Note: This is the introductory video that will welcome new Heroes to the Heroic social training platform when it launches on April 9th. To the almost 10,000 Heroic Founding Members who have already signed up... we can't wait to get the Heroic social training platform in your hands and help you move from Theory to Practice to Mastery so we can change the world, one person at a time, together, starting with you and us, TODAY! To everyone else, JOIN US by becoming a Founding Member TODAY and get 50% OFF FOREVER.
Transcript:
Hi, this is Brian. I'm the creator of Optimize and the Founder + CEO of Heroic.
I'm thrilled to welcome you to our Heroic Training Platform.
I know you’re busy and I strive to deliver more wisdom in less time so let’s jump straight in!
My intention with this welcome video is REALLY simple. I want to help you tap into the next level of your Heroic potential so you can start showing up more consistently as the best version of yourself TODAY—not someday. But, literally, TODAY.
If you give me (and your best self!) the time to watch this video and another 5-10-15 minutes to set up your Heroic Big 3 Protocol then just THREE minutes a day tomorrow and another three minutes the following day and every day after that, I PROMISE YOU (!!!) that we can fundamentally and permanently change your life and, in the process, change the world together.
If you simply don't have the time right now, all good. You can always check this video out in the introduction to Basic Training in the Theory part of our app.
In the introductory module, you’ll also find videos in which I share more details on our Heroic Mission to create a world in which 51% of the world’s population is flourishing by the year 2051 and why I have dedicated my life to (and tattooed my body with!) that target—I’m ALL IN, folks!
I’ll also walk you through our two brand promises and the two key metrics by which we will measure our success at both an individual and a collective level.
Plus, we’ll chat about the ONE thing we are committed to doing at the absolute highest possible level. Hint: Helping you go from Theory to Practice to Mastery so you can show up as the best, most Heroic version of yourself.
But for now, it’s time to get to work. I’m ALL IN on both creating that world in which 51% of the population is flourishing by the year 2051 AND I’m ALL IN on making sure we start with YOU flourishing TODAY.
So… With that prelude out of the way… I’d like to start with a question.
Who’s your favorite Hero?
Seriously. Take a moment and think about it. Who comes to mind?
I have a few of my favorite Heroes behind me. Great teachers and leaders who inspire me to show up as the best, most Heroic version of myself.
Aristotle. Epictetus. Marcus Aurelius. Abraham Lincoln. Winston Churchill. Gandhi. Abraham Maslow. Martin Luther King, Jr.
My wife and I even named our kids after two of our favorite Heroes: Ralph Waldo Emerson and Eleanor Roosevelt.
So… Again… Who inspires YOU?!
Seriously.
What individuals—living or dead—embody the qualities you most admire?
What individuals showed up and lived in a way that deeply inspires YOU to show up and give us all you’ve got?
As you think about that, know this…
All those Heroes showed up in their own idiosyncratic way (Gandhi was frail and would go days without talking while Churchill was portly and rarely STOPPED talking!! … And those two guys didn’t even LIKE each other!)…
BUT ALL of those Heroes had ONE thing in common.
It’s what Aristotle had and what he helped ignite in Alexander the Great.
It’s what Epictetus had and what he helped Marcus Aurelius cultivate in his life.
It’s what Gandhi had and is the force that freed his nation. (And, for the record, it was GANDHI who actually gave this power its name.)
It’s what Martin Luther King, Jr. had, and, inspired by HIS hero Gandhi, something he actually talks about it in his “I have a dream” speech.
It’s what Eleanor Roosevelt had. And Amelia Earhart. And Helen Keller and Anne Frank and COUNTLESS others who may have made it into our history books or may have just humbly made an anonymous yet indelible mark on our world by deeply inspiring their friends and families and communities.
So… What's the ONE thing ALL the great Heroes across all cultures throughout history have had in common?
SOUL FORCE.
It’s every Hero’s super power.
SOUL FORCE.
It’s that ineffable power you can feel in human beings living in integrity with their highest ideals.
SOUL FORCE.
It’s the force that can (literally) change the world.
