New Releases

A look at the past, present, and future of Heroic Public Benefit Corporation and how we intend to fulfill our mission to help 51% of humanity flourish by 2051.

An overview of how to forge a heroically confident mind, so you can forge excellence, activate your potential, and change the world with us.

In Greatest Year Ever 101, we’ll help you activate your Heroic potential so you can fundamentally and PERMANENTLY change your life as we make this year the greatest of your life!

In Part II of Greatest Year Ever, Brian shows us how we can use the Heroic app to activate our Heroic Potential and make this TRULY the greatest year of our lives.

Casey Means, MD, is the co-founder of Levels, a health technology company dedicated to reversing the world’s metabolic health crisis. She has served on the faculty at Stanford University, where she lectured on metabolic health and health technology. Dr. Means received her undergraduate degree with honors from Stanford, where she was president of her class, before graduating from Stanford Medical School. She later left traditional medicine to focus on tackling the root causes of why Americans are so sick. I’m not sure how I found this book, but when I saw the testimonial by Admiral Michael Mullen, retired 17th Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, I knew I had to get it. As you’d expect, it’s packed with Big Ideas and I’m excited to share some of my favorites, so let’s jump straight in!

Dr. Georgia Ede is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist specializing in the fascinating intersection of nutrition science, brain metabolism, and mental health. With over two decades of clinical experience, including groundbreaking work at Smith College and Harvard University Health Services, she was the first to offer nutrition-based therapies as an alternative to psychiatric medications. I came across this incredible book after Alexandra interviewed Dr. Ede for one of her Luminary Sessions with Heroic Coaches. This book is PACKED with Big Ideas to help you and your family conquer mental health challenges. I’m excited to share some of my favorites, so let’s jump straight in!

Admiral Bob Harward is a retired three-star Admiral and US Navy SEAL. The wisdom he shares in this book is based on his 40 years of highly decorated military service, followed by another decade as a top executive in the global defense industry. After leading the invasions of Afghanistan in October 2001 and Iraq in March 2003, Harward served on the National Security Council under President George W. Bush and helped commission the National Counterterrorism Center. Before retiring from the military in 2013, he served as Deputy Commander of US Central Command under General James Mattis. This book is PACKED with Big Ideas. I’m excited to share some of my favorites, so let’s jump straight in!

Want to be “Forever Strong”? Then this is the book for you. Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, a board-certified family physician with a fellowship in geriatrics and nutritional sciences, brings two decades of expertise to the table. Through her collaboration with mentor Dr. Donald Layman, she has transformed the field of protein metabolism and nutrition. With a focus on gaining muscle rather than just losing fat, Gabrielle offers a fresh perspective on building lasting strength and vitality. She’s also part of the Heroic family, having served the special forces community alongside her Navy SEAL husband. This book is your how-to manual on optimizing muscle growth and overall health. I’m excited to share some of my favorite Big Ideas so let’s jump straight in!

Steven Hayes is the creator of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), an approach focused on accepting the present while committing to positive change. After exploring Marsha Linehan’s work on Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), I noticed strong similarities between ACT and DBT, both balancing acceptance with action. These approaches are part of the "third wave" in cognitive behavioral therapy, alongside Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy. This workbook offers both theory and practical exercises to apply ACT principles in real life. I’m excited to share some of my favorite Big Ideas, so let’s jump straight in!

John Maxwell is a renowned leadership expert, author, and speaker who has written over 100 books on leadership, personal development, and growth. His work, including the famous The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, has influenced millions, making complex leadership concepts accessible and actionable. Maxwell is also the founder of the John Maxwell Company, which provides leadership training worldwide. This is our fifth Note on one of Maxwell’s books, following How Successful People Think, Leadershift, The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, and his classic, The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. I read this one during my recent deep dive into peak performance and mental toughness for our work with Heroic athletes, teams, and coaches. As Maxwell says, if we want to forge excellence and activate our Heroic potential, we MUST get really good at using failure as fuel for growth. The book is packed with Big Ideas on how to do just that, and I’m excited to share some of my favorites. So, let’s jump straight in!

