benefit from Brian’s great work in these pages. We need it
now like never before.”
— Tom Morris, PhD, public philosopher and author of over
thirty books, including perennial bestsellers True Success,
If Aristotle Ran General Motors, The Oasis Within,
and Plato’s Lemonade Stand

“Brian has alchemized the wisdom and teachings from the

greatest thinkers on the planet. His teachings have created a
framework for my own peak performance and leadership.”
— John Herdman, Head Coach, Toronto FC, former Head
Coach of the Canadian Men’s
National Soccer Team

“There is arguably no book more capable of accelerating your

path to fulfilling your potential than Areté and no person more
qualified to write it than Brian Johnson. Brian is a true modern-
day philosopher who has distilled and consolidated wisdom from
the greatest minds in history so that you can use it to create the
life you desire and deserve.”
— Hal Elrod, international bestselling author of
The Miracle Morning

“Prepare to have your mind expanded and your heart opened

by Brian Johnson’s remarkable new book. Areté is a masterpiece
that is certain to be read and revered by millions, and passed
down from generation to generation. In a world where shallow
superficiality seems supreme, Brian’s book is a beacon of deep
truth, wisdom, and inspiration—a call to arms for anyone with
the courage to pursue their dreams, no matter how audacious they
may seem. Put every other book away and dive headfirst into the
pages of Areté. You’ll emerge with a renewed sense of purpose, a
deeper understanding of yourself, and the tools you need to make
a lasting impact on the world.”
— Jim Huling, Executive Coach, former Global
Managing Consultant for Franklin Covey,
bestselling author of The 4 Disciplines of Execution

“Brian is an exemplar of humility and stewardship. He’s given

us an innovative platform to optimize our internal work across
the foundational human pillars of mind, body, and spirit to create
balance and optimal performance. I highly recommend Areté for
everyone looking to activate their Heroic potential.”
— Hugh Wyman Howard III, Retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral,
former Commander of U.S. Naval Special Warfare
and Naval Special Warfare Development Group
ARETÉ
ACTIVATE YOUR HEROIC POTENTIAL

BRIAN JOHNSON
Copyright © 2023 by Heroic Public Benefit Corporation
Published in 2023 by Heroic Blackstone Publishing
Cover and book design by Brian Johnson and Michael Balchan
Interior layout and editing by Blackstone Publishing

All rights reserved.

For information about special discounts or bulk purchases,

please email arete@heroic.us.

Printed in the United States of America

First edition: 2023

ISBN 979-8-212-41407-4
Personal growth, Social Psychology, Leadership

Version 1

Heroic Blackstone Publishing

31 Mistletoe Rd.
Ashland, OR 97520

www.Heroic.us
www.BlackstonePublishing.com
This book is dedicated to YOU,
the hero we’ve been waiting for.

And…

To my wife, Alexandra,
our kids Emerson and Eleanor,
and your families and kids.

Heroic families unite.

It’s time to raise the next
generation of heroes
and change the world together.
 451 IDEAS°
TO ACTIVATE YOUR HEROIC POTENTIAL

Phil Stutz Says . . . . . . . . . . . . xxvii Hedonic vs. Eudaimonic . . . . 58

Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic
OBJECTIVE I Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
KNOW THE ULTIMATE GAME
Meet Your New BFF . . . . . . . . 62
Nice to Meet You . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Daimon Meet Genius . . . . . . . 64
Areté . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 The Ultimate Jihad . . . . . . . . . 65
How to Close the Gap . . . . . . 12 Virtue Connoisseurs . . . . . . . . 68
Fear & Laziness. . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Your Top 5 Virtues . . . . . . . . . . 72
Character vs. Design Flaws . . 17 The Other Top 5 Virtues . . . . 75
Overload. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 The Virtuous Mean . . . . . . . . . 76
451° . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Gratitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Ready at Hand . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Grateful Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Learning 101 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Taking Things for Granted . . 81
The 7 Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Entitlement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
You Are the Hero . . . . . . . . . . . 39 On Humility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
The Dojo Decision . . . . . . . . . 41 Remember Who
Soul Oxygen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Dug the Wells . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Destiny Math. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Celebratory Love . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Entelechy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Hope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Your Soul’s Cries. . . . . . . . . . . . 48 WOOP! There It Is . . . . . . . . . 90
Aristotle & Seligman . . . . . . . . 50 Implementation Intentions . . 92
The 2,500-Year-Old Swimming Rats. . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Challenge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Leadership’s Secret Sauce . . . 96
Curiosity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Antifragility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Win or Learn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Confidence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
How to Win or Learn . . . . . . 101 The Science of Confidence . . 157
Parenting Champions . . . . . . 106 “Bring It On!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Sacred Moments. . . . . . . . . . . 108 “I’m Excited!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
You & an Elephant . . . . . . . . . 111 OMMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Zest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113 Dalio’s 5 Steps to Success . . . 166
Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Mis-takes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
Aristotle’s “Happiness” . . . . . 118 There Are No Perfect
How to Flourish . . . . . . . . . . . 120 Humans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Learned Helplessness . . . . . . 122 Perfectionism, Science of . . . 173
Learned Optimism . . . . . . . . 124 Self-Compassion,
The Speed of Light . . . . . . . . 126 Science of . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
You’re Not a Big Deal . . . . . . 128 Dragon Scars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
100 Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Grit, Science of . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
The Way . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Psychological Assets . . . . . . . 181
The Healthy Deviant. . . . . . . 133 Response-Ability . . . . . . . . . . 184
Stoic Hospitals . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 Victim vs. Hero . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
Memento Mori . . . . . . . . . . . . 137 Targeted Thinking (Part II) . . 189
Time Traveling . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Chicken Poop . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
A Quick Trip to Hell . . . . . . . 141 The Flat Tire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
The Ultimate End . . . . . . . . . 144 Target Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
Thinking vs. Doing . . . . . . . . 199
OBJECTIVE II The Stockdale Paradox . . . . . 201
FORGE ANTIFRAGILE CONFIDENCE
Punched in the Face
Rule #1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 Lately? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
The Soul Gym. . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 A + S + GOYA = R . . . . . . . . . 205
Exoneration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152 1% Better . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 208
Why Be Average? . . . . . . . . . . 211 Never Waste a Mis-take . . . . 258
The Impossible . . . . . . . . . . . . 213 DWYSYWD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
The Rise of Superyou . . . . . . 215 Making New Commitments . . 260
Acres of Diamonds . . . . . . . . 217 Celebrate Confusion . . . . . . . 262
How to Make a Pearl . . . . . . . 218 Heroic Reframing . . . . . . . . . 264
Sandpaper Grit . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 The Second Arrow. . . . . . . . . 265
You vs. Your Problems . . . . . 222 Tolle on Food Poisoning . . . 267
Keep Shooting . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 Zigs & Zags . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Approach vs. Avoidance . . . . 225 The Home Run King . . . . . . 270
The Instinct Cycle . . . . . . . . . 227 The Paradox of Fire . . . . . . . . 272
Hagfish Are Freaky . . . . . . . . 229 Invincibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Really Hard vs. Impossible . 230
Jesus, Tolle & You . . . . . . . . . 232 OBJECTIVE III
OPTIMIZE YOUR BIG 3
Emotional Stamina . . . . . . . . 234
Levity + Gravity = The Big 3, an Origin Story. . 279
Buoyancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 The Big 3 x 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
Antifragile Buoyancy . . . . . . 239 Saws vs. Chainsaws . . . . . . . . 283
How to Become an Energy, Etymology of . . . . . . 285
Iconoclast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 Meet Your Mitochondria . . 286
Reverse Indicators . . . . . . . . . 243 Deep Work vs.
Percussus Resurgo . . . . . . . . . 245 Shallow Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288
Extreme Ownership . . . . . . . 246 Genius Work vs.
On a Bad Team? . . . . . . . . . . . 247 Mediocre Work . . . . . . . . . . . . 291
Ownish vs. Victimese . . . . . . 249 The Genius Work Equation . . 292
Yes Lives in the Land of No . . 251 Mediocrity vs. Excellence . . 293
Goeswith . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253 Exciting Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Death Cookies . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 Heroic Relationships. . . . . . . 296
Vulnerability Hangovers . . . 256 We See Heroes . . . . . . . . . . . . 298
Compassion vs. The Golden You . . . . . . . . . . . 351
Encouragement . . . . . . . . . . . 299 The Golden You (Part II) . . 353
Start with Who . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 5-Minute Sweaty
Want Better Habits? . . . . . . . 304 Conversations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355
Identity → Behaviors → Bring Forth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357
Feelings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 306 Unilaterality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 358
The Old You? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308 How to Eat Stress Like
Alter Egos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312 an Energy Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . 360
Chief Morale Officer . . . . . . . 314 Pleasing vs. Serving . . . . . . . . 362
The Right Why . . . . . . . . . . . . 317 When the Facts Change . . . . 363
What’s Your #1 Self-Care Deo Volente & Thy
Habit? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319 Will Be Done . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365
Chores vs. Gifts . . . . . . . . . . . 321 Repairing Relationships . . . . 367
Marginal Gains . . . . . . . . . . . . 322 You’re Telelogical . . . . . . . . . . 369
“That’s Like Me!” . . . . . . . . . . 324 Happy the Rooster. . . . . . . . . 372
“That’s Not Like Me!” . . . . . 326 The Toilet Paper Roll . . . . . . 375
“Needs Work!” . . . . . . . . . . . . 330 Either/Or? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
The Puzzle of Life . . . . . . . . . 332 Golden & Platinum Rules . . 379
“I Found Something!” . . . . . 334 Whose Business Are You In? . . 381
Want To Improve? Measure . . 336 The Serenity Prayer . . . . . . . . 383
Zero-Based Thinking . . . . . . 337 A Brief History of Lawns . . . 385
Direction vs. Destination . . 339 110-Year-Old You . . . . . . . . . . 388
How We Endure . . . . . . . . . . . 341 The Dreaded “U” . . . . . . . . . . 390
The Last Barriers . . . . . . . . . . 343 The Pursuit of Happiness . . 392
Want to Be Great? . . . . . . . . . 345 The Last Lecture . . . . . . . . . . 393
You, Michelangelo & Your The Last Letter . . . . . . . . . . . . 396
Potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348 Goals: Telescopes &
The Moment of Decision . . 349 Microscopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400
Programming Your Mind . . . 403 The 10,008-Hour +
The Walking Statue . . . . . . . . 406 36-Minute Rule . . . . . . . . . . . 450
Take a Nap! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452
OBJECTIVE IV Circadians & Ultradians . . . . 454
MAKE TODAY A MASTERPIECE
Making Waves . . . . . . . . . . . . . 456
Today’s the Day! . . . . . . . . . . . 411 The 4.5-Hour Workday . . . . 458
Masterpiece Day Checklists . . 413 Miracle Mornings. . . . . . . . . . 460
Time Blocks. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416 Procrastipain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 462
Your Prior Best . . . . . . . . . . . . 418 Your Future Self . . . . . . . . . . . 463
Carpe Diem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420 Your Addiction Center . . . . . 465
Carpe Punctum . . . . . . . . . . . 422 Sacrifices vs. Decisions . . . . . 467
Enlightened Beings . . . . . . . . 423 Good Bad Days . . . . . . . . . . . . 469
AM & PM Bookends . . . . . . 424 Did I Win? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 471
Limitless Steps . . . . . . . . . . . . 426 Rebound Days . . . . . . . . . . . . 473
Higher Highs & The 4 Disciplines of
Higher Lows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 430 Execution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 475
Spinny Fingers . . . . . . . . . . . . 433 Keep Score . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477
The Equanimity Game . . . . . 435 Two Scorecards . . . . . . . . . . . 479
Simplify the Battlefield . . . . . 436 Roman Masterpiece Days . . . 481
Center Yourself . . . . . . . . . . . . 437 The Zeigarnik Effect . . . . . . . 483
Constraints Are Awesome . . 438 Lion vs. Jungle. . . . . . . . . . . . . 485
The PM Bookend . . . . . . . . . 440 50 Pounds = A . . . . . . . . . . . . . 487
+1 Hour of Sleep . . . . . . . . . . 442 The 80/20 Principle . . . . . . . 489
Baseline Resetting . . . . . . . . . 443 The Motivational
Shutdown Complete . . . . . . . 445 Calculator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 492
Work to Love. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 447 Motivation = Energy x
The iPhone Effect . . . . . . . . . 448 (Value x Expectancy /
Digital Sunset . . . . . . . . . . . . . 449 Impulsivity x Delay) . . . . . . . 495
Digital Sabbaticals . . . . . . . . . 497 Odysseus Contracts. . . . . . . . 543
Batting .300 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 499 Sirens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545
Pythagoras’s PM Review . . . 502 Jason & The Argonauts . . . . 546
First Things First . . . . . . . . . . 504 Bright Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 549
T.I.M.E. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 506 Commitments: 100%
Efficient vs. Effective . . . . . . . 507 Is a Breeze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 551
Make It a Game . . . . . . . . . . . 508 Recommitment . . . . . . . . . . . 553
Creative vs. Reactive . . . . . . . 510 Your Dreamer & Your Doer . . 555
Practice What You Preach . . 512 Hard to Easy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 557
Time Management, Command & Obey . . . . . . . . 559
Drucker Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . 514 Floors & Ceilings . . . . . . . . . . 561
Multitasking Is a Myth . . . . . 516 Cucumbers & Pickles . . . . . . 563
Task Switching is Expensive 518 Active Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 565
Smokeybot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 520 Got a Negative Thought? . . 567
Rest Before You’re Tired . . . 521 Now What Needs to
Synergy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 523 Be Done? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 568
Dominating Your Life . . . . . . 525 Teflon vs. Velcro . . . . . . . . . . . 570
Ambition & Routine . . . . . . . 527 Parenting: 3 Tips . . . . . . . . . . 572
Work or Play? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 529 Ballet, Anyone? . . . . . . . . . . . . 575
New Day’s Resolutions . . . . . 530 Relentless Solution Focus . . 577
Dust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 579
OBJECTIVE V You, a Farmer & His Horse . . 581
MASTER YOURSELF
Make the Connection . . . . . . 583
IQ vs. Willpower . . . . . . . . . . 535 Fingers & Lectures. . . . . . . . . 585
Warriors vs. Librarians . . . . . 536 Child-Proof Your Trigger
3 Forms of Discipline . . . . . . 538 Buttons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 586
The Marshmallow Test. . . . . 540 The Worse a Person Is . . . . . 588
Want Willpower? . . . . . . . . . . 542 The Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590
How to 100,000x You Are a Weirdo . . . . . . . . . . 637
Your Performance . . . . . . . . . 592 If…. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 639
UPERSIST! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595 Not Getting What
“NEGU!” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 597 You Want? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 641
The 5-Second Rule . . . . . . . . 598 Musterbation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 643
“I Love Puh!” (You?) . . . . . . 600 Two Easies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 644
Little by Little . . . . . . . . . . . . . 602 Emotional Stamina
How to Delete a Bad Habit . . 603 (Part II) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 646
Psychological Flexibility . . . 605 Starve Fear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 648
How to Stop Being a Delete That App . . . . . . . . . . . 649
Hardaholic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606 Conquering Hero. . . . . . . . . . 651
How to Avoid Habit Suicide . . 607 Tolerant with Others. . . . . . . 653
Don’t Break the Streak . . . . . 609 The Common Denominator
The Variability of Your of Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655
Behavior . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 611 Effort Counts Thrice . . . . . . 657
Speed Is a Force . . . . . . . . . . . 613
The Law of Diminishing OBJECTIVE VI
DOMINATE THE FUNDAMENTALS
Intent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 614
Getting Started vs. Getting Your Socks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663
Finished . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 615 Wooden’s Decades . . . . . . . . . 665
The Gift of Greatness . . . . . . 616 Greatness = Consistency . . . 667
Homeostasis & Adaptability . . 618 Digging Foundations . . . . . . 668
Dynamic Equilibrium . . . . . . 619 The Lighthouse . . . . . . . . . . . 669
Smile! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 621 Practicing with Kobe. . . . . . . 671
Fear Doors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623 If We Worked Together
Fear Doors (Part II) . . . . . . . 626 1-on-1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673
The Audience Effect . . . . . . . 631 World Champion You . . . . . . 675
Mom Says: Be Virtuous . . . . 633 Champions Do More . . . . . . 677
Blissipline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678 A Brief History of
Diligently, Patiently & (Blue) Light . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 728
Persistently. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 680 Until One Is Committed . . . 730
Start Again . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682 Wake Up in the Middle
States vs. Traits . . . . . . . . . . . . 684 of the Night? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 732
The Miracle Drugs. . . . . . . . . 686 How Caffeine Really Works . . 735
Kryptonite Dust . . . . . . . . . . . 688 The Rules of Breathing . . . . . 737
Your Visceral Fat. . . . . . . . . . . 689 Balloon Breathing . . . . . . . . . 739
How to Predict Your The Magic Spot . . . . . . . . . . . 741
Morbidity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 691 How to Stop Thinking . . . . . 742
The Case Against Sugar . . . . 693 Instant Willpower . . . . . . . . . 744
The Heroic Food Rules . . . . 696 A Cold Shower a Day . . . . . . 746
Got Serotonin? . . . . . . . . . . . . 699 Vagal Tone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 748
Eat Real Food . . . . . . . . . . . . . 701 Why Meditate? . . . . . . . . . . . . 751
When to Eat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 703 How to Meditate . . . . . . . . . . 753
Isn’t That Extreme? . . . . . . . . 705 Thoughts & Heartbeats . . . . 755
Animal Nutrition . . . . . . . . . . 707 Why the Buddha
Spray Painting Leaves . . . . . . 709 Meditated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 757
Exercise vs. Zoloft . . . . . . . . . 711 Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 759
Hope Molecules . . . . . . . . . . . 713 Flow Junkies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 761
The Magic # of Steps . . . . . . . 715 Loving What Is . . . . . . . . . . . . 764
Solvitur Ambulando . . . . . . . 716 80/20 Principle +
Movement > Exercise . . . . . . 718 Parkinson’s Law . . . . . . . . . . . 765
Opportunities to Move . . . . 720 Suffering = Pain x
Pull the Thread . . . . . . . . . . . . 722 Resistance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 767
Sleep Before & Name It to Tame It. . . . . . . . . 769
After Edison. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 724 Rumination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 771
Circadian Chickens . . . . . . . . 726 Turning Around Glitches . . 772
Lint on a Projector’s Lens . . 774 Magic Pennies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 827
Jesus on Motes & Beams . . . 776 Clock vs. Horticultural
Spiritual Economics . . . . . . . 778 Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 829
Time Affluence . . . . . . . . . . . . 781 The Plateau of Latent
The Affluenza Virus . . . . . . . 783 Potential . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 831
Compete? Nah. Create! . . . . 785 Go 0 For 12 Lately? . . . . . . . . 834
Envy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 787 Consistency Over Intensity . . 837
Hero Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 788 The Voice of Consistency . . 839
You Think You’re at an 8 . . . 842
OBJECTIVE VII Charisma 101 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 844
ACTIVATE YOUR SUPERPOWER
Death at the Crossroads . . . . 847
My All-Time Favorite Hero . . 793 The Road Not Taken . . . . . . 849
Soul Force, an Origin Story . . 796 Utter Commitment . . . . . . . . 851
Soul Force, The Equation . . 798 Visions of a Lifetime . . . . . . . 853
Moral Charisma . . . . . . . . . . . 801 The Big Picture . . . . . . . . . . . . 855
We Are Only the Microscopes & Telescopes . . 857
Lightbulbs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 804 Champions Finish Strong . . 859
The Paradox of the Ego . . . . 806 Doing the Dishes . . . . . . . . . . 862
A Strong Ego . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 809 Editing Our Lives . . . . . . . . . . 863
Who Shall Inherit The Four Agreements . . . . . . 865
the Earth? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 813 How to Predict Where
Pankration = Full Strength . . 815 You’ll End Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . 868
In the Arena . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 817 Bonzai Trees, Goldfish &
Resurrections & You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 870
Crucifixions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 819 Proving Yourself Right . . . . . 871
Regret, Science of. . . . . . . . . . 821 Touchdown, Jerry Rice! . . . . 873
3:59.4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 823 How to Be Like Mike . . . . . . 875
Dominoes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 825 The Growth Mindset . . . . . . 877
Depressed? Two Ways The Parable of the Talents . . 927
to Respond. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 879 Campfires & Chairs . . . . . . . . 929
Small Wins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 881 Perfectly Imperfect . . . . . . . . 931
Interruptions? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883 The Battle Within . . . . . . . . . 933
A Bowl Full of The (Lucky) Master’s Path . 935
Coffee Beans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 885 Magnanimous vs.
To Thine Own Self Pusillanimous . . . . . . . . . . . . . 938
Be True . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 888 A Psychological Success . . . . 941
A Gold Medal in 1960 . . . . . 889 Wisdom From My Mom
The Riddles of Life . . . . . . . . 891 & Thomas Carlyle . . . . . . . . . 942
What’s 1 + 1? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 893 Arambhashura. . . . . . . . . . . . . 944
Motivation (Again) . . . . . . . . 895 Virtue Declarations . . . . . . . . 946
Unfortunate vs.
Unforgivable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 898
The #1 Success Principle . . . 899
Heroic Coach . . . . . . . . . . . . . 951
The Empowerment
Heroic Coach Research . . . . 961
Dynamic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 901
About Heroic . . . . . . . . . . . . . 965
Singer’s Stoicism. . . . . . . . . . . 903
Want to Invest in Heroic? . . 966
Heroic Athletes Unite! . . . . . 904
Thank You . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 968
A (True) Story About
Heroic Recognition . . . . . . . . 974
La Piñata . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 907
Top 451 Philosopher’s
Disciplined Athlētēs . . . . . . . 910
Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 977
My Sacred (Work) Vow . . . . 912
45 (+1) Optimal Living
My Sacred (Love) Vow . . . . . 917
101 Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 999
42% . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 920
About the Author. . . . . . . . . 1029
Strengths & Weaknesses . . . 923
Mister Rogers’ Creative
Neighborhood . . . . . . . . . . . . 925
 PHIL STUTZ SAYS…
FOREWORD