And guess what…
It’s YOUR super power as well.
We just need to ACTIVATE IT. Not SOMEDAY. But TODAY.
And then, very importantly!!, we need to REACTIVATE our Soul Force ALL DAY EVERY DAY.
THAT, my dear friend, is how we can tap into YOUR Heroic potential as we fundamentally and permanently change your life while fundamentally and permanently changing the world together.
And doing THAT is what Heroic is all about.
Give me (and yourself!) just THREE minutes a day—one minute every morning as you recommit to being your best, most Heroic self and then two minutes a day as you hit those virtuous targets you set for yourself and… BOOM!!!
We’ll change the world together. One person and one virtuous act at a time. Starting with you and me and all of us TODAY.
One more question before we get to work and, if I do my job, fundamentally and permanently change your life TODAY. And, again, I mean that LITERALLY. We can change your life and activate the next level of your Heroic potential TODAY!
So… Ultimately, do you know who my all-time favorite Hero is…?
I’ll give you a hint…
Go look in the mirror.
My all-time favorite Hero is, UNQUESTIONABLY… YOU.
YOU are the Hero we’ve been waiting for.
And… In case you’re wondering if you qualify to even aspire to be a “hero,” I have another question for you…
Do you happen to know what the word hero means?
It’s an 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 Self-Mastery 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’re not just recovering from the effects of COVID-19. We have pandemic levels of anxiety and depression and cancer and diabetes and political polarization and social injustice and environmental degradation.
And the ONLY possible way we are going to meet those *historically 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 versions of ourselves.
All that to say. Nice to meet you, Hero.
Let’s get to work.
It’s time to activate your Soul Force and tap into your Heroic potential.
Alright…
All that’s nice and warm and fuzzy. And it all begs a number of questions.
First: How, EXACTLY, do we each activate our own Soul Force so we can show up as the best, most Heroic versions of ourselves in the midst of the busy-ness of our modern lives?
And: How, EXACTLY, will Heroic actually help you do it in less than three minutes per day?
Well… I’ve dedicated my entire life to answering that question. In the process, I created a protocol that research shows changes lives—which is the foundation of both the Theory AND the Practice of our Heroic Training Platform.
Right now I want to QUICKLY walk you through the absolute most essential things you need to know so we can get to work IMMEDIATELY.
We’ll spend a few minutes right now to understand the big picture and then a few more minutes to set up your new protocol and then we can LITERALLY (!) fundamentally and permanently change your life in less than three minutes a day.
Now… I’m not a “get it quick” kinda guy and, of course, we’re going to need to work hard together to change our lives and to change the world.
And… We can make a profound shift in how we approach our lives TODAY that will change everything.
So…
Here’s what you need to know.
Basic Training has seven objectives. The most important objective is the first one in which we establish the fact that, if you’re like 99% of the people in our modern society, you’ve been seduced to play the wrong game.
You’ve probably heard the adage that a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step. That is, of course, true.
But get this. If that first step is in the WRONG direction, the faster and further you go the FARTHER AWAY you get from where you REALLY want to go.
Do the math. If you take the first step in the WRONG direction and you go 1,000 miles, how far are you from the preferred destination? You’re TWO THOUSAND miles away.
Which is why making sure you’re going in the RIGHT direction is THE most important thing we will do together. And that’s HOW you can change your life IMMEDIATELY.
What’s the right direction?
Well… Ancient wisdom and modern science are in COMPLETE agreement on this issue.
ALL the great wisdom traditions across ALL time and ALL cultures say the EXACT SAME THING.
The ultimate purpose of life is to show up as the best version of yourself in service to something bigger than yourself.
And get this… they ALL (and I want to emphasize they ALL!!) agree on HOW to do that as well.
They tell us that we need to put our virtues in action.
We need to live with more wisdom and self-mastery and courage and love and hope and gratitude and curiosity and zest.
Not SOMEDAY. But TODAY.
Guess what? Modern science agrees. COMPLETELY.
In fact, the entire modern positive psychology movement was founded on what they describe as the “astonishing coherence” among all those ancient wisdom traditions.
