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.
- •Holiday vibe and informal tone ("Christmas special")
- •Format promise: hacks, lessons, fails from 2019
- •Early teasers: Yusef’s toughest year; Jonny’s major injury
- •Kick-off advice preview: sobriety, phone out of the bedroom, morning routine
- 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.
- •Christmas jumper banter and re-record reset
- •Chris frames the episode as a reflective review
- •Prompt: routines/products dropped this year
- •Transition from jokes into habit analysis
- 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.”
- •Jonny drops ROMWOD due to time cost and no payoff
- •Injury/tightness didn’t improve despite consistency
- •Chris: ROMWOD is good, but individual physiology matters
- •Discussion of alternatives and “watered-down ROMWOD”
- 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.
- •Lifestyle shift: exams vs doing the actual job
- •Time/energy/sleep pressure and responsibility increase
- •Graphic but honest hospital realities (fluids, patient behavior)
- •Nurses as front-line caretakers and conflict exposure
- 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.
- •Night shifts and cognitive impairment as a key lesson
- •Seven factors of stupidity (group, expertise context, overload, tiredness, etc.)
- •Definition: stupidity = missing the conspicuously obvious
- •Mitigation improves clarity as you adapt and reduce factors
- 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.
- •Anki explained (spaced repetition flashcards) and massive decks
- •Yusef considers restarting journaling via Six Minute Diary
- •Chris details his long streak and why physical journaling helps
- •Morning routine as an ‘insulated’ self-development container
- 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.
- •Time predictability via routine components and timers
- •Advice trio: sober up, phone out of bedroom, morning routine
- •‘Live your life like a morning routine’ idea
- •Cal Newport scheduling: 15–30 minute blocks; intensity > hours
- 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.
- •‘See rest, hear rest, feel rest’ technique and its effect
- •Meditation as mental ‘squeegee’/cleaning the window
- •Coach insight: don’t rate sits; rate your attitude and consistency
- •Shinzen framework: clarity, concentration, equanimity; ‘no bad sits’
- 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.
- •Major injury story: ‘snap’ under 255kg and aftermath
- •Dog escape/adrenaline sprint worsening injury
- •CrossFit phase, then wrist injury from a missed catch
- •Motivation: 700lb deadlift, records, and ‘unfinished business’
- 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.
- •Examples: Dylan Nelson, Owen Hubbard, Brett Gibbs rivalry
- •CrossFit anecdote: Reggie Fasser ‘bag of spanners’ comment & outcome
- •Competition intensity as uniquely emotional and motivating
- •Social dynamics: memes, call-outs, and respect post-competition
- 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.
- •Theme: no buffer between tasks leads to frantic overwhelm
- •Respect for juggling job, degree, business, relationships, housing
- •Stress signals (e.g., eyelid twitch) and fatigue management
- •Self-care isn’t luxury; it becomes priority when neglected
- 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.
- •Outcome variance: great effort can still produce ‘bad’ results
- •Content unpredictability (videos/episodes that unexpectedly fly)
- •Delayed payback: midnight choices vs 6am consequences
- •Core takeaway: you create good/bad days via consistent inputs
- 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).
- •Hack: delay caffeine intake to stabilize mornings
- •Salt + lemon water routine; debate about dosage and taste
- •Skepticism about ‘warm water’ wellness trends
- •Sensory aversions and disgust triggers as humorous tangent
- 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.
- •Podcast milestones: 1M+ downloads; audio outperforming YouTube subs
- •Travel recap across Europe/US/Bali; Rome as standout
- •Barcelona crime stories (muggings, theft, friend beaten, nearby murder)
- •Phones as the central ‘oracle’—risk of going all-in on Apple Pay
- 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.
- •Jonny’s lessons list: ‘win the morning,’ sales as process, ‘who not how’
- •Value of coaches: personalization, accountability, execution support
- •Information overload: the challenge is choosing the right info
- •Laura Vanderkam: memories expand perceived time; novelty/intensity create recall
- 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.
- •Standouts: Naval on Rogan, Atomic Habits, Alchemy, meditation books
- •Avicii documentary as a lesson on success vs wellbeing
- •Relationship lesson: don’t neglect friends/family; small shares matter
- •Closing call-to-action: comment wins/fails/goals; Christmas farewell