I ’ve been a psychiatrist for forty-five years. That’s a long

time doing the same thing. Many of my colleagues have re-
tired, worn down by the grind. What keeps me going is my
patients. I’ve been fortunate enough to have a practice com-
prised of unusual people. They are not unusual because they’ve
succeeded in conventional terms—even though most of them
have.
They’re unusual because they refuse to be defined by any
single accomplishment. Their identity is based on a process of
endless possibility. They don’t stop creating. Working with these
people can be profound but it’s also a lot of fun.
Because I live in L.A., many of them are in show business—
which also means they are famous. Eventually that rubbed off
on me and I was designated as the “shrink to the stars.” I cringe
when I hear that phrase. Yes, I have treated a lot of actors but I’ve
treated a lot of others in business, politics, the arts, medicine, etc.
They all wanted the same thing: to unleash as much hidden po-
tential as possible.
Just the way a seed holds inside it the potential to become
a tree, every human being has a soul that holds inside it a
vision of a future self. But that vision won’t emerge by itself.
Your soul has to be trained until it is strong enough to have
an impact on the world. My job is to guide and encourage my
patients as they move through this soul training. Rather than

x xvii
being the shrink to the stars it would be more accurate to call
me the “shrink to the soul.”
You’re about to read an extraordinary book written by an ex-
traordinary person: Brian Johnson.
I say that without hesitation because I have worked with
Brian every week for years. At each meeting, I poured into him
the totality of everything I had learned over forty-five years on
any topic. I had done this with many others but no one even ap-
proached his ability to absorb information at dizzying speed and
then make it his own.
But that’s only half the story. Training the soul is mostly a
process focused on the individual. Brian is also a genius at con-
necting people and nurturing a collective soul force.
In short, I know greatness when I see it and Brian’s greatness
just keeps on growing.
Brian has a profound impact on everyone who crosses his
path. In today’s digital media world he’s considered an “influ-
encer.” But when I hear that term I think of someone with a
lot of Twitter followers or someone who is plugged into the
design and fashion worlds. The driving force for that kind of
person is the fear of not being “cool,” which is ultimately the
fear of being left out.
Brian had no interest in working on this superficial level—it
barely scratches the surface of what a human being is capable of.
He would accept nothing less than the unlocking of the hidden
potential in each human being. And just the way this potential
goes unexpressed in each of us, the entire human race has its
own hidden potential.

x xviii
 Brian’s goal was to uncover this collective potential. Without
it our survival as a planet is severely compromised.
But to guide our whole species to its highest potential is a
daunting task. It requires no less than the ability to inspire every
single human being. This may sound grandiose, even impossible,
when you read it in the pages of this book. But when you’re in
Brian’s physical presence you can feel a boundless, almost super-
natural enthusiasm that makes anything seem possible.
Brian is a dreamer and he dreams big. What sets him apart
is that he is disciplined and practical in pursuit of those dreams.
Most self-help books are products waiting to be sold. They
have little ambition beyond catching the attention of potential
readers. We read them to give ourselves a non-specific sense of
hope. Brian doesn’t criticize others but he would never publish
a book with such modest goals.
Especially now. Because right now we face a challenge so
all-encompassing that it puts our very existence at risk.
The challenge comes from an enemy that wants to destroy
us. This enemy is invisible but its effects stare us right in the face.
Take a hard look at the institutions that form the foundation of
modern society.
Government, education, the church, science, finance, media,
medicine, the judiciary, etc. In every area there is a lack of disci-
pline, leadership, and transparency.
This is a picture of a world that is falling apart. A world of
chaos, fear, and darkness. And only if we put that world back to-
gether again will we be strong enough to defend ourselves. Sounds
bleak and overwhelming. Enter: Brian Johnson.

xxix
 He didn’t know it, the world didn’t know it, but he had been
preparing for this moment all his life. The moment when the two
sides of his soul, his two major talents, would work in harmony
to defeat the enemy that had turned our world into a living hell.
A force that could overcome evil.
Here are the two sides of Brian Johnson.
1. His drive to bring out the HEROIC potential of the in-
dividual. The state of functioning you’ll need to reach if you want
to do anything big and frightening. He presents this as a modern
form of the hero. In a war the hero runs toward the battle. The
more conflict around him (or her) the more inspired the hero
becomes.
2. His drive to UNIFY the human race. As a unified whole
the human race is capable of anything. The problem is that evil
works to prevent unification. It focuses on the differences be-
tween us, not the common ground.
Brian has proven to me (and to his thousands of follow-
ers) that you can stay focused on the unique path toward your
personal potential and at the same time live within a struc-
ture that applies to all human beings. He calls the values and
habits that have this universal relevance “Virtues.” The cardinal
virtues Brian leans on have been present throughout all cul-
tures across all time, including: Love, Courage, Wisdom, and
Discipline.
This is only the foreword, not the book. I couldn’t begin to
cover all that you’ll find as you read further. But understand the
opportunity that you (and I) have been given. We are present at
the inception of a new way to work with human beings that is

xxx
exactly what is needed right now. Its timeliness comes from the
extraordinary amount of conflict, confusion, and fear spreading
without resistance over our world.
What Brian has developed is much more than a bunch
of coping mechanisms for the over-stressed modern person;
although that would be an improvement for most of us. He’s de-
veloped a training program for the soul.
Commit to this training and you will gain the ability to trans-
mute your biggest problems, your darkest days, into unstoppable
courage, endless enthusiasm, and an unshakable faith in the future.
This book will change your life. And, if enough of us commit,
it will change the world.

PHIL STUTZ, MD
Los Angeles, California

xxxi
 I KNOW THE ULTIMATE GAME
II FORGE ANTIFRAGILE CONFIDENCE
III OPTIMIZE YOUR BIG 3
IV MAKE TODAY A MASTERPIECE
V MASTER YOURSELF
VI DOMINATE THE FUNDAMENTALS
VII ACTIVATE YOUR SUPERPOWER
 NICE TO MEET YOU
IT’S DAY 1. LET’S GET TO WORK!