Truly happy, purpose-driven people know who they are at their best and they show up in integrity with that version of themselves by putting their virtues in action TODAY.
And THAT, my dear Hero, is EXACTLY what we have worked so hard to operationalize with Heroic with the most elegantly simple protocol we could possibly create.
We need to help you get clear on who you are at your best, what virtues that version of you embodies and then what you will ACTUALLY DO TODAY to be integrity with that best version of you and those virtues and VOILA.
Your life changes.
Then… we need you to show up tomorrow morning and, FIRST THING before you do ANYTHING else (ESPECIALLY (!) if you don’t feel like it!), RECOMMIT to being that best version of yourself as you remind yourself what the ultimate game is. Then hit those targets you set for yourself ALL DAY, EVERY DAY.
And… VOILA.
You fundamentally and permanently change your life as you play the ultimate game well, forge antifragile confidence and make TODAY a masterpiece.
You start to feel more and more of that joy you might have been missing as you embody the wisdom and self-mastery and courage and love that you KNOW are the foundation of a noble, virtuous life.
So…
How do we do that?
Well, first we need to set up our Big 3 protocol.
As you may have noticed… It's easy to get overwhelmed when we start optimizing our lives. It's time to simplify self-help and personal growth and the process of living a great life.
Now… I don’t agree with Sigmund Freud on a lot of things but when I first read his wisdom about the fact that a good life comes down to TWO things—our WORK and our LOVE—a choir of angels sang for me.
Work and Love.
If we can get those TWO things right, we’re AT LEAST 80% there in creating a GREAT life.
But… If our ENERGY isn’t great and we have a hard time getting out of bed because of poor lifestyle choices then there’s NO WAY we will show up powerfully in EITHER our Work OR our Love so…
Getting our ENERGY to Heroic levels MUST be our first priority. Then we can show up and crush it in our Work and our Love. (Right?)
That’s our Heroic Big 3: Energy + Work + Love.
We get those dialed in and you will be more Energized, more Productive and more Connected than ever before.
You’ll also know how you did it and how to maintain it. And that creates a deep level of antifragile confidence so you can start eating all of life’s challenges like energy bars as you give us all you’ve got.
Oh. And guess what? This is also PRECISELY how we activate your Soul Force so you can tap into your Heroic potential, Hero.
So…
You're the Hero we've been waiting for. We need to make sure we're playing the right game—which ALL wisdom traditions (and modern science!) agree is to show up as the best version of yourself in service to something bigger than yourself by putting your virtues on action.
And, now we know that the essence of a great life is all about getting our Energy to Heroic levels so we can show up powerfully in our Work and our Love. Get that Heroic Big 3 right and we're * at least * 90% there.
Now… We've worked hard to come up with THE most elegantly simple and efficient way to put that Theory into Practice so we can activate our Soul Force and tap into our Heroic potential.
Our promise to you is simple: Give us (and yourself!) THREE minutes per day and we’ll change the world together.
Here's how. There are two steps in our daily practice.
We start with our 1-minute Heroic AM Commitment practice and then we’ll add a total of about 2 minutes during the day when you come back to the app to celebrate hitting those Targets you set for yourself.
First, it all starts with your Heroic AM Commitment.
Let's step back for a moment. And let's step into a time traveling machine. We're heading back in time. Buckle up. Hold on tight. Let's goooo!
Boom. We're there. It's September 8th, 1504. We're in the city state of Florence.
A large crowd is gathered in the street. Today's a special day.
The great young artist Michelangelo is unveiling his 17-foot statue..
It's the statue of David—one of the most iconic heroes in history.
Here's the question.
What moment did Michelangelo choose to capture in David’s Heroic life?
Think about it for a second. One of the most iconic heroes ever.
What moment in David’s Heroic life did Michelangelo choose to capture? Was it the moment of victory? After David successfully defeated Goliath?
Nope. The moment Michelangelo captured and rightly considered the most Heroic moment of David's life was NOT the moment AFTER he was successful in fulfilling his Heroic destiny. It was the moment he DECIDED that he would step up and strive to do his best to serve Heroically.
