Optimize With Brian Johnson | More Wisdom In Less Time

Paulo Coelho is one of the most inspiring and beloved authors on the planet (can you believe he’s sold over 100 million copies of his books in 150 languages?!?) and in this Note we'll explore some of my favorite Big Ideas from a bunch of his great books. We'll explore the one great truth that when we *really* want something, it's because the desire originated in the soul of the universe and the fact that the extraordinary is the birthright of all of us. I love Paulo and trust you will, too, if you don't already!

If you're looking to live an extraordinary life, this great book lays out the new model for rockin' it. In the Note, we'll explore some Big Ideas on how to get into your Trusting Mindset where you just let it rip as you eat stress like an energy bar and put yourself on super pilot. Remember that everyone who's ever made history was a nut… until they did what they said they'd do and then they were a genius.

Byron Katie is best known for the four questions that make up "The Work" and in this Note we’ll take a quick look at those along with some other really cool Ideas. We'll learn to love what is by seeing our suffering as a compassionate alarm clock awakening us to our possibilities and by recognizing that if we see things as "wrong" in the world, we need to start by changing our own consciousness.

The more I observed human behavior, the more convinced I became that the key to health is understanding each person’s individual needs, rather than following a set of predetermined rules. I saw plenty of evidence that having happy relationships, a fulfilling career, an exercise routine and a spiritual practice are even more important to health than a daily diet.

Michael Gelb profiles the seven attributes of da Vinci's genius in his great book and in our Note we'll have fun checking out some Big Ideas including one of the most powerful exercises I've ever done called "A Hundred Questions." The exercise literally shaped my life and I trust you'll dig it as much as I have. We'll also look at the power of affirmations (did you know da Vinci used them?!) and the body of a genius (did you know da Vinci was also an exceptional athlete?!). Fun stuff.

Marci Shimoff created Chicken Soup for the Woman’s Soul and integrates great stories about happy people with scientifically established ways to boost our happiness in her great book. In the Note, we'll explore the fact that we all have a happiness set point that's genetically determined and dive into a bunch of Big Ideas about what we can do raise our happiness levels.

Gay and Katie Hendricks are among the world's top relationship experts. In this Note we'll check out some Big Ideas on how to get our Love on—including the importance of appreciation and the need to create at least a 5:1 ratio of positive interactions to negative interactions if we want to have great relationships. (Did you know that when you appreciate people their value appreciates?! Yepperz!) Plus we'll look at the importance of re-committing and the acid test of healthy relationships.

You can dramatically improve the overall quality of your life far faster than you might think possible. All you need is the desire to change, the decision to take action, the discipline to practice the new behaviors you have chosen, and the determination to persist until you get the results you want.

This is Dan Millman's magnum opus where he walks us through "The Twelve Gateways to Personal Growth" and in the Note we check out Big Ideas ranging from the importance of discovering our self-worth (and how to do so) to the fact that, although "Carpe diem!" sounds good, it's impossible to do. We can’t "Seize the day!" but we *can* "Seize the moment!" or , as Dan says: "Carpe punctum!"

Dan Millman (author of Way of the Peaceful Warrior and other great books) introduced me to this book as he's been deeply influenced by David Reynolds' integration of Zen Buddhism and Western Psychotherapy. In this Note, we'll explore some Big Ideas on how to live with greater self-mastery by more effectively relating to our emotions and consistently asking ourselves: "Now what needs to be done?!"

Gay Hendricks is a close friend and mentor of mine who encourages us to create a life of our own design as we enjoy the magic that unfolds when we truly commit to living an extraordinary life. In this Note, we'll explore Ideas on how to get our conscious living on including letting go of the past and the importance of having *both* goals AND moment to moment flow.

Dan Milllman's a former world champion gymnast and coach of the Stanford and Berkeley gymnastic teams whose got some Big Ideas on how to achieve Body, Mind and Spirit mastery. In this Note we explore a bunch of 'em including how to deal with the fear of failure, what we can learn from babies and how to build new habits as we become masters of our lives who shine everywhere!

Zen Master Genpo Roshi spent decades figuring out how to best help people develop enlightened awareness and came up with his revolutionary process called "Big Mind." In this Note, we'll take a peek at some Big Ideas from the Zen Master including how the root of suffering (dukkha) is getting stuck in one perspective and how that's about as effective as having a Maserati stuck in first gear. We'll also explore the place beyond idiot compassion as we become integrated human beings giving ourselves joyfully to the world.

This is pretty much the Bible on the Law of Attraction and in this Note we'll take a look at how Esther and Jerry define The Law of Attraction (they say it's kinda like tuning your radio to the right station so you can hear the music you love!), how to use your Emotional Fuel Gauge (that's one of my favorite Ideas ever) and how to create intentions throughout your day to put yourself in the driver's seat of life.

Oprah and Tolle rocked the wisdom from this great book in their special program and in the Note we'll explore Big Ideas ranging from how your pain body and shadow projections are getting in the way of your happiness to the secret of the art of living as we create the consciousness in ourselves that will help create a new heaven on earth. (We also have a Note on Tolle’s "Power of Now" so you'll be sure to get your ET on!)

Krishnamurti was the spiritual bomb (technical description, of course J) in the 20th century. A no-nonsense, find-your-own-path kinda guy, his books are packed with wisdom. In this Note, we'll look at some of his Biggest Ideas—including the importance of dealing with problems quickly before the roots get strong, how reading about these Ideas but not *living* them is like a pretty flower with no scent and a lot of other great stuff.

This book is like a greatest hits collection of Castaneda's best passages. In the Note we'll look at the need to transcend our conditioning as we develop our personal power, the importance of choosing a path with heart (aka following your bliss), using death as an advisor and living with impeccability as we achieve no stress success.

This book is one of the most densely packed with goodness books out there and in the Note we're going to explore the different brain waves and the fact that stress causes faster brain waves than relaxation along with how and why we want to drop into "alpha" as often as possible. Plus, we'll look at how to turn fear into excitement (really cool Idea!), the seven hermetic laws and the five rules for happiness.

Wallace D. Wattles. Funny name and funny looking dood but lots of great wisdom. In this Note, we'll have fun looking at how to get our greatness on. Big Ideas include the fact that we've gotta move beyond our fears, obey our souls (always), be patient, pay attention to our habitual thoughts and, perhaps most importantly, if we want to be great we've gotta SERVE greatly.

How's your Supermind? Find out what Vernon's talking about and how to turn up your Supermind's power with this wisdom-packed Note. We'll explore everything from psychic spankings (codeword for suffering) to causes and effects and we'll see how detecting negativity is actually a very positive thing.