H i, this is Brian. I appreciate you taking the time to open

this book. I wish we could spend some time together so I
could get to know you more.
What I do know is that we’re both busy and I like to share
more wisdom in less time, so let’s get straight to work.
I want to start by telling you a little story.
But… First, let me briefly introduce myself and give you a
little context.
In addition to being the Founder & CEO of a company called
Heroic Public Benefit Corporation (which I’ll tell you more
about), I’m the proud dad of a couple of kids (Emerson and El-
eanor) and married to my best friend, Alexandra.
We live on a little ranch in the country outside Austin, Texas
with three dogs (Zeus, Zap, and Wags—two of which adopted
us), a cat (Heroic the Stoic, who also adopted us), and nine chick-
ens (including Happy the Rooster and his hens).
Now… My ten-year-old son Emerson recently got into
chess. And, when I say got into chess, I mean he REALLY (!) got
into chess.
Less than a year ago we were introduced to a great website
called ChessKid.com that features one of my all-time favorite
teachers (Mike Klein, also known as FunMasterMike) who has
figured out a way to teach chess while helping kids have fun and
fall in love with the game.

3
 We home-school Emerson so he has a lot of time to spend
studying chess. And… Over the last ten months, he’s spent HUN-
DREDS and HUNDREDS (!) of hours playing and practicing
and all that.
To put it in perspective, he watches the Chess World Cham-
pionships with the same enthusiasm I watched Major League
Baseball’s World Series when I was ten!
In short: He absolutely (!) loves everything about chess. He
won the Texas Chess State Championship for his division and his
current big dream is to become a chess Grandmaster.
That’s the context.
I’m writing this on a Saturday afternoon. I’m putting the final
touches on the book and thinking about how I want to introduce
you to the concept of Areté.
I think THIS little sequence of events from this morning
might just be the THE best possible way I can bring this wisdom
to life.
So… Without further ado… Let’s get to work.

P.S. Before I forget and so you know… The word Areté (we’ll
define it in a moment!) is pronounced “ARE-uh-tay.”

Say it with me now:

Areté
=
ARE-uh-tay

4
 P.P.S. Speaking of spending time together and getting to know
one another more, I’d love to connect with you on our Heroic
social training platform.
You can connect with me (and the rest of our Heroic com-
munity!) and get a bunch of other goodness by visiting:

HEROIC.US/ACTIVATE

5
 ARETÉ
EXPLAIN IT LIKE I’M 10

I ’m a pretty disciplined guy and have a pretty structured way I

approach every day of the year.
This morning, I cut my normal morning work protocol short
to focus on my love protocol.
The special occasion?
A chess tournament with Emerson at the Austin Grandmas-
ter Chess Academy.
So… I leave my office early and step into the kitchen all fired
up about the day ahead.
And… Emerson tells me he doesn’t want to go.
Me: “Really? What’s up, buddy?!”
Emerson’s wilted-flower posture response: “I don’t know. I
just don’t want to go.”
Me: “Hmm. Interesting. How about we go on a quick walk
and talk about it?!”
Emerson: “Okay.”
We head out to hit the trail on our property.
Eleanor and Mommy follow.
Before heading the opposite direction on our little trail,
Mommy says: “He says he doesn’t want to go because he doesn’t
think he will win! You might want to talk about that.”
Me to myself: “Fascinating. We’ll definitely want to talk
about that.”
I reach out to hold Emerson’s hand as we start our walk.

6
 I squeeze it tight and tell him “I love you” in our little made-up
language we call squeeze-eze.
He tells me he loves me back via a little squeeze.
Me: “So, Mommy says you don’t want to go because you’re
not going to win the tournament?!”
Emerson: “Yah.”
Me with a chuckle: “Dude. OF COURSE you’re not going
to win the tournament. You’re going to play against guys that are
INSANELY GOOD.”
“Remember what Nick [his coach] said yesterday when
he was invited to play at an elite tournament that HE knew he
wouldn’t win?”
Emerson: “Yah. He said he was super excited because he
KNEW he’d be playing REALLY good players that would chal-
lenge him and help him get better.”
Me: “EXACTLY. Win or learn. And learning is winning so
let’s go, right?!”
Emerson: “Yep.”
Now…
That part of our chat was on the first half of our loop.
Right after we established the opportunity to win or learn,
we ran into Mommy and Eleanor who were headed the other
direction.
We give them a high five and then continue our chat.
Me: “Hey buddy. You know that voice in your head that was
telling you all the reasons you DIDN’T want to go to the chess
tournament?”
Emerson: “Yes.”

7
 Me: “Well…”
And I stop walking and get down on a knee and look him
straight in the eye as I say…
“We ALL have that voice in our head.”
“And… I want you to listen really closely right now…”
“If you run your life making decisions based on what THAT
voice in your head tells you, then…”
Pause.
“You will NOT create the life you want.”
“PERIOD.”
“Your Grandpa Phil calls that ‘Part X.’ We ALL have that
voice. It’s NEVER (!!!) going to go away.”
“And… One of THE most important things you will ever do
is learn how to deal with that voice.”
Emerson: Eyes big. Focused. Locked in. Fully registered.
I stand up. We continue our walk.
I grab his hand again.
Me via squeeze-eze: “I love you.”
Him via squeeze-eze: “I love you, too.”
Me: “Now… Here’s how you deal with that voice.”
“First, you need to recognize that Part X is talking to you.
You’ll usually know because you will be whining or complaining
or making up stories about why you don’t want to do something
you kinda know you actually DO want to do.”
“Just notice the voice is there.”
“Then practice Targeted Thinking by asking yourself,
‘WHAT DO I WANT?!’”
We make eye contact. He’s fully present and tracking.

8
 Me: “So… What do you want in your life?”
Emerson: “Well… I want to be happy and…”
Me: “Exactly.”
I pull up the sleeve on my sweatshirt and show him the (one-
inch-tall, five-inch-wide!) tattoo on my left forearm.
“You want to be HEROIC and show up as your best self and
create a great, joyful life in which you’re giving your gifts to the
world.”
He nods his head and says: “Yah!”
Me: “And… You know HOW you will do that?”
Him: “By helping people?”
Me: “GREAT answer. Yes. Exactly. And… In this situation,
you need to…”
Then I pull up the other sleeve on my sweatshirt to show
him the (one-inch tall, four-inch wide!) tattoo on my right
forearm.
“You need to live with ARETÉ.”
“You remember what that means?!”
Him: “Sort of…”
Me: “It’s an ancient Greek word. We translate it into English
as ‘virtue’ or ‘excellence,’ but it has a deeper meaning. Some-
thing closer to ‘expressing the best version of yourself moment
to moment to moment.’”
Then I stop again and hold up my right hand about eye level
so it’s parallel to the ground.
Me: “You see that line? That’s you being your absolute best self.”
Then I hold up my left hand about a foot below that, also
parallel to the ground.

9
 Me: “You see THIS line? That’s you not being your best self.”
“Now… You see that GAP between THIS line and THAT line?”
Emerson nods his head.
“Well… You know how you feel when there’s that big of
a gap?”
Emerson: “Not very good?!”
Me: “EXACTLY.”
“Now… What if we CLOSED THE GAP between who we
are capable of being and who we are actually being as we show up
as the best version of ourselves?! How do you think that feels?!”
Emerson: “It feels good!!”
Me: “NO! It feels GREAT!!
“And THAT is the ultimate game we’re all playing all day
every day. When we close the gap and choose to do the things
that help us show up as the best version of ourselves, we feel a
deep sense of joy.”
“The ancient Greek and Stoic philosophers had a word for
that as well. They called it eudaimonia.”
Emerson nods his head, letting me know he gets it.
We continue walking.
Me: “And guess what?! Remember that voice that was tell-
ing you all the reasons why you shouldn’t go to the tournament
today?”
Emerson: “Yah!”
Me: “He wasn’t helping you make the best decision, was he?”
Emerson: “No!!”
Me: “And THAT is why I have this HEROIC tattoo and this
ARETÉ tattoo.”

10
 Me via squeeze-eze: “I love you.”
Him via squeeze-eze: “I love you, too.”
And that, my fellow Hero in training, is one way to teach a
kid the power of ARETÉ.
Helping you operationalize THAT wisdom so you can acti-
vate YOUR Heroic potential is what this book is all about.

11
 HOW TO CLOSE THE GAP
INTRODUCING TARGETED THINKING

N ow that I’ve introduced you to my family and to the ulti-

mate game of life, I want to introduce you to THE most
powerful practice we can engage in to close the gap and live with
ARETÉ as we activate our Heroic potential.
It’s called Targeted Thinking.
Let’s go back to the trail and continue our chat with Emerson…
That part of the conversation we just discussed took us about
ten minutes to complete—one half-mile loop on our property.
Here’s how we started our second loop.
Me: “Alright. Living with Areté so we can be HEROIC is the
ultimate game of life. Now it’s time to talk about chess.”
I smile and look at him.
He smiles back.
Me: “Tell me… What do you want when it comes to chess?!”
Emerson: “I want to be a Grandmaster.”
Me: “I know. I love it. And I think you can do it.”
I squeeze his hand yet again. He squeezes mine back.
Me: “So… If you want to become a Grandmaster in chess,
what do you need to do?”
Emerson: “Keep on practicing hard!”
Me: “Definitely! And… What ELSE do you need to do?”
Emerson thinks for a minute then says (as a light bulb goes
on): “Play in a lot of tournaments!”
Me: “EXACTLY!”

12
 Wink and a squeeze from me. Smile and a squeeze right back
from E.
Me: “Now… When that voice in your head was telling you
all the reasons why you shouldn’t go to the tournament today,
was he helping you do what you need to do to achieve what you
want to achieve?”
Emerson: “No!!”
Me: “EXACTLY!”
Wink and a squeeze from me. Smile and a squeeze right back
from E.
Me: “That’s what we call Targeted Thinking. You’ve gotta
know what you want and what you need to do to get it AND you
need to pay attention to when Part X takes over your brain and
tries to take you in the wrong direction.”
I look at Emerson.
“Right?”
He looks back and says…
“YES!”
Me: “So… Ready to dominate the tournament and win or
learn today?”
Emerson: “YES!”
Me: “LET’S GO, HERO!!”
Of course, none of this is about my son.
It’s about YOU.
What do YOU want in your life?
Remember the ultimate game.
Hint: ARETÉ = HEROIC.
And…

13
Remember Targeted Thinking.
Know what you want.
Know what you need to do to get it.
Tell Part X to settle down.
And go do what you’re here to do.
Close the gap.
Give us all you’ve got.
TODAY.

14
 FEAR & LAZINESS
WISDOM FROM GRANDPA PHIL

I ’m kind of enjoying this time together on our trail so let’s walk

another loop together.
So far, we’ve used Emerson’s resistance to going to a chess
tournament as the context to chat about Areté and closing gaps
and Targeted Thinking and how to be Heroic.
I skipped an important early part of our chat.
Before we got to the whole Areté = Heroic, close-the-gap
goodness, we talked about the TWO things that Phil Stutz (my
spiritual godfather and Emerson’s god-grandfather!) says gets
in our way of experiencing all the joy we want to feel in this pre-
cious life of ours.
Pop quiz…
What do YOU think the TWO things are?
(Insert Jeopardy music here…)
Answer…
Phil Stutz, citing his favorite teacher, Rudolf Steiner, says that
FEAR and LAZINESS are the two biggest obstacles to activating
our Heroic (!) potential.
I repeat…
The two primary obstacles that are getting in the way of YOU
activating YOUR Heroic (!) potential are very very very simple.
FEAR and LAZINESS.
With that in mind, if you feel so inspired, pause for a moment.
Think about all that you want to create in your life.

15
 Who are you at your best?
See it. Feel it.
Now… What’s getting in the way of you closing the gap and
BEING that best version of yourself?
If you’re honest with yourself, you’ll see that, more often
than not, it’s not the stuff outside of yourself that is limiting you.
It’s your own fear and laziness.
Can you see that?
Know this: Heroes have strength for two.
Our secret weapon is love.
So… For whom will YOU do the hard work to conquer
YOUR fear and laziness so you can give us all you’ve got?
Seriously.
For whom will YOU do the hard work to conquer YOUR
fear and laziness so you can give us all you’ve got?
I’m committed to working hard and conquering MY fear and
MY laziness for my wife, my kids, my friends, my team, our com-
munity, and…
YOU.
Day 1. All in.
Let’s go, Hero.

16
 CHARACTER VS. DESIGN FLAWS
HOW TO PLAY THE GAME OF LIFE

N ow that we’ve mined some wisdom gems out of my morning

with Emerson, how about one more gem from the evening
and then we’ll carry on?
For curious souls, Emerson wound up having a great day of
chess. He won two games and “won” two more via lessons he
learned in a couple of losses to some superior players.
We decided to stop at the laser tag place on the way home as
a little celebration of the day and as a celebration of a milestone
he hit on hess.com.
So… We show up at Blazer Tag in Austin excited to have
some fun.
And… we just miss getting into the group that’s about to
start. Eek.
The start time for the next group is so late that we won’t be
able to make it.
The guy running the show says he’ll get us in, but we’ll be
missing part of the briefing in which everyone is told how to
play the game.
Emerson had played earlier that week and he knew how to
play. I haven’t played laser tag in roughly forty years.
I’m thinking: “It’s laser tag. Can’t be that hard.”
I say: “Perfect. Thank you!”
We head in to the final part of the briefing. Then we put on
the gear. Then we head into the laser tag arena.

17
 And…
I’m absolutely TERRIBLE.
(Laughing.)
As in, I’m really really really bad.
To put it in perspective, earlier in the week, Alexandra played
with Emerson and she was so bad that she got a -99 score.
The guy who runs it said he’d NEVER seen anyone do that
bad. We’d laughed about it as a family that night.
And…
Ten minutes into the twenty-minute game, I have a -100
score.
Facepalm.
My mental toughness is eroding quickly.
(Laughing.)
Self-talk: “Wow. I’m really bad at this. I think I should just
quit playing and find the exit. This is embarrassing.”
Then I look a little closer at the little stats dashboard on the
laser thing.
Right above my Hall-of-Shame-worthy “-100” score, I see
some data on my ammo. I have 1,000 units of laser tag ammo.
Now, that’s a little weird because I’m pretty sure I started with
1,000 units of laser tag ammo and, trust me, I’ve been trying to
use those laser tag ammo units. My trigger finger is sore from
squeezing that thing so hard.
Then…
Somehow, as I fiddle with everything, I stumble upon a little
button at the end of the laser.
I press it while squeezing the trigger and…

18
 A laser fires.
I hear it!!
A sound has never been so beautiful.
Long story slightly shorter, now I get to work channeling my
inner SEAL and start having a ton of fun. I end the game with
400-and-something points—right behind Emerson.
And…
You know what I thought of?
I thought of BJ Fogg.
As you may know, BJ runs the Behavior Design Lab at
Stanford University.
He’s done some of the research that inspired James Clear’s
Atomic Habits and Charles Duhigg’s Power of Habit.
And, he wrote his own book called Tiny Habits.
I’m going to walk you through some of the best, most
life-changing ideas from all those books as we turn you into a
habit-installing (and -deleting!) ninja, but for now I want to em-
phasize the distinction from his book that I was thinking about
as I took my laser tag gear off.
In short, BJ tells us that if you’ve struggled with changing your
behaviors in the past, you might want to consider the fact that it
wasn’t a CHARACTER flaw, but a DESIGN flaw.
In other words, nothing was wrong with YOU per se, you
simply didn’t know HOW to effectively change your behavior.
Laser tag is a LOT easier and a LOT more fun when you
know how to play the game. So is life.
It’s time for the “How to play the game of life” briefing we
never got.

