Areté

Areté is the ultimate guide to personal development, providing 451 short ideas across 7 disciplines, combined from ancient philosophy, modern science, and the world’s best books, in order to help you become the hero of your own story and achieve your full potential.

451 degrees Fahrenheit is the temperature at which paper bursts into flames. That’s why Johnson’s book comes in 451 short chapters — each one adds 1º to our potential-thermostat, until we ignite! While the book covers 7 different areas, “The Big 3” is the most distinct one.

Having pored over self-help books since he was a teenager, Johnson eventually combined ideas from Stephen Covey, Tony Robbins, and Sigmund Freud into a manageable formula for fulfilling his potential: energy, work, and love.

Energy comes from the Greek words “en ergon,” which means “in work,” and without it, we can’t do our jobs nor show up for the people we love. Work is about the high-quality results we produce, which rests on two factors, according to Cal Newport’s Deep Work: time spent and intensity of focus. Love is a growing force of kindness that starts with and inside us, then ripples out to family, friends, and even strangers.

To begin optimizing the Big 3, start with simple questions, Brian suggests: “What’s the #1 thing you already know you could be doing to dial in your Energy? What’s the #1 thing you already know you could STOP doing that would most powerfully boost your Energy?”

For your work, you can block time and distractions, but also treat yourself kindly when you fail. “Needs work” is a better criticism than “This is useless.” And love can start with simple hand gestures, as Brian makes with his children, like squeezing each other’s hand or pulling out a few rock’n’roll salutes you “found” in your pocket.

The road to Areté is a long journey. Start small, but start with the Big 3.

In Raise Your Game, high-performance basketball coach Alan Stein tells the story of when he shadowed the late Kobe Bryant. His first shock came when Bryant said he’d work out at 4, to which Stein replied they already had something else scheduled that afternoon. “I know,” Bryant said. “I work out at 4 AM.” Having peeled himself out of bed at this ungodly hour, Stein found Bryant already drenched in sweat at 4 AM. For 45 minutes, he watched the world’s best basketball player do the most basic drills. Ball-handling. Footwork. Offensive moves. Bryant did it all. “Granted, he did everything with surgical precision and superhero intensity,” Stein writes, “but the stuff he was doing was so simple. I couldn’t believe it.” Of course, when he asked Bryant why he bothered,…