Think Areté – The Manifesto
Written by Brian Johnson
What would you do if you weren’t afraid?
OK…
So… Uh… What exactly are you waiting for?
This isn’t a dress rehearsal…
Wake up!
Here’s the deal: What we can be, we MUST be. Period. There’s no getting around that one. So, get off Facebook. Put down your drink. Get off the medication. Quit numbing yourself. The pain’s not going away. Not until you Think Areté.
Think Areté? Yep. Gandhi got it. Einstein got it. Mother Theresa got it. Bono gets it. Branson gets it. Oprah gets it. The Greeks got it.
Get this: Guys like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle said that if you want happiness you better live with Areté—a word that literally means virtue or excellence but has a deeper meaning, something closer to “living at your highest potential moment to moment to moment.”
Areté. It was one of the highest ideals of Greek culture. It should be one of ours. Tragically, it’s not. We seem to be more interested in resumes, accolades and 401k’s.
Speaking of retirement… Who came up with that? Work our asses off doing something we’re not passionate about so we can accumulate enough money to pay the bills from our stress-caused illnesses while we bitch about what we should have done when we were still young.
Hmmm… Can’t quite figure that one out. Seems like it makes a bit more sense to go ahead and dare to live now.
Why not Think Areté?
Live at your highest potential—moment to moment to moment. Not in the mood? Fine. Then live with regret, anxiety, and disillusionment. Your call.
Think about it. When do we feel most alive? Exactly. When we’re being ourselves—our highest selves. You want happiness? Think Areté.
Live. Love. Smile. Hug. Laugh. Dream. Do. Create. Have fun. Be intense. Be audacious. Be unreasonable. Act impeccably. Breathe. Be you. Be different. Get paid to do what you love. Dance in your underwear on your way to work. Why not?
Live. Love. Smile. Hug. Laugh. Dream. Do. Create. Have fun. Be intense. Be audacious. Be unreasonable. Act impeccably. Breathe. Be you. Be different. Get paid to do what you love. Dance in your underwear on your way to work. Why not?
Ditch the tie. Escape the cube. Leave the 8-5. Trash the resume. Ignore the critics. And the cynics. Burn the corporate ladders. Laugh at the ceilings. Quit the bitching. Open your mind. End the laziness. Overcome the fear. Transcend the conditioning. Why not?
Move the world. Change the world. Push the human race forward. Whatever you call it, go out and do it.
When? Now.
Not when you have enough money or once you do this or do that. That’s nonsense.
It’s not gonna be easy, but go out and live your dream. Now. You deserve it. And, if that doesn’t move you: The world deserves it.
Think Areté.
Related Articles
How to think like a Chef (aka Elon Musk)
Click here to learn how to upgrade your Human Software. OR Click here for a shorter TLDR version 😉 Related Articles
Start With Why
We failed… I started a company in 2012. The company set out to revolutionize behavioral healthcare. Closed the company in 2016. This is my attempt to document and pass on my learnings along the way. My experience spans a range including Entrepreneurship/Product...
On Communication – Part 3
Part 3: The Science From: https://hbr.org/2016/07/what-great-listeners-actually-do Of course, there are different levels of listening. Not every conversation requires the highest levels of listening, but many conversations would benefit from greater focus and...