19
 P.S. Alexandra told me that I need to tell you that the week
before, she also missed the part of the briefing in which they teach
people how to shoot a laser, because she was chasing Eleanor at
the time. Which meant that she had the exact same experience
of not knowing how to shoot a laser. Haha. #soulmates

20
 OVERLOAD
WHEN IN DOUBT, DO THIS

A dmiral William H. McRaven is one of my heroes.

As a Four-Star Admiral, his final assignment was as Com-

mander of all U.S. Special Operations Forces.
You may have seen his commencement speech at the Uni-
versity of Texas at Austin called “Make Your Bed.”
He’s written a number of great books including one based
on that talk (Make Your Bed), a memoir called Sea Stories, and
another great book called The Hero Code.
In his most recent book on leadership, The Wisdom from the
Bullfrog, Admiral McRaven shares eighteen military aphorisms
that have guided his life.
One of them is called “When in Doubt, Overload.”
Let’s set some context and then we’ll connect the wisdom
from that book to the structure of this book.
As you may know, when aspiring U.S. Navy SEALs want to
see if they have what it takes to join one of the most elite military
forces in history, they have to go through what’s known as BUD/S.
BUD/S is short for Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL
training.
Of course, that training is an extraordinarily challenging
mental and physical trial. Only twenty percent of those who
start finish.
Now… A little more context…

21
 On June 6, 1944, General Dwight D. Eisenhower led the in-
vasion of Normandy that turned the tide of World War II.
According to the Eisenhower Library: “The invasion force
included 7,000 ships and landing craft manned by over 195,000
naval personnel from eight allied countries. Almost 133,000
troops from the United States, the British Commonwealth, and
their allies landed on D-Day.”
Pause for a moment and imagine the extraordinary com-
mitment of all of those troops AND their families—willing
to make the ultimate sacrifice to protect the freedoms that we
enjoy today.
And, if you feel so inspired, pause for another moment
and feel into the equally extraordinary commitment of military
servicemen and women AND their families who are currently
protecting the freedoms that we enjoy today.
Note: It’s easy to take those freedoms (and the warriors who
protect them) for granted rather than as granted.
As we’ll discuss, the wisest among us (and each of us in our
wisest moments) appreciate the sacrifices these loving and cou-
rageous men and women make for us as we strive to give back
in equal measure.
Now… Before the troops could get their three thousand land-
ing craft on the five beaches of Normandy, you know who showed
up in the darkness of the previous nights to clear the way?
Some of the very first U.S. Navy SEALs.
They were underwater demolition experts who found and
destroyed the underwater barriers that had been set up to pre-
vent that landing.

22
 All of which leads us to McRaven’s sixteenth leadership prin-
ciple from his great book and one more question…
You know what U.S. Navy SEALs are taught as they calculate
how much explosives they need to use to blow up the underwa-
ter obstacles they’re tasked with destroying?
As McRaven puts it: Whenever they were in doubt about
the amount of explosives to use, they were told to “always over-
load. Always put more energy, more focus, more power into the
situation than seemed necessary. It was the only way to guaran-
tee success in the face of uncertainty and doubt.”
That’s what I had in mind as I decided how I would struc-
ture this book.
I could have delivered a standard 200- to 300-page book with
a few dozen (or even one hundred) potentially life-changing ideas.
I decided to OVERLOAD and give you a 1,001+ page book
with 451 potentially life-changing ideas.
I want you to FEEL the explosive power of the ideas in this
book as we get to work blowing up everything that may be in the
way of us actualizing our potential so we can win the ultimate war
between vice and virtue we are ALL waging all day every day.
Remember: When in doubt, we overload.
It’s time to activate our Heroic potential.

23
 451°
ACTIVATION ENERGY

H ave you ever heard of “activation energy?”

It’s a chemistry thing. The dictionary tells us that it’s “the

minimum quantity of energy that the reacting species must pos-
sess in order to undergo a specified reaction.”
Mundane examples: Water only boils once it reaches its ac-
tivation energy point of 212° Fahrenheit. 100° certainly won’t do
it. 200° won’t do it. Not even 210° or 211° will do it.
Simmering but not boiling.
Want to boil? Then you need to get the heat all the way up
to 212°. Then you’ll undergo the “specified reaction” and boil.
Same rules apply with fire.
Carbon and hydrogen atoms are hanging out in paper all
day every day. And, of course, oxygen is hanging out in the air
all day every day.
But… They won’t combine to set the paper ablaze until a cer-
tain threshold is reached. We need 451° of heat to create enough
energy to catalyze the magical dance that is fire.
400°? Nothing. 449°? Nothing. 450°? Nope. Nothing. 451°?
BAM! Let there be fire.
That’s activation energy.
And that’s why this book has 451° ideas—any one of which
might help you go to the next level. In aggregate? If all goes as
planned, we’ll activate your Heroic potential.

24
 READY AT HAND
YOUR PHILOSOPHICAL ARMAMENTARIUM

E pictetus is my favorite teacher.

He was a former slave who taught (and practiced!) Stoic phi-

losophy in ancient Rome. He trained the guys who trained the
emperor-philosopher Marcus Aurelius. He’s also the primary in-
fluence for the guys who created the modern cognitive behavioral
therapy movement.
One of his students took really good lecture notes (thanks,
Arrian!) and captured his wisdom in a manual called the
Enchiridion.
The Greek word enchiridion is translated as “handbook.” But
it’s important to note that the word literally means “within” (en)
+ “hand” (kheir).
To put it in perspective, the word was used to describe a
hand dagger.
Epictetus’s wisdom (and the wisdom of all great ancient phi-
losophers) was less like a guidebook you held in your hand and
more like a sword (or a tool) (or a Navy SEAL’s explosive!) you
held in your hand—wisdom that was ready at hand and could be
used to meet life’s inevitable challenges.
As we’ll discuss, the Stoic philosophers told us that we
needed to be WARRIORS of the mind, not mere librarians of the
mind cataloging interesting ideas. They had an entire collection
of weapons/tools in what was known as their “armamentarium.”

25
 That’s how I’d like us to think about this book.
451° ideas to help us move from Theory to Practice to Mas-
tery Together—closing the gap between who we’re capable of
being and who we’re actually being as we activate our Heroic
potential and give the world all we’ve got.
Not someday.
TODAY.

26
 LEARNING 101
INTERLEAVING & SPACED REPETITION

A s a professional philosopher for the last fifteen years, I’ve

distilled over five hundred of the absolute best books on
ancient wisdom and modern science into what I call “Philoso-
pher’s Notes.”
I’ve also created over fifty hour-long master classes in which
I distill the best ideas from those great books to help you opti-
mize every facet of your life.
In the Heroic app, we have classes on everything from Pur-
pose 101, Productivity 101, and Confidence 101 to Nutrition
101, Sleep 101, and Love 101.
We also have a class on Learning 101 in which I share the best
ideas from some of the best books on learning including Make It
Stick, A Mind for Numbers, and How We Learn.
In that class, we talk about a concept scientists call “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.
For example, they’ve done research on baseball players. If you
throw someone fifteen curveballs in a row then fifteen fastballs,
they’ll FEEL like they’re doing really well, but they won’t actu-
ally be improving the skills they need for an actual game when
they won’t know what’s coming.
Scientists call that the “fluency illusion” and it’s actually one
of the greatest threats to effective learning.

27
 The interleaving approach?
A random assortment of fastballs and curveballs that keeps
the batter constantly guessing and, thereby, developing the
ACTUAL skills he or she will need come game-time.
Of course, that doesn’t always feel as good as the easier (more
common) approach when you know what’s coming. But, alas,
that’s where the learning occurs.
That’s one of the things I had in mind as I mapped out how
to best deliver these 451 potentially life-changing ideas. As you’ll
see, we’re going to deliberately interleave different themes within
the chapters in our seven objectives.
We’re ALSO going to focus on another key aspect of Learn-
ing 101 called “spaced repetition.”
The basic idea with that is exactly what it sounds like—we
want to create a little space between our deliberate repetition of
the stuff we REALLY want to make stick.
Speaking of repetition, here’s how Dan Coyle puts it in The
Little Book of Talent: “Repetition has a bad reputation. We tend
to think of it as dull and uninspiring. But this perception is ti-
tanically wrong. Repetition is the single most powerful lever
we have to improve skills, because it uses the built-in mech-
anism for making the wires of our brains faster and more
accurate.”
Interleaving and spaced repetition. They do a Hero good.

P.S. You know what else helps us master a concept? Explain-

ing it to someone else. If you feel so inspired, share what you’re
learning as you go.

28
 P.P.S. I created this book with two other books in mind:
The War of Art by Steven Pressfield and War and Peace by
Leo Tolstoy.
Pressfield is one of my all-time favorite writers. His incredi-
bly inspiring and equally practical prose is an inspiration. It’s very
much how I love to write.
You can read one of the potentially life-changing microchap-
ters in his nonfiction books in a minute or three.
That’s exactly what I had in mind as I created this book.
Yet…
In addition to creating a SUPER-readable, open-the-book-up-
to-any-page-and-potentially-change-your-life-in-a-few-minutes
kinda book, I ALSO wanted to make sure the book had a den-
sity and gravitas to it.
And, of course, I’m committed to doing everything I can to
deliver on Phil’s promise from the foreword of the book in which
he boldly says: “This book will change your life.”
Plus…
We received thousands of notes from our Heroic commu-
nity about why they were excited about this book—which were
remarkably humbling and inspiring. I wanted to do my best to
create a book worthy of comments like this…
“Brian is one of the great philosophers of our time. If this
book is the distillation of his life’s work then it will be worth its
weight in gold.”
“Humanity’s greatest wisdom for living a prosperous life con-
densed into ONE book—how could anyone not be excited to
buy this?!”

29
 “This book will be a classic handbook such as 7 Habits and
How to Win Friends. Timeless principles.”
“This will be the best book in modern history for personal
development. Period.”
(No pressure no diamonds, right? Hah.)
As I stepped back and felt into what the book needed to be
to have a shot at delivering on those expectations, I realized that
I wanted to create a book that is basically The War of Art + War
and Peace.
Pithy microchapters + dense brick of a book.
You can start from the first page and systematically work
your way through the seven objectives (with the interleaving
and spaced repetition!).
Or you can open up to any page and, hopefully, get inspired
by one of the 451° Ideas in a minute or three.
Choose your own adventure, Hero.
LET’S GO!

30
 THE 7 OBJECTIVES
TO ACTIVATE YOUR HEROIC POTENTIAL

A ll that’s nice and warm and fuzzy, eh?

And… It begs the question: “HOW are we going to activate

your Heroic potential?!”
Before we get into the details, I’d like to step back for a
moment and tell you a little bit about me…
As I briefly mentioned, I’m the Founder & CEO of a com-
pany called Heroic Public Benefit Corporation. Our mission is
to help create a world in which 51% of humanity is flourishing
by the year 2051.
I’ve spent half of the last 25 years as a Founder/CEO and the
other half as a philosopher.
As a Founder/CEO, I’ve raised over $25 million, made
crowdfunding history, and built and sold two social platforms.
As a philosopher and teacher, I’ve helped millions of people
from around the world and created an app and a protocol that
have been scientifically shown to change lives.
You may be wondering: “What is Heroic?”
My friend and mentor John Mackey, the co-founder and
former CEO of Whole Foods put it succinctly when he graciously
said, and I quote, that “Heroic is the best self-development plat-
form in the world.”
We’ve been fortunate to serve some of the most elite per-
formers in the world—including bestselling authors, Fortune

31
100 executives, military officers, athletes, and coaches. We’ve also
trained over 10,000 people from 100+ countries with our Heroic
Coach certification program.
With the Basic Training program in our Heroic app and
the Mastery Series that is the foundation of our 300-day Heroic
Coach program, we integrate ancient wisdom, modern science,
and practical tools into SEVEN objectives.
This book features 451 potentially life-changing ideas that
are loosely organized into the seven objectives that are the foun-
dation of our protocols that have been scientifically shown to
change lives.
Let’s take a quick look at how we frame the seven objectives
when we’re training our Heroes in the app and training Coaches
going through our certification program.

OBJECTIVE I: KNOW THE ULTIMATE GAME

The first thing we need to do is step back and make sure we’re
playing the right game. Fact is, in such a profoundly sick society,
we almost certainly aren’t.
We’ll invite the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle and lead-
ing positive psychologist Martin Seligman to the party as proxies
for ancient wisdom and modern science and ask them about the
ultimate meaning of life.
We’ll save the details for our discussion in a moment but know
this: They’ll give us the *exact* same single-word ANSWER.
By the end of our first Objective you’ll know the ultimate
game you want to be playing AND how to play it well.