Marsha Linehan is the creator of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), a pioneering approach originally designed to help those with suicidal ideation and self-harm behaviors, now widely used for various psychological challenges. Marsha’s story is nothing short of Heroic. After spending over two years in a mental health institution, she made a vow to help others escape their personal hells, leading to the creation of DBT. Today, she has trained over 10,000 therapists worldwide, and Time magazine named DBT one of the 100 most important new science ideas of our time. This book is packed with Big Ideas, and I’m excited to share some of my favorites, so let’s jump straight in!

Dr. Dave Alred MBE is an elite performance coach who works with top sports stars and teams, helping them deliver when the stakes are highest. Holding a PhD in Performing Under Pressure, he specializes in assisting athletes to excel in intense moments across sports like golf, rugby, and soccer. His book, recommended by one of the world's most elite athletes, is packed with Big Ideas for mastering mental toughness. This book is for anyone who wants to improve their performance under pressure. I'm excited to share some of my favorite Big Ideas, so let’s jump straight in!

Sam Walker is the founding editor of the Wall Street Journal’s daily sports coverage and has worked with elite sports teams, companies, and military units to help them cultivate leadership. In The Captain Class, he presents a “New Theory of Leadership” based on his study of over 1,000 teams, ultimately identifying 17 of the greatest sports dynasties of all time. The common thread? An uncommon captain. Walker’s research reveals that the most critical ingredient in a team that achieves and sustains historic greatness is the character of its leader. This book is packed with inspiring stories and Big Ideas about what makes these captains and their teams extraordinary. I’m excited to share some of my favorites, so let’s jump straight in!

Pressure. Every one of us feels it, but imagine the intense drama of a World Cup penalty kick—this is the heart of Geir Jordet's Pressure: Lessons from the Psychology of the Penalty Shootout. Jordet, a Professor in Psychology and Football at the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences, explains what happens in the high-pressure moments on the football field. With a special focus on those nerve-wracking penalty shootouts, he examines the psychological and physiological changes that players undergo. From his extensive experience advising over 130 professional players across major European leagues, Jordet reveals why some players thrive and others falter when everything is on the line. I read this book in one sitting—it's packed with Big Ideas on handling pressure not just in sports but in every walk of life. I’m excited to share some of my favorites so let’s jump straight in!

Bill Beswick is an applied performance psychologist who specializes in working with elite teams. As a gold-medal winner coaching the England basketball team in the Commonwealth Championships, Bill became the first performance psychologist operating fully in professional football, where he has worked with eight Premier and English Championship League teams, including Manchester United. This book is all about “changing your story” so you can “take control of your life, create change and achieve your goals.” It features 20 chapters featuring 20 life lessons drawn from elite sport we can apply to our lives. It’s packed with Big Ideas and I’m excited to share some of my favorites, so let’s jump straight in!

This is our fourth Note on one of Mark Divine’s books. Mark is a retired Navy SEAL Commander. He also has twenty-five years of experience as an entrepreneur. In this book, he teaches us how to be Uncommon. Over the last decade, Mark has become a dear friend, soul brother, and big investor in and supporter of Heroic. So... When he told me he had this book coming out, I was fired up to receive an advance copy. I read it in basically a single sitting. It’s fantastic. It’s packed with Big Ideas. I’m fired up to share some of my favorites so let’s jump straight in!

Areté. It’s the one-word answer the Stoics would give you if you asked them how to live a good life, the one-word summation of our philosophy at Heroic, and the title of Brian Johnson’s book featuring 451 ideas/chapters to help us activate our Heroic Potential. As you know if you’re familiar with Brian and his iconoclastic style, the book is a quick-reading, conversational, knock-your-socks-off-with-practical-wisdom masterpiece.

Caroline Adams Miller is one of my favorite human beings on the planet. And... This book is one of my ALL-TIME favorite books. In fact, it’s at least tied for first as my all-time favorite positive psychology book. Caroline has a remarkable ability to make the basic science of well-being SUPER PRACTICAL and the density of TRULY PRACTICAL, SCIENTIFICALLY GROUNDED wisdom in this book is astonishing. Gary Latham wrote the foreword. As you may know, Dr. Latham (and his colleague Dr. Edwin Locke) are THE WORLD’s preeminent authorities on the science of goal setting. His two-page foreword in and of itself is amazing. He tells us: “This book is a ‘must read’ because it brings science to life—your life.” I agree. I highly recommend you check it out. As you can imagine, the book is PACKED with Big Ideas. It’s going to be tough to focus on just a handful of my favorite Big Ideas, so let’s get straight to work!