The outcome was uncertain at that moment. Which is why, as modern scholars say today, there is an INCOMPARABLE INTENSITY in his gaze. His entire being is present and ALL IN in that moment of decision.
You could say that his SOUL FORCE is palpable.
Guess what? The most Heroic moment of YOUR life is NOT the moments AFTER you achieved some huge success.
It's the moment you DECIDE to show up and do your best. And science says that it's not the “big” things that lead to a great, noble, deeply meaningful life. It's consistency on the little things.
Which is why we architected our ENTIRE Heroic Training platform around helping you make your Heroic Big 3 commitment EVERY SINGLE MORNING.
Science is also unequivocal that “pre committing” to your optimal behaviors is the wisest thing you can do.
Researchers also tell us that your attention and behaviors follow your INTENTION.
Which, again, is why we created our 1-minute Heroic AM Commitment protocol.
New Year's resolutions are nice and warm and fuzzy. New DAY’S resolutions are where it's at if you want to activate your Heroic potential.
That's part 1 of our practice protocol to help you move from Theory to Practice to Mastery as you activate your Soul Force and tap into your Heroic potential.
We’ll show you how to set up your Big 3 protocol in a moment—helping you get clarity on who you are at your best Energy, Work and Love wise, what virtues you embody and what you will actually DO to be integrity with that best version of yourself—not SOMEDAY but (always!!) TODAY!!
So… We recommit to being our best selves in the morning via our AM Heroic Commitment—making that THE most valuable minute of our day.
Now it's time to actually HIT those targets you set for yourself.
Let's bring 3 A’s and 2 B’s to the party to help us establish the ancient wisdom and modern science on which our protocol is architected.
Aristotle tells us that flourishing human beings are teleological—we have TARGETS.
He tells us that “If, like archers, we have a target to aim at, we are more likely to hit the right mark.”
That's our first A. Here's our second.
Atul Gawande is a world-class surgeon. He wrote a great book called The Checklist Manifesto.
Short story: Having a super-simple check list of key behaviors significantly improves performance—whether you’re a pilot, a surgeon or a Hero. Again, your checklist of key target behaviors will help you crush it.
Aristotle and Atul are our first 2 A’s. Here's our third.
Teresa Amabile is the head of research at Harvard Business School. She wrote a great book called The Progress Principle.
Basic idea? She tells us that people feel best when they’re making progress. It’s not the “huge” wins that make people feel great, it’s the SMALL WINS that do the trick.
With that wisdom in mind, we architected our platform such that we can celebrate micro wins throughout the day.
Do what you say you will do? Swipe. Hit the target. BOOM! Another positive splash of dopamine celebrating that small win. That’s how you forge your Heroic identities to become the person you’re destined to be.
Now it's time for our 2 B’s: Roy Baumeister and BJ Fogg.
Roy Baumeister is one of the most cited social psychologists in history. He literally wrote the book on Willpower.
One of his big ideas is the fact that, somewhat paradoxically, willpower exemplars actually don't use their willpower as much as others. As he says, they play OFFENSE with their willpower rather than defense. How? They decide IN ADVANCE how they will show up.
Psychologists call this “precommitting.” It's one of the reasons why “tap tap tapping” the Identities and Virtues we intend to embody along with the Targets we intend to hit will be such a powerful practice to help you fundamentally and permanently change your life.
Then we have BJ Fogg. He's a professor at Stanford and one of the world’s leading behavioral scientists. He tells us that one of THE most under appreciated things we can do to change our lives is to CELEBRATE all our small wins throughout the day.
Commit. Hit. Celebrate. Repeat.
That's like you to show up as the best, most Heroic version of yourself.
All day. Every day. ESPECIALLY TODAY!!!
Now we’re officially ready to get to work setting up your Heroic Big 3 protocol and hit your first virtuous targets.
It’s time to change the world. One person at a time.
Together. Starting with you and me and all of us. TODAY.
Today’s the day, Hero. LET’S GO!