32
 If your experience is like the thousands of people I’ve per-
sonally trained, this may be life changing.

OBJECTIVE II: FORGE ANTIFRAGILE CONFIDENCE

Once we’ve established the ultimate game we’re playing it’s
time to learn how to play it well—which leads us to our second
Objective.
We’re going to forge Antifragile Confidence.
By the time we’re done working together, we’ll move from
being Fragile to Resilient to ANTIFRAGILE such that the more
life kicks us around, the stronger we get.
That requires confidence.
Which leads us to another etymological pop quiz. Do you
happen to know what the word confidence literally means?
It means “intense trust.” Not that everything will go perfectly
in your life but that it DOESN’T MATTER how things go be-
cause YOU have what it takes to deal with whatever arises.
That’s Antifragile Confidence. Cultivating even 10% of your
capacity here will change your life.
How do we build “intense trust” in ourselves? The same way
we build trust in any relationship: We DO what we say we will do.
More specifically for our purposes, with the Heroic app we
help you develop a protocol—a set of behaviors that you engage
in on a day-to-day basis that keep you plugged in to that best ver-
sion of yourself.
But… Here’s the secret sauce: We’re going to help you write
a new algorithm for your life.

33
 It goes like this: “The WORSE you feel, the MORE commit-
ted you are to your protocol.”
What do most people do when they feel a little off or over-
whelmed?
They STOP doing the very things that would have kept them
plugged in and capable of showing up powerfully.
Not us. The WORSE we feel, the MORE committed we are
to our protocols.
This is your ticket to invincibility. You’ll still have ups
and downs because you’re human, but… Your highs will be
higher AND your lows will be higher. And that’s heroically
awesome.

OBJECTIVE III: OPTIMIZE YOUR BIG 3

Once we’ve established the game we’re playing and learn
Rule #1 on how to play it well, it’s time to simplify self-
development.
That’s what we’ll do with our third Objective as we optimize
what we call your Big 3: Energy, Work, and Love.
As you’ve almost certainly experienced if you’ve spent any
time in the self-development world, it can very quickly get over-
whelming.
There’s SO much we can work on. Where do we begin?
Well, Freud tells us that a good life comes down to two things:
Work and Love. This is one of the few things on which I agree
with the dear doctor but…
If your ENERGY is sub-optimal because of poor lifestyle

34
choices, you’re going to have a really hard time showing up pow-
erfully in either your Work or your Love.
Enter the Big 3: Energy, Work, and Love.
We’re going to systematically help you get more Energized
than you’ve ever been, such that you can be more productive and
do higher quality Work than you’ve ever done and, at the same
time, be more Loving and connected (to yourself and to your
loved ones) than you’ve ever been in your life.
That’s how to simplify self-development so you can more
consistently show up as the best, most Heroic version of yourself.

OBJECTIVE IV: MAKE TODAY A MASTERPIECE

From there, it’s time to get the fact that TODAY’S THE DAY to
move from Theory to Practice to Mastery.
We’re going to help you become a master at creating Mas-
terpiece Days.
We’ll start with your AM and PM Bookends and we’ll teach
you the fact that, somewhat paradoxically, a great day begins with
the END of your prior day.
We’ll talk about the simple, key behavioral changes that can
literally change your life overnight and then we’ll systematically
install the highest-leverage behavioral changes that will help you
show up powerfully in your Energy, your Work, and your Love
ALL DAY EVERY DAY.
That, my Heroic friend, is how we’re going to help you
become more energized, productive, and connected than you’ve
ever been.

35
 OBJECTIVE V: MASTER YOURSELF
All of which leads us to our fifth Objective in which we’ll master
the three disciplines of self-mastery: structural discipline, reac-
tive discipline, and expansive discipline.
We’ll also tap into the art and science of behavioral change
so you can become a master at installing and deleting the behav-
iors that will help you become who you aspire to be.
The #1 thing to know? It’s all about using your willpower
wisely to install habits that run on autopilot via algorithms.
If you feel so inspired, now might be a good time to pause
for a moment and ask yourself: What’s the ONE thing I KNOW
I could be doing that, if I started doing it TODAY would most
change my life?
Seriously.
What is it? What’s the ONE thing you could be doing that,
if you started doing it consistently, would most positively change
your life?
Fantastic.
Imagine your life with that habit installed. Then imagine your
life with your #1 BAD habit deleted.
Then imagine having so much Self-Mastery that you can install
and delete habits at will. That’s what our fifth Objective is all about.

OBJECTIVE VI: DOMINATE THE FUNDAMENTALS

From there it’s time for our sixth Objective. It’s time to dominate
our fundamentals.
We have seven: Eating, Moving, Sleeping, Breathing,

36
Focusing, Celebrating, and Prospering. Each fundamental has a
core set of behaviors that we’ll train together.
Why does this matter?
Well… If you want to see how tall a building is going to be,
look at how deeply they’re digging the foundation.
We need to really get the fact that greatness (and becoming
the best, most Heroic versions of ourselves!) is all about consis-
tency on the fundamentals.
We’ll have a ton of momentum when we get to this point and,
again, if you’re like the thousands of people I’ve trained, you’ll
find that you’re suddenly able to easily change some key behav-
iors across each of our fundamentals—stuff you may have been
struggling with for years.
This is exciting, life-changing, and incredibly empowering.

OBJECTIVE VII: ACTIVATE YOUR SUPERPOWER

All of that leads us to our final Objective. It’s time to activate your
superpower. I call it Soul Force.
Gandhi named it. Martin Luther King, Jr. talked about it in
his “I have a dream” speech. It’s the force that changes the world.
It’s also the ONE thing that ALL of your heroes have in
common. And, it’s the one thing WE ALL have in common with
our heroes as well.
We just need to activate it.
There’s a formula for it. We’ll dive into the details soon.
For now, know this: When you can get your Energy Focused
on What’s Important Now CONSISTENTLY, you will activate

37
your Heroic potential and tap into the infinite power of Soul Force
as you win the ultimate game of life and fulfill your destiny.
I can’t begin to tell you how fiercely committed I am to help-
ing you do exactly that.
Why?
Because that’s precisely how we’re going to help you activate
your Heroic potential.
And, that’s precisely how we can change the world. One
person at a time. Together. Starting with you and me.
TODAY.

38
 YOU ARE THE HERO
WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR

A s you may have noticed, we’re already well into the first
Objective.
Before we continue, I’d like to ask you a quick question…
Do you happen to know what the word hero means?
(I didn’t either until I read Christopher McDougall’s great
book Natural Born Heroes.)
It’s another ancient Greek word.
Etymologically, the word hero doesn’t mean “killer of bad
guys” or “tough guy” or anything like that it.
It means “PROTECTOR.”
A hero has strength for two. And, very importantly, a hero is
willing to do the hard work to have that strength for two.
And do you know what the secret weapon of the ancient
hero was?
LOVE.
It’s love that fuels our commitment to do that hard work
to have the strength for two. It’s love that gives us the courage
to be willing to act in the presence of fear. It’s love that gives
us the discipline to do what needs to get done whether we feel
like it or not.
And…
If you haven’t noticed, our world needs heroes today more
than ever before.
We have pandemic levels of anxiety and depression and

39
diabetes and cancer and political polarization and social injus-
tice and environmental degradation.
And the only possible way we are going to meet those histor-
ically significant challenges and create a more noble and virtuous
world for ourselves and for our kids and for their kids is if each of
us steps up and starts showing up as the best, most Heroic ver-
sions of ourselves.
To put it directly…
YOU ARE THE HERO WE’VE BEEN WAITING FOR.
We just need you to step up and start acting like it.
It’s time to activate your Heroic potential.

40
 THE DOJO DECISION
GOING FOR MASTERY VS. THROUGH THE MOTIONS

I magine walking into a dojo. You’re going to study a martial art.

This is your very first day studying this art.
You might already have a dozen black belts in other martial
arts, or this might be your very first time ever in a dojo. Either way
is great. And, either way, you start in this school with a white belt.
So…
Here’s the question.
As you look around the dojo and feel the energy of the place,
are you there going through the motions or are you there going for
mastery?
That may not sound like a big distinction, but it is.
If you’re satisfied with yourself for simply getting off the
couch and showing up and plan to kinda-sorta go through the
motions of the class, then you’re going to show up with a VERY
(!!!) different energy than the version of you that’s GOING FOR
MASTERY.
If you KNOW that you want to be a black belt in x years,
you’re ALL IN. You’re not just kinda sorta going through the mo-
tions. You’re using EVERY SINGLE MOMENT of that class to
get a little better. You’re paying attention, standing up tall, and
giving your best. Moment to moment to moment.
So… As we begin our journey together, I ask you…
Are you planning to just go through the motions by simply
reading yet another self-development book?

41
 Or…
Are you sitting up nice and tall, with a fierce look in your eye,
as you commit to going all in to give the world all you’ve got?
Of course, either answer is technically fine. And you and I
may not be on quite the same page, and/or you may not feel
inspired to really commit to going all in with me on this jour-
ney—which, of course, is MORE than just fine.
But… Let’s not kid ourselves.
THIS ISN’T A DRESS REHEARSAL.
It’s time to wake up and give the world all we’ve got. It’s time
to quit going through the motions of our lives—mindlessly scroll-
ing through social media feeds and doing what everyone else is
doing. It’s time to stand up, put the smartphones down and high
five our inner souls as we activate our Heroic potential and give
the world all we’ve got.
When?
How about…
TODAY.

42
 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brian Johnson is the Founder & CEO of Heroic Public Ben-

efit Corporation. He’s 50% Philosopher + 50% CEO and 101%
committed to helping create a world in which 51% of humanity
is flourishing by the year 2051.
As a Founder/CEO, he’s made crowdfunding history and
built and sold two social platforms. As a Philosopher/teacher,
he’s helped millions of people from around the world, trained
10,000 Heroic Coaches from 100+ countries, and created a proto-
col that science says changes lives. He lives in the country outside
Austin, Texas, with his wife, Alexandra, and their two kids, Em-
erson and Eleanor.

1029
 ABOUT HEROIC
PUBLIC BENEFIT CORPORATION

Heroic is a social training platform that integrates ancient

wisdom, modern science, and world-class, scientifically proven
behavioral design tools to help you show up as the best, most
Heroic version of yourself.
We’re also a history-making, crowdfunded Public Benefit
Corporation committed to helping create a world in which 51%
of humanity is flourishing by the year 2051 as we strive to run
our business the way we think our heroes would—with wisdom,
discipline, courage, and love.
It’s always Day 1 at Heroic.
Learn more and join us today at:

HEROIC.US

965
 WANT TO INVEST IN HEROIC?
LET’S CHANGE THE WORLD TOGETHER

I have mentioned the fact that Heroic is a history-making,

crowdfunded Public Benefit Corporation.
We’re on a mission to help create a world in which 51% of
humanity is flourishing by the year 2051 and we are blessed to
have the support of over 3,000 investors (just like you!) from
over 75 countries around the world.
Would you like to help us change the world as a Heroic In-
vestor? You can invest as little as $100 or as much as $1,000,000+
when we have an offering open.
Go to Heroic.us/Invest to learn whether we are raising
funds, and the details of any offering.
And…
Any time we talk about crowdfunding, our attorneys remind
us that we need to include this bit of legalese so here we go…
We are blessed to have the support of the following people,
quoted in this book, as investors in Heroic Public Benefit Cor-
poration: Phil Stutz, Sean Casey, Susan Peirce Thompson, Tal
Ben-Shahar, Mark Divine, Brian Cain, Brandon Guyer, Scott Par-
sons, Jeff Everage, Ron Reich, Ian Stakiw, and Jonathan Bennett.
Note: None of these individuals received any incentive or
consideration of any kind in exchange for their comments relat-
ing to, or endorsements of, Heroic.
Their comments, endorsements, and/or likenesses are in-
cluded with their express permission.

966
 Their comments and/or endorsements are not, and should
not be regarded as, investment advice. Individuals considering an
investment in Heroic should consult an investment professional
before making an investment decision.
We also need to add this wonderful bit of legalese:
These materials may contain forward-looking statements and
information relating to, among other things, the company, its busi-
ness plan and strategy, and its industry. These forward-looking
statements are based on the beliefs of, assumptions made by, and
information currently available to the company’s management.
When used in this book, the words “estimate,” ”project,” “believe,”
“anticipate,” “intend,” “expect” and similar expressions are in-
tended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements
reflect management’s current views with respect to future events
and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the
company’s actual results to differ materially from those contained
in the forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned not to
place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which
speak only as of the date on which they are made. The company
does not undertake any obligations to revise or update these for-
ward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after
such date or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Once again, if you would like to invest in our Heroic move-

ment/Public Benefit Corporation, you can learn whether we are
raising funds along with the details of any potential offering by
visiting:
HEROIC.US/INVEST

967
 TOP 451 PHILOSOPHER’S NOTES
AS VOTED ON BY THE HEROIC COMMUNITY

In this book, we have featured wisdom from over 200 of the

best self-development books. We have Philosopher’s Notes on
500+ Notes in the Heroic app. Here are the Top 451 books we
feature as voted on by the Heroic community.
1. Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
2. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad
Ones by James Clear
3. The Tools: Transform Your Problems into Courage, Confidence, and
Creativity by Barry Michels and Phil Stutz
4. Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
5. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal
Change by Stephen R. Covey
6. Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
7. Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything by BJ Fogg
8. Man’s Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy by Viktor Frankl
9. The Daily Stoic: 366 Meditations on Wisdom, Perseverance, and the Art of
Living by Ryan Holiday
10. Rethinking Positive Thinking: Inside the New Science of Motivation by
Gabrielle Oettingen
11. Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck
12. Principles: Life by Ray Dalio
13. The ONE Thing: The Surprisingly Simple Truth Behind Extraordinary
Results by Gary Keller & Jay Papasan
14. The 5 Second Rule: Transform Your Life, Work, and Confidence with
Everyday Courage by Mel Robbins
15. Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being
by Martin Seligman
16. The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph
by Ryan Holiday