I’m not sure exactly where I saw this book referenced. But, when I saw the title I figured it would be a good addition to our ever-growing collection of Notes on mental toughness books so I got it and here we are. Steve Siebold founded Mental Toughness University in 1986. He’s the author of a number of books and has worked with elite performers around the world for decades. As per the title, this book is PACKED with “177 Mental Toughness Secrets of the World Class”/ “The Thought Processes, Habits, and Philosophies of the Great Ones.” I’m excited to share some of my favorite Big Ideas so let’s jump straight in!

Tim Kennedy is a FASCINATING, inspiring human being. Imagine blending David Goggins and Jocko Willink and Nims Purja together then throwing them into a UFC ring and reading about their lives with a BRUTALLY honest magnifying glass on ALL the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s hard to put into words how compelling the book is but it’s REALLY good. Laugh-out-loud funny. Humbling. Inspiring. If you (or a loved one) enjoy great military and/or sports biographies, I think you’ll love it as much as I did. Although it’s a memoir, not a self-development book, it’s packed with Big Ideas and I’m excited to share some of my favorites so let’s jump straight in.

I love Alden Mills. I’m not sure how we connected but I’m very happy we did. I read his first book, Be Unstoppable, years ago. I read it by myself first, then I read it with Emerson. Then I read his second book Unstoppable Teams and we even produced a class on it with Alden called Unstoppable Teams 101. This book is PACKED with great stories about (and Big Ideas from!) his Navy SEAL training days and his time as a Navy SEAL Platoon Commander along with great stories/Ideas from his entrepreneurial days as the Founder/CEO of an Inc. 500 fastest growing company AND as a devoted father of four boys. I’m excited to share a few of my favorites so let’s jump straight in!

I got this book while I was reading Alden Mills’s great book, Unstoppable Mindset. Alden referenced Dr. Zinsser and wisdom from this book a bunch of times so, midway through reading his book, I Amazoned this one. Thanks to the miracle that is our modern world, the book arrived the following evening. I started it the next morning and finished it that day. It’s FANTASTIC. I think it’s now at least tied for first as THE best mental toughness book I’ve ever read.

Maurice Ashley is a Chess Grandmaster, a chess commentator, a national championship coach, and an author. In 1999, at the age of 33, he became the first African American Chess Grandmaster in the game’s history, and in 2016 he was inducted into the US Chess Hall of Fame. This book is packed with wisdom on everything from how to embrace the power of mistakes (and the inevitability of losing!) to improving every day through the power of focus and endless learning. I’m excited to share some of my favorite Big Ideas, so let’s jump straight in!

Admiral James Stavridis is one of the great naval leaders of our time. He spent more than thirty years in the US Navy, rising to the rank of four-star admiral. He was Supreme Allied Commander at NATO. He also holds a PhD from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where he recently served five years as dean. This book is “a master class in decision-making under pressure through the stories of nine famous acts of leadership in battle, drawn from the history of the United States Navy, with outcomes both glorious and notorious.” The book is packed with great stories and Big Ideas. I’m excited to share some of my favorites so let’s jump straight in!

I got this book after reading Admiral Mike Manazir’s great book Learn How to Lead to Win. It's a pretty obscure book but the good Admiral loved it so I got it. And I’m happy I did. It’s a super short, quick-reading book on, as per the sub-title, “21 Ways to Bring the Best Out of Yourself and Others.” It’s fantastic. As you’d expect, the book is packed with Big Ideas. As always, I’m excited to share some of my favorites we can apply to our lives TODAY so let’s jump straight in!

Deion Sanders is the only player in sports history to play in a Super Bowl and World Series. He’s an NFL Hall of Famer and a two-time Super Bowl Champion. More recently, he’s dedicated his life to redefining coaching and leadership as “Coach Prime.” After leading Jackson State University to two SWAC Championships he took over the head coaching job at the University of Colorado. This book is like having a conversation with a wise, playful, super high energy iconoclast. It’s packed with Big Ideas and I’m excited to share some of my favorites so let’s jump straight in.

