#708 The Optimus Medallion

As we prepared for our inaugural Heroic Coach program, we were thinking about some cool stuff we could send our Coaches that would symbolize our commitment.

Of course, everyone will be getting an Optimize-blue t-shirt but we were trying to come up with something cool and then it hit us.

Here’s the quick backstory…

Since I mentioned it in Greatest Year Ever – 2019, we’ve had people ask about where my friend got me my “Noli Timere” coin (she had it custom made on Etsy!). And, of course, I’ve been a huge fan of Ryan Holiday’s Memento Mori coin.

All of which inspired us to create our own Optimus Medallion from the same old-school mint that Ryan used to create his coin. It’s going to be awesome.

We’re still working on the design/production but here’s a super-simple early sketch our own Michael(angelo) did to capture the essence of what we’re thinking.

You’ll notice the front has our core intention to OPTIMIZE to become the OPTIMUS (= BEST) version of ourselves which equals EUDAIMON which equals HERO plus the sketch representing us actualizing a la the Maslow-inspired triangle with a solid foundation of fundamentals, etc. plus the ripples going out and a world changed to represent the fact that this isn’t just about us—we’re committed to being the change so we can change the world together!!

(I journal that every AM and I can’t wait to have it in my pocket all day every day.)

On the back, we have the 11 Virtues that will form the core of our program (and the Virtue meditation we’ll talk more about soon). I’m always Optimizing it, but the basic idea:

It all starts with WISDOM. We need to know the game we’re playing—see front of the coin.

With that Wisdom, we know the importance of living with Virtue (see center of the coin for our Heroic philosophy!) in one word: ARETE.

Then we need to get our minds right—deciding to have antifragile response-ability to whatever life throws at us plus the requisite hope, grit, optimism, etc. We’ll capture that with the deepest meaning of the word CONFIDENCE: to have intense trust in ourselves.

With our minds strong, we get clear on our PURPOSE—remembering that we’re committed to something bigger than ourselves as we cultivate heroic strength for two.

That requires SELF-AWARENESS. As the Temple of Delphi (and Socrates and all wise people ever) put it: Know Thyself. From the big-picture stuff: Who are you? What are you here to do? to the more mundane but equally powerful: What habits are working? What needs work? Etc Etc.

With that wisdom, virtue, confidence, purpose, and self-awareness, we’re ready for specific goals that are worthy of us. Enter: TELOS. Note: This will be for the big stuff AND for the next moment. We need targets. Moment to moment to moment we will live with clear intention.

Of course, if we have a hard time getting out of (the real or metaphorical) bed, we’re going to have a hard time actualizing our potential in service to the world. Enter: ENERGY and our commitment to the basic fundamentals of eating, moving, sleeping, etc.

(btw: As I typed that, I thought of the fact that, as I said in the Coach letter where I challenged each of us to step up into our Athlete identity, we’ll each have our own set of physical limitations. I mentioned the fact that even if you’re in a wheelchair, you’ll be doing the Spartan Race with us. I linked to this article. Guess what? One of our (heroic) Heroic Coaches IS in a wheelchair and we’ll all be helping him crush the course.)

With our energy Optimized, we’re ready to focus on what’s most important right now. Enter our next virtue: PRESENCE. I used to call this “Action” but I realized that didn’t properly account for the importance of being Present to whatever is most important right now—whether that’s Deep Work or Deep (mom/dad/friend/kid/colleague) Love or Deep Energy workouts. Etc. All require Presence.

With all those Virtues working for us, it’s time for the virtue that vitalizes all the others: COURAGE. Recall that this is Aristotle’s #1 virtue—the one he focuses on first to help us become eudaimons. It’s from the Latin word that means heart and we’ll be cultivating it to do hard things as we remember our hero mantras: “OMMS!!” and “Bring it on!”

All of that is meaningless without LOVE—the ultimate source of heroic power. From Love 0.0 through 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0, we will cultivate our Love for ourselves, our intimate family and friends, those we meet throughout the day and our world.

And all of that brings us to the final Virtue: EN*THEOS. We are officially connected to the Divine within. We are high-fiving our inner daimons as we live in integrity with our highest values and our best (Optimus!) selves. How’s that feel? Amazing. We are alive with an effervescent, radiant enthusiasm.

Then what?

Then we repeat. Moment to moment to moment. Knowing we never get “there” but always have the opportunity to live with ARETE right.this.second.

Then we flip the coin over.

We Optimize.

We plug into the Optimus best version of ourselves (which equals eudaimon which equals Hero) and the ripples of our hard work go out into the world as we commit to being the change so we can change the world together.

That’s Today’s +1.

Sending Wisdom + Arete + Confidence + Purpose + Self-Awareness + Telos + Energy + Presence + Courage + Love + en*theos.

And a high five and a hug and a LET’S DO THIS!!