977
17. The Compound Effect: Jumpstart Your Income, Your Life, Your Success
by Darren Hardy
18. Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams by Matthew Walker
19. With Winning in Mind: The Mental Management System by Lanny Bassham
20. Everything Is Figureoutable by Marie Forleo
21. Happy Together: Using the Science of Positive Psychology to Build Love That
Lasts by Suzann Pileggi Pawelski, MAPP & James O. Pawelski, PhD
22. Coming Alive: 4 Tools to Defeat Your Inner Enemy, Ignite Creative Expression
& Unleash Your Soul’s Potential by Barry Michels and Phil Stutz
23. Unbeatable Mind: Forge Resiliency and Mental Toughness to Succeed at an
Elite Level by Mark Divine
24. Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges by Amy Cuddy
25. The Bhagavad Gita: A Classic of Indian Spirituality by Krishna
26. The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Success by Achieving More with Less
by Richard Koch
27. Self-theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development
(Essays in Social Psychology) by Carol Dweck
28. The How of Happiness: A Scientific Approach to Getting the Life You Want
by Sonja Lyubomirsky
29. So Good They Can’t Ignore You: Why Skills Trump Passion in the Quest for
Work You Love by Cal Newport
30. Letters from a Stoic by Seneca
31. Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise by Anders Ericsson
32. Motivation and Personality by Abraham Maslow
33. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
34. Stillness Is the Key by Ryan Holiday
35. The 4 Disciplines of Execution: Achieving Your Wildly Important Goals
by Chris McChesney, Sean Covey & Jim Huling
36. How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day
by Michael Gelb
37. The Nicomachean Ethics by Aristotle
38. Extreme Ownership: How U.S. Navy SEALs Lead and Win by Jocko
Willink & Leif Babin
39. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
40. On the Shortness of Life: Life Is Long If You Know How to Use It
by Seneca

978
41. Happier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillment
by Tal Ben-Shahar
42. The Second Mountain: The Quest for a Moral Life by David Brooks
43. The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, Is the Key to
High Performance and Personal Renewal by Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz
44. The Enchiridion by Epictetus
45. The Dhammapada: The Sayings of Buddha by Buddha
46. Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport
47. The Procrastination Equation: How to Stop Putting Things Off and Start
Getting Stuff Done by Piers Steel
48. The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and
What You Can Do to Get More of It by Kelly McGonigal
49. Gratitude Works!: A 21-Day Program for Creating Emotional Prosperity
by Robert Emmons
50. 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan Peterson
51. Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson
52. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield
53. The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right by Atul Gawande
54. The Oxygen Advantage: Simple, Scientifically Proven Breathing Techniques to
Help You Become Healthier, Slimmer, Faster, and Fitter by Patrick McKeown
55. Eat Move Sleep: How Small Choices Lead to Big Changes by Tom Rath
56. Love 2.0: Finding Happiness and Health in Moments of Connection
by Barbara Fredrickson
57. Authentic Happiness: Using the New Positive Psychology to Realize Your
Potential for Lasting Fulfillment by Martin Seligman
58. The Alter Ego Effect: The Power of Secret Identities to Transform Your Life
by Todd Herman
59. What to Say When You Talk to Yourself: Powerful New Techniques to
Program Your Potential for Success! by Shad Helmstetter, PhD
60. Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life by Byron Katie
61. Constructive Living: Outgrow Shyness, Depression, Fear, Stress, Grief,
Chronic Pain. Achieve the Goal of Constructive Living—to Do Everything
Well by David K. Reynolds
62. Ego Is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday
63. Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength by Roy Baumeister
& John Tierney

979
64. A Joseph Campbell Companion: Reflections on the Art of Living
by Joseph Campbell
65. The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT): Stoic Philosophy
as Rational and Cognitive Psychotherapy by Donald Robertson
66. The Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
67. Falling Upward: A Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life by Richard Rohr
68. Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the Odds by David Goggins
69. Turning Pro: Tap Your Inner Power and Create Your Life’s Work
by Steven Pressfield
70. The Way of the SEAL: Think Like an Elite Warrior to Lead and Succeed
by Mark Divine
71. The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom
by Don Miguel Ruiz
72. Mastery: The Key to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment by George Leonard
73. The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will
Follow You by John C. Maxwell
74. The Power of TED*: The Empowerment Dynamic by David Emerald
75. The 10X Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure
by Grant Cardone
76. The Power of Agency: The 7 Principles to Conquer Obstacles, Make Effective
Decisions, and Create a Life on Your Own Terms by Paul Napper & Anthony Rao
77. The Undefeated Mind: On the Science of Constructing an Indestructible Self
by Alex Lickerman, MD
78. Making Hope Happen: Create the Future You Want for Yourself and Others
by Shane J. Lopez, PhD
79. Mini Habits: Smaller Habits, Bigger Results by Stephen Guise
80. The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher’s Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer,
and More Resilient by William B. Irvine
81. Rumi Daylight: A Day Book of Spiritual Guidance by Camille Adams Helminski
82. The Selected Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson by Ralph Waldo Emerson
83. Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life
by Nir Eyal
84. It Takes What It Takes: How to Think Neutrally and Gain Control of Your
Life by Trevor Moawad
85. No Sweat: How the Simple Science of Motivation Can Bring You a Lifetime
of Fitness by Michelle Segar, PhD

980
86. The Joy of Movement: How Exercise Helps us Find Happiness, Hope,
Connection, and Courage by Kelly McGonigal
87. As a Man Thinketh by James Allen
88. Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life… And Maybe
the World by Admiral William H. McRaven
89. Limitless: Upgrade Your Brain, Learn Anything Faster, and Unlock Your
Exceptional Life by Jim Kwik
90. Spartan Up!: A Take-No-Prisoners Guide to Overcoming Obstacles and
Achieving Peak Performance in Life by Joe De Sena
91. Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court
by John Wooden
92. Staring Down the Wolf: 7 Leadership Commitments That Forge Elite Teams
by Mark Divine
93. How to Think Like a Roman Emperor: The Stoic Philosophy of Marcus
Aurelius by Donald Robertson
94. Discipline Equals Freedom: Field Manual by Jocko Willink
95. On Becoming a Leader by Warren Bennis
96. Mastery by Robert Greene
97. Leadershift: The 11 Essential Changes Every Leader Must Embrace
by John C. Maxwell
98. The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work: A Practical Guide from
the Country’s Foremost Relationship Expert by John M. Gottman &
Nan Silver
99. The Upside of Stress: Why Stress Is Good for You, and How to Get Good at
It by Kelly McGonigal
100. The Analects of Confucius by Confucius
101. The Art of Taking Action: Lessons from Japanese Psychology by Gregg Krech
102. The Inner Citadel: The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius by Pierre Hadot
103. Future Visions: The Unpublished Papers of Abraham Maslow by Edward
Hoffman
104. The Effective Executive: The Definitive Guide to Getting the Right Things
Done by Peter F. Drucker
105. Spiritual Economics: The Principles and Process of True Prosperity
by Eric Butterworth
106. Unstoppable Teams: The Four Essential Actions of High-Performance
Leadership by Alden Mills

981
107. Be Unstoppable: The 8 Essential Actions to Succeed at Anything
by Alden Mills
108. How Champions Think: In Sports and in Life by Dr. Bob Rotella
109. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business
by Jack D. Hodge
110. Discourses by Epictetus
111. The Psychology of Hope: You Can Get There from Here by Charles Snyder
112. Food Fix: How to Save Our Health, Our Economy, Our Communities, and
Our Planet—One Bite at a Time by Mark Hyman
113. The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment by Eckhart Tolle
114. Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World by Adam Grant
115. How to Stop Worrying and Start Living: Time-Tested Methods for
Conquering Worry by Dale Carnegie
116. The Pursuit of Perfect: How to Stop Chasing Perfection and Start Living a
Richer, Happier Life by Tal Ben-Shahar
117. Sleep Smarter: 21 Essential Strategies to Sleep Your Way to a Better Body,
Better Health, and Bigger Success by Shawn Stevenson
118. Emotional Intelligence: The Groundbreaking Book That Redefines What It
Means to be Smart by Daniel Goleman
119. The As If Principle: The Radically New Approach to Changing Your Life
by Richard Wiseman
120. Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence by Daniel Goleman
121. Superhuman by Habit: A Guide to Becoming the Best Possible Version of
Yourself, One Tiny Habit at a Time by Tynan
122. Reinventing Yourself: How to Become the Person You’ve Always Wanted to
Be by Steve Chandler
123. Overachievement: The New Science of Working Less to Accomplish More
by John Eliot, PhD
124. The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance
by Josh Waitzkin
125. Solving the Procrastination Puzzle: A Concise Guide to Strategies for Change
by Timothy A. Pychyl, PhD
126. Irresistible: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping
Us Hooked by Adam Alter
127. What Doesn’t Kill Us: The New Psychology of Posttraumatic Growth
by Steven Joseph

982
128. Think and Grow Rich: This Book Could be Worth a Million Dollars to You
by Napoleon Hill
129. The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance
by Steven Kotler
130. Self-Compassion: The Proven Power of Being Kind to Yourself
by Kristin Neff, PhD
131. Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day by Jake Knapp,
John Zeratsky
132. Organize Tomorrow Today: 8 Ways to Retrain Your Mind to Optimize
Performance at Work and in Life by Jason Selk, Tom Bartow &
Matthew Rudy
133. Elite Minds: How Winners Think Differently to Create a Competitive Edge
and Maximize Success by Dr. Stan Beecham
134. The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression,
One Small Change at a Time by Alex Korb
135. Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen
136. Lead Yourself First: Inspiring Leadership Through Solitude by Raymond
M. Kethledge, Michael S. Erwin
137. Learned Optimism: How to Change Your Mind and Your Life
by Martin Seligman
138. The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to
Transform Your Life Before 8 AM by Hal Elrod
139. The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem: The Definitive Work on Self-Esteem by
the Leading Pioneer in the Field by Nathaniel Branden
140. Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable by Tim S. Grover
141. Hyperfocus: How to Be More Productive in a World of Distraction
by Chris Bailey
142. Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the
New Science of Success by Brad Stulberg & Steve Magness
143. To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others by Daniel H. Pink
144. The Champion’s Mind: How Great Athletes Think, Train, and Thrive by
Jim Afremow
145. Chasing Excellence: A Story About Building the World’s Fittest Athletes by
Ben Bergeron
146. The Magic of Thinking Big: Acquire the Secrets of Success…
Achieve Everything You’ve Always Wanted: Personal Property • Financial

983
 Security • Power and Influence • The Ideal Job • Satisfying Relationships •
A Rewarding and Enjoyable Life by David J. Schwartz
147. Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We
Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown
148. Wealth Warrior: The Personal Prosperity Revolution by Steve Chandler
149. Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done
in Less Time by Brian Tracy
150. Psycho-Cybernetics: The Author of “Reality Therapy” and “Take Effective
Control of Your Life” Tells You How to Gain Strength and Self-Esteem
Through Positive Behavior by Maxwell Maltz
151. The Maffetone Method: The Holistic, Low-Stress, No-Pain Way to
Exceptional Fitness by Phil Maffetone
152. The Leadership Challenge: How to Make Extraordinary Things Happen in
Organizations by James Kouzes & Barry Posner
153. It Worked for Me: In Life and Leadership by General Colin L. Powell
154. The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell
155. The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles
156. Sea Stories: My Life in Special Operations by Admiral William H. McRaven
157. The Official Bright Line Eating Cookbook: Weight Loss Made Simple by
Susan Peirce Thompson, PhD
158. Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning by Peter Brown,
Henry Roediger & Mark McDaniel
159. The Slight Edge: Turning Simple Disciplines into Massive Success and
Happiness by Jeff Olson
160. The Hero with a Thousand Faces: The Collected Works of Joseph Campbell
by Joseph Campbell
161. Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life by Marshall B. Rosenberg
162. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Revised Edition by Robert
Cialdini, PhD
163. Black Hole Focus: How Intelligent People Can Create a Powerful Purpose
for Their Lives by Isaiah Hankel
164. Do the Work: Overcome Resistance and Get Out of Your Own Way
by Steven Pressfield
165. How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life
by Massimo Pigliucci
166. The Psychology of Winning: Ten Qualities of a Total Winner by Denis Waitley

984
167. Raise Your Game: High-Performance Secrets from the Best of the Best
by Alan Stein Jr.
168. Fear: Essential Wisdom for Getting Through the Storm by Thích Nhất Hạnh
169. The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams and
Reaching Your Destiny by Robin Sharma
170. My Morning Routine: How Successful People Start Every Day Inspired
by Benjamin Spall, Michael Xander
171. Love: What Life Is All About by Leo Buscaglia
172. The 10 Pillars of Mental Performance Mastery: A Story About Mastering
The Mental Game And Winning In Life by Brian Cain
173. Die Empty: Unleash Your Best Work Every Day by Todd Henry
174. The Case Against Sugar by Gary Taubes
175. 10-Minute Toughness: The Mental Training Program for Winning Before
the Game Begins by Jason Selk
176. The Talent Code: Greatness Isn’t Born. It’s Grown. by Daniel Coyle
177. The Spartan Way: Eat Better. Train Better. Think Better. Be Better.
by Joe De Sena
178. Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Personal Transformation by Joseph
Campbell
179. This Book Will Make You Dangerous: The Irreverent Guide For Men
Who Refuse to Settle by Tripp Lanier
180. A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William B. Irvine
181. The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth: Live Them and Reach Your Potential
by John C. Maxwell
182. Creativity: The Psychology of Discovery and Invention by Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi
183. Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari
184. The Sleep Revolution: Transforming Your Life, One Night at a Time
by Arianna Huffington
185. Stress Less, Accomplish More: Meditation for Extraordinary Performance
by Emily Fletcher
186. 21 Lessons for the 21st Century by Yuval Noah Harari
187. The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of
Personal Magnetism by Olivia Fox Cabane
188. Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and
Sharpen Your Creative Mind (99U)) by Jocelyn K. Glei

985
189. How to Be Free: An Ancient Guide to the Stoic Life (Ancient Wisdom for
Modern Readers) by Epictetus, A. A. Long
190. Bright Line Eating: The Science of Living Happy, Thin & Free by Susan
Peirce Thompson, PhD
191. Stick with It: A Scientifically Proven Process for Changing Your Life—
for Good by Sean Young
192. Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey
193. Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth
by T. Harv Eker
194. Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang
195. Food Rules: An Eater’s Manual by Michael Pollan
196. Brain Wash: Detox Your Mind for Clearer Thinking, Deeper Relationships,
and Lasting Happiness by David Perlmutter, Austin Perlmutter, MD
197. The Myths of Happiness: What Should Make You Happy, but Doesn’t,
What Shouldn’t Make You Happy, but Does by Sonja Lyubomirsky
198. Fat Chance: Beating the Odds Against Sugar, Processed Food, Obesity,
and Disease by Robert Lustig
199. Goals!: How to Get Everything You Want—Faster Than You Ever Thought
Possible by Brian Tracy
200. Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari
201. How Successful People Think: Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life
by John C. Maxwell
202. The Confidence Gap: A Guide to Overcoming Fear and Self-Doubt
by Dr. Russ Harris
203. Your Brain at Work: Strategies for Overcoming Distraction, Regaining
Focus, and Working Smarter All Day Long by David Rock
204. The Great Work of Your Life: A Guide for the Journey to Your True Calling
by Stephen Cope
205. Leadership: In Turbulent Times by Doris Kearns Goodwin
206. Mindsight: The New Science of Personal Transformation by Dan Siegel, MD
207. Black Box Thinking: Why Most People Never Learn from Their Mistakes—
But Some Do by Matthew Syed
208. Parenting Champions: What Every Parent Should Know About the Mental
Game by Lanny Bassham
209. Maximum Achievement: Strategies and Skills That Will Unlock Your
Hidden Powers to Succeed by Brian Tracy

