I am a big fan of the modern day philosopher, Brian Johnson. He has created over 200 Philosopher’s Notes . Philosopher’s Notes are like Cliff Notes for Positive Psychology and Philosophy Books. His motto is “More Wisdom In Less Time.” In Brian’s book, A Philosopher’s Notes: On Optimal Living, Creating an Authentically Awesome Life and Other Such Goodness, Vol. 1, he covers his 10 Principles for Optimal Living. These 10 principles are based on the common themes he found after reading over 200 books for self-development.
My favorite topic in the book is the chapter called “The Integrity Gap”. In this chapter, Brian introduces the reader to the Greek word Areté. This word translates to “virtue” or “excellence”. But it has a deeper meaning of “living to your highest human potential moment to moment”. He illustrates the concept of Areté by drawing a picture for the reader.