Jordan B. Peterson spent a couple decades as a clinical psychologist and a professor at Harvard and the University of Toronto before publishing his first book 12 Rules for Life which has sold more than 5 million copies worldwide. He’s reached millions of people via his YouTube channel and podcasts. His 1999 book Maps of Meaning revolutionized the psychology of religion. The New York Times described him as “The most influential public intellectual in the Western world right now." While Peterson can be considered polarizing and controversial, the wisdom in this book is profound. As you'd expect, it's PACKED with Big Ideas and we're barely going to scratch the surface in this Note. I’m excited to share a handful of my favorites so let’s jump straight in!

David Horsager is a business strategist, entrepreneur, professor and author who researches and speaks on the bottom-line impact of trust. His clients range from Toyota, Verizon, and the New York Yankees to FedEx, Nationwide, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. As per the inside front flap of the book, David tells us that the foundation of genuine success is TRUST. In the book, he walks us through the 8 Pillars of Trust. As you’d expect, the book is PACKED with Big Ideas and, as always, I’m excited to share some of my favorites so let’s jump straight in!

James Altucher is an entrepreneur, active angel investor, writer, podcaster, stand-up comedian, and chess master. This book is FANTASTIC—perfectly capturing his eccentric, iconoclastic style while challenging A LOT of the cultural norms we think are fixed in stone which, in fact, ARE NOT. As per the sub-title, “Skip the Line” is all about “The 10,000 Experiments Rule and Other Surprising Advice for Reaching Your Goals.” As you’d expect, it’s PACKED with Big Ideas and, as always, I’m fired up to share some of my favorites so let’s jump straight in!

Greg Harden is one of the world’s greatest peak performance coaches. He spent over 30 years building champions at the University of Michigan where he worked with 400 future professional athletes, 50 NFL first-round draft picks, and 120 Olympians from over 20 countries. Harden has worked with both Tom Brady and Michael Phelps—two of the greatest athletes of all time! In this great book, he walks us through the most life-changing Big Ideas he teaches his peak performers to help them go to the next, NEXT level while showing us how we can do the same. I loved the book and highly recommend it. Let's jump straight in!

This is our first note on Urban Meyer, one of the most successful NCAA football coaches in history. It’s kind of like a mash-up of elite football coach Pete Carroll’s Win Forever and elite CrossFit coach Ben Bergeron’s Chasing Excellence in that, like Bergeron, he shares his leadership lessons in the context of a single season but only, like, Carroll, he does it on the football field. It’s a FANTASTIC, hard-hitting book packed with wisdom and Big Ideas. If you’re into sports, leadership, and/or mental toughness books (or all three of those!), I think you’ll love it.

Matt Higgins is a FASCINATING human being. He was raised in poverty by a single mom, dropped out of high school at sixteen, then wound up getting his law degree and became the youngest press secretary to the mayor’s office in New York City history. Then he helped lead the effort to rebuild the World Trade Center site before becoming an executive for the New York Jets. THEN he became a guest shark on Shark Tank, an executive fellow teaching at Harvard Business School, and has invested in some of America’s most beloved brands through the investment firm he co-founded. In this book, he tells us how he did it while sharing a TON of inspiring stories about others who went ALL IN on their dreams. It’s fantastic. I highly recommend it. The sub-title of the book is “Toss Plan B Overboard and Unleash Your Full Potential.” That, of course, reminds me of the sub-title of OUR book: Areté: Activate Your Heroic Potential. The book is PACKED with Big Ideas and I’m excited to share some of my favorites so let’s jump straight in!

I got this book immediately after seeing Tom Morris’s strong recommendation of it in his new book Stoicism for Dummies. It’s FANTASTIC. I can still *vividly* remember reading his Letters from a Stoic nearly 25 years ago (on a boat in the Mediterranean!) not too far from where Seneca wrote the letters 2,000 years ago. This book is now one of my all-time favorite books on Stoicism. It made me fall in love with Seneca. In fact, as you know if you’ve been following along, I’ve often said that Epictetus is my favorite teacher and Aurelius is my favorite leader but... Seneca is a fascinating blend of BOTH of their BEST qualities. I think he’s now my favorite Stoic. The book is PACKED (!) with Big Ideas. We’ll barely scratch the surface of its wisdom before we run out of space/time but I’m excited to share some of my favorites so let’s get to work!