986
210. The Courage Quotient: How Science Can Make You Braver by Robert
Biswas-Diener
211. Getting Grit: The Evidence-Based Approach to Cultivating Passion,
Perseverance, and Purpose by Caroline Adams Miller
212. How to Develop Self-Confidence & Influence People by Public Speaking
by Dale Carnegie
213. Super Human: The Bulletproof Plan to Age Backward and Maybe Even Live
Forever by Dave Asprey
214. The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and
Creativity at Work by Teresa Amabile & Steven Kramer
215. Trying Not to Try: Ancient China, Modern Science, and the Power of
Spontaneity by Edward Slingerland
216. The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfillment of
Your Dreams by Deepak Chopra
217. How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real
College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less by Cal Newport
218. Noble Purpose: The Joy of Living a Meaningful Life by William Damon
219. Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for
Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Lack of Focus, Anger, and
Memory Problems by Daniel G. Amen, MD
220. Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals by Heidi Grant Halvorson
221. Conquest of Mind: Take Charge of Your Thoughts and Reshape Your Life
Through Meditation by Eknath Easwaran
222. The Art of Mental Training: A Guide to Performance Excellence
by DC Gonzalez
223. Smarter Faster Better: The Secrets of Being Productive in Life and Business
by Charles Duhigg
224. The Practicing Stoic: A Philosophical User’s Manual by Ward Farnsworth
225. The Courage to Be Disliked: The Japanese Phenomenon That Shows You
How to Change Your Life and Achieve Real Happiness by Ichiro Kishimi,
Fumitake Koga
226. The Longevity Paradox: How to Die Young at a Ripe Old Age by Steven R.
Gundry, MD
227. Rich Dad, Poor Dad: What the Rich Teach Their Kids About Money That
the Poor and Middle Class Do Not! by Robert T. Kiyosaki
228. Coaching the Mental Game: Leadership Philosophies and Strategies for

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 Peak Performance in Sports and Everyday Life by H. A. Dorfman
229. The Healthy Deviant: A Rule Breaker’s Guide to Being Healthy in an
Unhealthy World by Pilar Gerasimo
230. How to Talk to Anyone, Anytime, Anywhere: The Secrets of Good
Communication by Larry King
231. Instant Influence: How to Get Anyone to Do Anything—Fast by Michael V.
Pantalon, PhD
232. Discover the Power Within You: A Guide to the Unexplored Depths Within
by Eric Butterworth
233. No Mud, No Lotus: The Art of Transforming Suffering by Thích Nhất Hạnh
234. Eat Fat, Get Thin: Why the Fat We Eat Is the Key to Sustained Weight Loss
and Vibrant Health by Mark Hyman
235. Brain Energy: A Revolutionary Breakthrough in Understanding Mental
Health—and Improving Treatment for Anxiety, Depression, OCD, PTSD,
and More by Christopher M. Palmer, MD
236. The Happiness Diet: A Nutritional Prescription for a Sharp Brain,
Balanced Mood, and Lean, Energized Body by Tyler Graham &
Drew Ramsey, MD
237. The Success Principles: How to Get from Where You Are to Where
You Want to Be by Jack Canfield
238. Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche
239. The Telomere Effect: A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger,
Healthier, Longer by Elizabeth Blackburn, PhD, Elissa Epel, PhD
240. Thanks!: How Practicing Gratitude Can Make You Happier
by Robert A. Emmons
241. Everyday Enlightenment: The Twelve Gateways to Personal Growth
by Dan Millman
242. The Leader Who Had No Title: A Modern Fable on Real Success in
Business and in Life by Robin Sharma
243. Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive
and Creative Self by Manoush Zomorodi
244. Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain
by John J. Ratey
245. The Silva Mind Control Method of Mental Dynamics: Let the Silva Method
of Mind Development Teach You How to: Become More Secure and Self
Aware, Improve Your Relationships, Be Physically Healthier, Develop a Zest

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 for Living, Strengthen All Positive Aspects of Your Life by Jose Silva & Burt
Goldman
246. The Miracle of Mindfulness: An Introduction to the Practice of Meditation
by Thích Nhất Hạnh
247. The Winner Effect: The Neuroscience of Success and Failure by Ian Robertson
248. You Are the Placebo: Making Your Mind Matter by Dr. Joe Dispenza
249. Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat-Zinn
250. The Power of Character Strengths: Appreciate and Ignite Your Positive
Personality by Robert E. McGrath, Ryan M. Niemiec
251. Outliers: The Story of Success by Malcolm Gladwell
252. The Art of Connection: 7 Relationship-Building Skills Every Leader Needs
Now by Michael Gelb
253. The Gifts of Imperfection: Let Go of Who You Think You’re Supposed to
Be and Embrace Who You Are by Brené Brown
254. How to Be an Imperfectionist: The New Way to Self-Acceptance, Fearless
Living, and Freedom from Perfectionism by Stephen Guise
255. Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative
by Austin Kleon
256. Brain Maker: The Power of Gut Microbes to Heal and Protect Your Brain—
for Life by David Perlmutter
257. Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion by Sam Harris
258. The Distraction Addiction: Getting the Information You Need and the
Communication You Want, Without Enraging Your Family, Annoying Your
Colleagues, and Destroying Your Soul by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang
259. Focal Point: A Proven System to Simplify Your Life, Double Your
Productivity, and Achieve All Your Goals by Brian Tracy
260. Spartan Fit!: 30 Days. Transform Your Mind. Transform Your Body.
Commit to Grit. by Joe De Sena
261. Tony Robbins by Tony Robbins
262. Win Forever: Live, Work, and Play Like a Champion by Pete Carroll
263. The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom
by Jonathan Haidt
264. Mind Gym: An Athlete’s Guide to Inner Excellence by Gary Mack
265. Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us by Daniel H. Pink
266. Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from
Everybody Else by Geoff Colvin

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267. The Way of the Bodhisattva by Shantideva
268. Anxiety Free: Stop Worrying and Quieten Your Mind—Featuring the
Buteyko Breathing Method and Mindfulness by Patrick McKeown
269. The Mindful Athlete: Secrets to Pure Performance by George Mumford
270. The Path to Purpose: How Young People Find Their Calling in Life
by William Damon
271. Positive Psychology and the Body: The Somatopsychic Side to Flourishing
by Dr. Kate Hefferon
272. When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel H. Pink
273. Always Hungry?: Conquer Cravings, Retrain Your Fat Cells, and Lose
Weight Permanently by David Ludwig
274. The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer
275. Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home,
and School by Dr. John Medina
276. A Mind for Numbers: How to Excel at Math and Science (Even If You
Flunked Algebra) by Barbara Oakley, PhD
277. Musonius Rufus: Lectures and Sayings by Cynthia Arrieu-King
278. The Bulletproof Diet: Lose up to a Pound a Day, Reclaim Energy and Focus,
Upgrade Your Life by Dave Asprey
279. Life’s Great Question: Discover How You Contribute To The World
by Tom Rath
280. An Iron Will by Orison Swett Marden
281. The Power of Rest: Why Sleep Alone Is Not Enough by Matthew Edlund
282. Barking Up the Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything
You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong by Eric Barker
283. The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak
Performance by W. Timothy Gallwey
284. Character Strengths Matter: How to Live a Full Life (Positive Psychology
News) by Shannon Polly & Kathryn Britton
285. The Power of Your Breath: The Secret Key to Reshaping Your Looks, Body,
Health and Weight by Anders Olsson
286. Head Strong: The Bulletproof Plan to Activate Untapped Brain
Energy to Work Smarter and Think Faster-in Just Two Weeks
by Dave Asprey
287. The Practicing Mind: Developing Focus and Discipline in Your Life
by Thomas M. Sterner

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288. The Artist’s Journey: The Wake of the Hero’s Journey and the Lifelong
Pursuit of Meaning by Steven Pressfield
289. Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t: And Other Tough-Love Truths to Make
You a Better Writer by Steven Pressfield
290. The Power of Habit by Jack D. Hodge
291. Discipline Is Destiny: The Power of Self-Control by Ryan Holiday
292. CREATOR by Steve Chandler
293. How We Learn: The Surprising Truth About When, Where, and Why It
Happens by Benedict Carey
294. One Percent Better: A Story About How To Close The Gap From Where You
Are To Where You Want To Be by Brian Cain
295. Natural Born Heroes: Mastering the Lost Secrets of Strength and Endurance
by Christopher McDougall
296. The Power of Your Supermind: Great Cosmic Wisdom Explained in a Clear
and Practical Way by Vernon Howard
297. Infinite Self: 33 Steps to Reclaiming Your Inner Power by Stuart Wilde
298. The Road to Character by David Brooks
299. The Four Purposes of Life: Finding Meaning and Direction in a Changing
World by Dan Millman
300. Are You Fully Charged?: The 3 Keys to Energizing Your Work and Life
by Tom Rath
301. The Jefferson Bible: The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth by Thomas
Jefferson
302. Spirit Means Business: The Way to Prosper Wildly without Selling
Your Soul by Alan Cohen
303. The Icarus Deception: How High Will You Fly? by Seth Godin
304. Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success
by Shane Snow
305. A Complaint Free World: How to Stop Complaining and Start Enjoying
the Life You Always Wanted by Will Bowen
306. The Big Leap: Conquer Your Fears and Take Life to the Next Level
by Gay Hendricks
307. The Stoic Art of Living: Inner Resilience and Outer Results
by Tom Morris
308. Executive Toughness: The Mental-Training Program to Increase Your
Leadership Performance by Jason Selk

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309. No Excuses!: The Power of Self-Discipline by Brian Tracy
310. The Places that Scare You: A Guide to Fearlessness in Difficult Times
by Pema Chödrön
311. Crazy Good: A Book of CHOICES by Steve Chandler
312. Iconoclast: A Neuroscientist Reveals How to Think Differently
by Gregory Berns
313. No Limits: The Will to Succeed by Michael Phelps & Alan Abrahamson
314. Leading an Inspired Life by Jim Rohn
315. Buddha’s Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love & Wisdom
by Rick Hanson
316. 100 Ways to Motivate Yourself: Change Your Life Forever by Steve Chandler
317. The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and
Enjoying Guilt-Free Play by Neil Fiore
318. David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants by
Malcolm Gladwell
319. Plato’s Lemonade Stand: Stirring Change into Something Great by Tom Morris
320. Counterclockwise: Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility by Ellen Langer
321. The Marshmallow Test: Why Self-Control Is the Engine of Success
by Walter Mischel
322. Courage Under Fire: Testing Epictetus’s Doctrines in a Laboratory of
Human Behavior by James Stockdale
323. The Keto Reset Diet: Reboot Your Metabolism in 21 Days and Burn Fat
Forever by Mark Sisson
324. The Achievement Habit: Stop Wishing, Start Doing, and Take Command
of Your Life by Bernard Roth
325. Awareness: The Perils and Opportunities of Reality by Anthony de Mello
326. EntreLeadership: 20 Years of Practical Business Wisdom from the Trenches
by Dave Ramsey
327. Rethinking Depression: How to Shed Mental Health Labels and Create
Personal Meaning by Eric Maisel
328. Braving the Wilderness: The Quest for True Belonging and the Courage to
Stand Alone by Brené Brown
329. Victory Favors the Fearless: How to Defeat the 7 Fears That Hold You Back
by Darrin Donnelly
330. It Starts With Food: Discover the Whole 30 and Change Your Life in
Unexpected Ways by Dallas Hartwig & Melissa Hartwig

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331. The Wim Hof Method: Activate Your Full Human Potential by Wim Hof
332. Fearless: The Undaunted Courage and Ultimate Sacrifice of Navy SEAL
Team SIX Operator Adam Brown by Eric Blehm
333. Living Untethered: Beyond the Human Predicament by Michael Singer
334. True to Form: How to Use Foundation Training for Sustained Pain Relief
and Everyday Fitness by Eric Goodman
335. How Bad Do You Want It?: Mastering the Psychology of Mind over Muscle
by Matt Fitzgerald
336. The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life by Twyla Tharp
337. Gandhi the Man: How One Man Changed Himself to Change the World
by Eknath Easwaran
338. Everyday Zen: Love and Work by Charlotte Joko Beck
339. The Relaxation Response: The Classic Mind/Body Approach That Has
Helped Millions Conquer the Harmful Effects of Stress by Herbert Benson
340. Move Your DNA: Restore Your Health Through Natural Movement
by Katy Bowman
341. The Endurance Handbook: How to Achieve Athletic Potential, Stay Healthy,
and Get the Most Out of Your Body by Dr. Philip Maffetone
342. Attainment: The 12 Elements of Elite Performance by Troy Bassham
343. On Writing: 10th Anniversary Edition: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King
344. The Power of Intention: Learning to Co-Create Your World Your Way
by Wayne Dyer
345. Driven: Understanding and Harnessing the Genetic Gifts Shared by
Entrepreneurs, Navy SEALs, Pro Athletes, and Maybe YOU by Douglas
Brackmann, PhD
346. The Motivation Manifesto by Brendon Burchard
347. Fail Fast, Fail Often: How Losing Can Help You Win by Ryan Babineaux,
John Krumboltz
348. The Passion Paradox: A Guide to Going All In, Finding Success, and
Discovering the Benefits of an Unbalanced Life by Brad Stulberg &
Steve Magness
349. Why Meditate?: Working with Thoughts and Emotions by Matthieu Ricard
350. Mind Hacking: How to Change Your Mind for Good in 21 Days by John
Hargrave
351. Toward a Psychology of Being by Abraham Maslow
352. Off Balance: Getting Beyond the Work-Life Balance Myth to Personal and

