Modern WisdomChristmas Special | Hacks, Fails & Lessons From 2019 | Modern Wisdom 129
CHAPTERS
- 0:00 – 1:05
Christmas setup & the year-end “hacks, fails, lessons” agenda
Chris opens with a Christmas-themed intro and sets the goal: a 2019 review covering favorite hacks, lessons learned, and failures. Jonny and Yusef join in with quick teasers of their big year highlights and mishaps.
- 1:05 – 2:39
Banter, jumpers, and getting into ‘what habits did you drop?’
After some playful “take two” chaos and jumper jokes, the conversation turns to behavior changes. Chris asks what routines/products they stopped using and why.
- 2:39 – 4:18
Mobility debate: dropping ROMWOD and what replaced it
Jonny explains why he stopped doing ROMWOD and didn’t notice negative consequences, despite missing the ritual. Chris clarifies that ROMWOD can be useful but doesn’t suit every physiology, and they joke about “competitive ROMWOD/gymnastics.”
- 4:18 – 6:25
Yusef becomes a doctor: time management, exposure to the ‘real world,’ and NHS realities
Yusef talks about the shift from student life to working as a doctor and the added load on sleep, energy, and scheduling. The group riffs on the gritty realities of hospital work and respect for nurses handling the front line.
- 6:25 – 8:33
Night shifts, fatigue, and the ‘seven factors of stupidity’ framework
Yusef shares how night shifts revealed how fatigue degrades thinking, referencing Shane Parrish’s “stupidity” factors. They frame “stupid” as missing the obvious under specific conditions, not low intelligence.
- 8:33 – 13:00
Journaling, Anki, and the Six Minute Diary: building reflective habits
Yusef discusses dropping study tools like Anki post-med school and reconsidering journaling. Chris advocates for the Six Minute Diary and explains how his morning routine anchors consistency and reflection.
- 13:00 – 16:02
Morning routines as timeboxing: planning the day like a routine
Chris describes how a precise morning routine makes time predictable, then extrapolates: imagine running the whole day with that fidelity. Jonny links it to Cal Newport-style scheduling blocks and controlling work intensity.
- 16:02 – 17:07
Meditation upgrades: ‘Focus on Rest,’ equanimity, and not judging sessions
Chris explains Shinzen Young’s “Focus on Rest” technique and how drilling it changes mental cleanliness. Jonny shares the coaching insight: judge your approach, not the quality of a sit—leading into Shinzen’s clarity/concentration/equanimity model.
- 17:07 – 22:01
Jonny’s 2019 fails and wins: injuries, CrossFit detour, and unfinished powerlifting business
Jonny recounts major setbacks—hamstring/hip injury under a heavy deadlift and later a wrist injury—plus the chaos of chasing a runaway puppy mid-injury. He contrasts that with the upside: experimenting across fitness modalities and still feeling drawn back to a 700lb deadlift goal.
- 22:01 – 25:11
Performance culture and competitive fire: lifter/CrossFit call-outs and intensity
They discuss the electricity of competition through examples of elite lifters and CrossFit athletes, including public call-outs and meme-worthy moments. The segment highlights how performance environments amplify identity, pressure, and motivation.
- 25:11 – 34:19
Yusef’s hardest year: overload, plate-spinning, and the self-care ‘current account’
Yusef calls 2019 the hardest year of his life, describing constant scrambling and insufficient spacing between tasks. Chris reframes wellbeing as a daily-deposit ‘current account,’ and they emphasize self-care becoming unavoidable sooner or later.
- 34:19 – 37:01
Controllables vs uncontrollables: effort, outcomes, and consistency payback lag
Chris and the guests explore letting go of uncontrollable outcomes—club nights, podcast performance, viral unpredictability—and focusing on consistent process. They connect this to sleep debt, delayed consequences, and building good/bad days through routines.
- 37:01 – 41:12
Practical ‘hacks’ segment: delaying caffeine, salt-lemon water, and weird texture aversions
Jonny shares a simple behavior tweak: no caffeine in the first 90 minutes, plus a salty lemon-water ritual. The conversation turns comedic with debates over salt quantity, warm water ‘woo,’ and sensory/texture disgust stories (gloves, fabrics, nail filing).
- 41:12 – 58:49
Modern Wisdom’s growth + travel stories: metrics, muggings, and why phones are ‘oracles’
They celebrate the podcast’s growth (downloads, platforms, shout-outs) and swap travel highlights. A long run focuses on Barcelona’s theft/mugging issues and how helpless people feel without a phone or wallet, plus Chris’s heavy travel year recap.
- 58:49 – 1:13:35
Big mindset shifts: ‘Who not how,’ coaching/accountability, and making more memories
They move into deeper lessons: hire expertise instead of self-debugging, and recognize direction + accountability as key bottlenecks. Chris shares Laura Vanderkam’s concept that people want more memories (novelty/intensity), not more time, and explains the tension between efficiency and novelty.
- 1:13:35 – 1:29:41
Recommendations wrap-up + closing prompts for viewers’ 2020 goals
They trade favorite media from the year (books, podcasts, documentaries) and reflect on relationships and checking in with friends/family. The episode ends with a prompt for commenters to share their 2019 win/fail and one 2020 goal, plus Christmas sign-off banter.