John Wooden is one of my all-time favorite Heroes. As you know if you’re a sports fan, he’s considered THE greatest coach of the twentieth century. His UCLA Bruins won a staggering 10 NCAA National Championships in 12 years. They also had an 88-game winning streak and won 38 straight NCAA tournament games. Wooden only had ONE losing season in his entire 41-year coaching career. And, that losing season came in his FIRST season coaching high school basketball. As you’d expect, this book is PACKED (as in PACKED!) with Big Ideas. My copy of the book is absurdly marked up and we will only scratch the surface of all the wisdom in it so, if you feel so inspired, I HIGHLY recommend you get a copy today. With that, let’s get to work.

In our last couple +1s (here and here), we talked about some pre-match butterflies and pounding heart wisdom Emerson and I chatted about on the drive home from the 90th annual Southwest Chess Championships.

In our last +1, we talked about my drive home with Emerson and the fact that our “engines” revving (in the form of butterflies in our stomach and an increased heart rate!) before we do something we care about is AWESOME.

In our last handful of +1s, we’ve been chatting about my all-boys weekend trip to the 90th Annual Southwest Chess tournament with Emerson.

I’m typing this at 3:21 p.m. CT on Labor Day.

In our last +1, we talked about Emerson’s turnaround velocity that led to a sneaky checkmate and a truly epic comeback win.

I’m typing this at 9:44 a.m. CT on Labor Day 2024—the final day of the 90th Annual Southwest Open in Houston Texas. It’s a pretty big tournament with hundreds of players.

In our last couple +1s, we talked about Emerson and I dominating our boys-only, weekend-away chess tournament protocols.

In our last +1, we chatted about Emerson’s enthusiasm.

I’m typing this from Room 517 at the DoubleTree Inn in Houston.

In our last +1, we chatted about my sunrise trail walk-workout and how I interrupted it to capture some ACT wisdom after walking through a spider web.

I’m typing this in the middle of my AM Trail workout.

Every morning I get up, check Oura, make my Heroic commitments, pick a virtue on our compass and soak in some quotes I share.

Not too long ago, we took a quick tour through Marsha Linehan’s great memoir Building a Life Worth Living in which we discussed her thoughts on Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).

In our last handful of +1s, we’ve been spending time with Sam Walker, exploring wisdom from his great book The Captain Class.

In our last several +1s, we’ve been spending some time with Sam Walker, mining wisdom from his great book, The Captain Class.

In our last couple +1s, we’ve been hanging out with Sam Walker and learning more about his historically great teams and the qualities of the captains that led them.

In our last +1, we used my micro moment of awesome with the captain of Toronto FC to chat about wisdom from Sam Walker’s great book The Captain Class.

In our last several +1s (here, here, here and here), we’ve been having fun mining some wisdom from our recent Johnson family trip to Houston to watch the Dynamo FC play Toronto FC.

In our last several +1s (here, here and here), we used our recent Johnson family trip to a Major League Soccer game as the catalyst for some Heroic wisdom.

In our last couple +1s (here and here), we’ve been talking about our Johnson family trip to the Toronto FC game and the complexity of healthy humans.

In our last +1, we chatted about the Team Johnson adventure to the Toronto FC game in Houston.

Last weekend the kids and wifey and I hopped in the car and made a little road trip to Houston.

It’s 5:22 p.m. as I type this.

In our last +1, we talked about why and how we want to optimize BOTH our healthspan AND our lifespan.

In our last few +1s (here, here and here), we’ve been talking about the power of walking after you eat.

In our last couple +1s (here and here), we talked about the power of walking after meals.

In our last +1, we talked about how to create Heroic Energy by optimizing our glucose levels and I offered a super-simple Pro Tip via Dr. Casey Means who wrote Good Energy and created the Levels app…

In our last +1, we talked about my new obsession with getting 3-4 hours of Zone 2 training per week (up from my prior 1 hour! 😲) to meet my new Peter Attia-approved target so I can increase both my LIFESPAN (aka, how long we live) and my HEALTHSPAN (aka how long we feel great).

I’m typing this while dripping with sweat after a quick little trail walk-workout after lunch.

In our last +1, we wrapped up our quick tour through Marsha Linehan’s wonderful memoir and equally powerful Dialectical Behavior Therapy.