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 Professional Satisfaction by Matthew Kelly
353. Body Mind Mastery: Creating Success in Sports and Life by Dan Millman
354. The Happiness Trap: How to Stop Struggling and Start Living
by Dr. Russ Harris
355. Finding Your Zone: Ten Core Lessons for Achieving Peak Performance in
Sports and Life by Dr. Michael Lardon
356. Clean Gut: The Breakthrough Plan for Eliminating the Root Cause of
Disease and Revolutionizing Your Health by Alejandro Junger, MD
357. An Audience of One: Reclaiming Creativity for Its Own Sake by Srinivas Rao
358. Fully Engaged: Using the Practicing Mind in Daily Life by Thomas M. Sterner
359. Fearless by Steve Chandler
360. Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination, and Invigorates the
Soul by Stuart Brown
361. Legacy by James Kerr
362. The Happiness Equation: Want Nothing + Do Anything = Have Everything
by Neil Pasricha
363. Fat for Fuel: A Revolutionary Diet to Combat Cancer, Boost Brain Power,
and Increase Your Energy by Dr. Joseph Mercola
364. The Golden Present: Daily Inspirational Readings by Sri Swami Satchidananda
by Sri Swami Satchidananda
365. Why Your Life Sucks by Alan Cohen
366. The Stress Test: How Pressure Can Make You Stronger and Sharper
by Ian Robertson
367. Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self-Motivation by Edward L. Deci
368. Toughness Training for Life: A Revolutionary Program for Maximizing
Health, Happiness and Productivity by James E. Loehr
369. Breathe: The Simple, Revolutionary 14-Day Program to Improve Your
Mental and Physical Health by Belisa Vranich
370. The End of Alzheimer’s: The First Program to Prevent and Reverse
Cognitive Decline by Dale Bredesen
371. The Genius Life: Heal Your Mind, Strengthen Your Body, and Become
Extraordinary by Max Lugavere
372. Fix Your Feet: Build the Best Foundation for Healthy, Pain-Free Knees,
Hips, and Spine by Dr. Philip Maffetone
373. The Ultra Mindset: An Endurance Champion’s 8 Core Principles for Success
in Business, Sports, and Life by Travis Macy & John Hanc

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374. Spiritual Liberation: Fulfilling Your Soul’s Potential by Michael Bernard
Beckwith
375. The Man Who Tapped the Secrets of the Universe by Glenn Clark
376. Mindfulness: An Eight-Week Plan for Finding Peace in a Frantic World
by Mark Williams & Danny Penman
377. The Paradox of Choice—Why More Is Less by Barry Schwartz
378. You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay
379. Money, and the Law of Attraction by Esther & Jerry Hicks
380. Golden Rules for Everyday Life by Omraam Mikhaël Aïvanhov
381. Unsubscribe: How to Kill Email Anxiety, Avoid Distractions, and Get Real
Work Done by Jocelyn K. Glei
382. Beyond Religion: Ethics for a Whole World by Dalai Lama
383. Born for This: How to Find the Work You Were Meant to Do by Chris Guillebeau
384. 10 Rules for Resilience: Mental Toughness for Families by Joe De Sena
385. Take a Nap! Change Your Life. by Sara C. Mednick
386. Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life
by Thích Nhất Hạnh
387. Choose the Life You Want: The Mindful Way to Happiness by Tal Ben-Shahar
388. Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth about Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar—
Your Brain’s Silent Killers by David Perlmutter
389. Happiness by Ed Diener, Robert Biswas-Diener
390. The Plant Paradox: The Hidden Dangers in “Healthy” Foods That Cause
Disease and Weight Gain by Steven R. Gundry, MD
391. The Healing Power of the Breath: Simple Techniques to Reduce Stress
and Anxiety, Enhance Concentration, and Balance Your Emotions
by Richard P. Brown & Patricia L. Gerbarg
392. Ask and It Is Given: Learning to Manifest Your Desires by Esther & Jerry Hicks
393. A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle
394. The Little Book of Talent: 52 Tips for Improving Your Skills by Daniel Coyle
395. The Book of Understanding: Creating Your Own Path to Freedom by Osho
396. Strength in the Storm: Transform Stress, Live in Balance, and Find Peace of
Mind by Eknath Easwaran
397. Power Up Your Brain by David Perlmutter and Alberto Villoldo
398. The Diamond Cutter: The Buddha on Strategies for Managing Your
Business and Your Life by Geshe Michael Roach
399. Louder than Words: Harness the Power of Your Authentic Voice by Todd Henry

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400. The Circadian Code: Lose Weight, Supercharge Your Energy, and Transform
Your Health from Morning to Midnight by Satchin Panda, PhD
401. The Way to Love: The Last Meditations of Anthony de Mello
by Anthony de Mello
402. Power Sleep: The Revolutionary Program That Prepares Your Mind for
Peak Performance by James B. Maas
403. Win or Learn: MMA, Conor McGregor, and Me by John Kavanagh
404. The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember
by Fred Rogers
405. Superheroes and Philosophy: Truth, Justice, and the Socratic Way (Popular
Culture and Philosophy) by Tom Morris & Matt Morris
406. The Brain Warrior’s Way: Ignite Your Energy and Focus, Attack Illness and
Aging, Transform Pain into Purpose by Daniel G. Amen, MD & Tana Amen
407. The Courage to Create by Rollo May
408. The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
409. The Emotional Life of Your Brain: How Its Unique Patterns Affect the Way
You Think, Feel, and Live—and How You Can Change Them by Richard
Davidson & Sharon Begley
410. Brain Power: Improve Your Mind as You Age by Michael Gelb & Kelly Howell
411. Paulo Coelho by Paulo Coehlo
412. Hero on a Mission: A Path to a Meaningful Life by Donald Miller
413. Primary Greatness: The 12 Levers of Success by Stephen R. Covey
414. Perfect Breathing: Transform Your Life One Breath at a Time
by Al Lee & Don Campbell
415. The Millionaire Fastlane: Crack the Code to Wealth and Live Rich for a
Lifetime by MJ DeMarco
416. Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life by Winifred Gallagher
417. Striking Thoughts by Bruce Lee
418. The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
419. Stillness Speaks by Eckhart Tolle
420. The Extra Degree: Extraordinary Results Begin with One Small Change
by Mac Anderson & Sam Parker
421. The Relaxation Revolution by Herbert Benson
422. The Hero Code: Lessons Learned from Lives Well Lived by Admiral William
H. McRaven
423. Think Like a Warrior: The Five Inner Beliefs That Make You Unstoppable

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 by Darrin Donnelly
424. You Are Special: Words of Wisdom for All Ages from a Beloved Neighbor
by Fred Rogers
425. Creating Affluence by Deepak Chopra
426. The Art and Science of Low Carbohydrate Living: An Expert Guide to
Making the Life-Saving Benefits of Carbohydrate Restriction Sustainable
and Enjoyable by Jeff S. Volek & Stephen D. Phinney
427. 15 Secrets Successful People Know About Time Management: The
Productivity Habits of 7 Billionaires, 13 Olympic Athletes, 29 Straight-
A Students, and 239 Entrepreneurs by Kevin Kruse
428. The Big Picture: 11 Laws That Will Change Your Life by Tony Horton
429. Clean by Alejandro Junger, MD
430. The Way of the Superior Man: A Spiritual Guide to Mastering the Challenge
of Women, Work, and Sexual Desire by David Deida
431. Sitting Kills, Moving Heals: How Everyday Movement Will Prevent Pain,
Illness, and Early Death—and Exercise Alone Won’t by Dr. Joan Vernikos
432. Breathe In, Breathe Out: Inhale Energy and Exhale Stress by Guiding and
Controlling Your Breathing by James E. Loehr & Jeffrey Migdow
433. It’s Not About the Money: Unlock Your Money Type to Achieve Spiritual and
Financial Abundance by Brent Kessel
434. Take the Stairs: 7 Steps to Achieving True Success by Rory Vaden
435. Eight Pillars of Prosperity: From: Mind Is the Master—The Complete James
Allen Treasury by James Allen
436. Wired to Create: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind by Scott
Barry Kaufman, Carolyn Gregoire
437. The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr
438. Courage Is Calling: Fortune Favors the Brave (The Stoic Virtues Series)
by Ryan Holiday
439. Ketotarian: The (Mostly) Plant-Based Plan to Burn Fat, Boost Your Energy,
Crush Your Cravings, and Calm Inflammation by Dr. Will Cole
440. Living Forward: A Proven Plan to Stop Drifting and Get the Life You Want
by Michael Hyatt & Daniel Harkavy
441. The Artist’s Way: 25th Anniversary Edition by Julia Cameron
442. Silence: The Power of Quiet in a World Full of Noise by Thích Nhất Hạnh
443. Wired to Eat: Turn Off Cravings, Rewire Your Appetite for Weight Loss,
and Determine the Foods That Work for You by Robb Wolf

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444. The Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle by Jim Rohn
445. The Wheel of Time: The Shamans of Ancient Mexico, Their Thoughts
About Life, Death and the Universe by Carlos Castaneda
446. Ken Wilber by Ken Wilber
447. #ASKGARYVEE: One Entrepreneur’s Take on Leadership, Social Media,
and Self-Awareness by Gary Vaynerchuk
448. Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot by James Stockdale
449. Show Your Work: 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered
by Austin Kleon
450. Happy for No Reason: 7 Steps to Being Happy From the Inside Out
by Marci Shimoff
451. One Spirit Medicine: Ancient Ways to Ultimate Wellness by Alberto
Villoldo

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 45 (+1) OPTIMAL LIVING 101 CLASSES
OPTIMIZE EVERY ASPECT OF YOUR LIFE

I’ve distilled the best Big Ideas from the best books across
dozens of topics into hour-long master classes. Each class fea-
tures 10 potentially life-changing Ideas. Here are 45 (+1) of the
classes you may enjoy.
1. Abundance 101: How to Create True Wealth by Wisely Investing in You, Inc.
(& The Best Way to Become a Billionaire!)
2. Antifragile 101: How to Use Everything to Fuel Your Heroic Growth
3. Confidence 101: How to Create Indestructible Trust in Yourself
4. Conquering Anxiety 101: How to Tame Anxiety and Live with Confidence
5. Conquering Cancer 101: How I’m Helping My Brother Fight Cancer & What
I’d Share with You as Your Friend & Coach
6. Conquering Cancer 102: Rethinking Cancer: Theory & Therapy
7. Conquering Depression 101: Tame Your Gremlins and Create an Awesome Life
8. Conquering Digital Addiction 101: To Sculpt or to Get Hacked? That Is the
Question
9. Conquering Fear 101: How to Alchemize Fear into Excitement & Use the
Energy as Fuel to Reach Your Potential
10. Conquering Perfectionism 101: How to Quit Being a Perfectionist and Start
Being an Incremental Optimizer
11. Conquering Procrastination 101: How to Quit Putting Your Life on Hold
12. Cooking 101: How to Optimize Your Nutrition in an Easy and Practical Way
13. Energy 101: How to Give Your Soul the Energy It Needs to Live Your
Greatest Life
14. Fatherhood 101: How to Win Dad of the Year While Doing Your Life’s Work
15. Food 101: How to Feel Empowered Around Food and Fuel a Great Life
(Special Guest Teacher: Alexandra!)
16. Goals 101: How to Set and Achieve Goals That Will Help You Flourish
17. Greatest Year Ever 101: Make This Year the Greatest Year of Your Life

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18. Greatest Year Ever - Part II: Practice: How To Use the Heroic App To
Activate Your Heroic Potential
19. Habits 101: How to Discover Your Superpower and Install Your #1 habit
20. Journaling 101: How to Create a Foundation of Clarity, Confidence &
Consistency by Using a Journal
21. Leadership 101: How to Inspire and Empower People to Do Great Things
22. Learning 101: The Science of How we Learn and Make Things Stick
(Efficiently)
23. Love 101: How to Optimize the Love in Your Life
24. Masterpiece Days 101: How to Create a Great Life One Great Day at a Time
25. Meditation 101: How to Meditate without Moving to the Himalayas
26. Mommahood 101: How to Celebrate Motherhood—the Most Creative
Work of Your Life! (Special Guest Teacher: Alexandra!)
27. Movement 101: How to Optimize Your Energy, Genes, Mind, Mood & Body
as a Perpetual Motion Machine
28. Optimal Breathing 101: How to Optimize Your Breathing for Calm,
Focused Energy
29. Optimal Business 101: How to Create a Great Business and Get Paid to
Change the World
30. Optimal Nutrition 101: How to Optimize Your Health, Energy & Happiness
Starting at the End of Your Fork
31. Optimal Sleep 101: Get a Great Night of Sleep to Optimize Your Energy,
Mood & Mojo
32. Optimal Weight 101: How to Optimize Our Metabolism to Easily Sculpt
Our Ideal Bodies While Energizing to Actualize
33. Optimizing Algorithms 101: How to Become an Optibot (a.k.a. an
“Optimizing Robot”!) and Program Yourself to Reach Your Infinite Potential
34. Optimizing for the Modern Hēro 101: How to Harness Your Soul Force to
Create the Strength for Two so We Can Change the World Together
35. Peak Performance 101: How to Reach Your Potential and Perform at Your
Best When It Matters Most
36. Play 101: How to Activate Your Superpowers, Increase Your Mojo & Have
More Fun (Special Guest Teacher: Alexandra!)
37. Positive Psychology 101: Tap Into the Science of Optimizing & Actualizing
38. Productivity 101: How to Get Great Things Done vs. a Ton of Trivial Things

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39. Public Speaking 101: How to Express Yourself Confidently When You’re
Talking with More Than a Few People
40. Purpose 101: How to Discover Your Purpose and Fulfill Your Destiny
41. Purpose 102: Bonus Video: 25 Journaling Questions
42. Self-Care 101: How to Honor Your Body and Create a Beautiful Life (Special
Guest Teacher: Alexandra!)
43. Self-Image 101: See the Best, Most Heroically Awesome Version of You
44. Spartan Training 101: How to Become Immune to Obstacles in Your Life &
Do Your First Spartan Race
45. Stoicism 101: How to Apply the Ancient Wisdom of Seneca, Epictetus &
Marcus Aurelius to Your Modern Life
46. Willpower 101: How to Master the Science of Self-Control

1001
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