Christmas Special | Hacks, Fails & New Year Plans

1. 0:00 – 2:20

   Festive setup: voice-activated jumper lights & Christmas banter

   1. CWChris Williamson0:00

      (jazzy music plays) A very merry Christmas to you, welcome back. I'm joined by Johnny and Yusuf from Propain Fitness.

   2. JWJonny Watson0:32

      Hi, there.

   3. YSYusef Smith0:32

      Hello.

   4. CWChris Williamson0:33

      As you can see, we are-

   5. JWJonny Watson0:34

      Merry Christmas.

   6. CWChris Williamson0:34

      ... festively adorned-

   7. JWJonny Watson0:35

      Merry Crimble.

   8. CWChris Williamson0:36

      ... for that time of the year. And-

   9. YSYusef Smith0:38

      Got my flowers undone.

   10. CWChris Williamson0:39

       ... for the listeners at home-

   11. JWJonny Watson0:40

       Christmas winky. (laughs)

   12. YSYusef Smith0:42

       (laughs)

   13. CWChris Williamson0:42

       For the listeners at home, we have a special present for you as well, don't we, Jonathan?

   14. JWJonny Watson0:45

       The specialist of presents.

   15. YSYusef Smith0:47

       Oh.

   16. CWChris Williamson0:47

       If, on the count of three, you say the word lights, on one-

   17. JWJonny Watson0:50

       Very clearly.

   18. CWChris Williamson0:50

       ... two, three. Lights.

   19. YSYusef Smith0:54

       Oh.

   20. CWChris Williamson0:54

       Look at that.

   21. YSYusef Smith0:55

       So wonderful.

   22. CWChris Williamson0:56

       For the people-

   23. YSYusef Smith0:57

       Warms my heart.

   24. CWChris Williamson0:57

       ... who are not watching on YouTube, Johnny is lit up, very spangly, uh, Christmas jumper, which is, uh-

   25. JWJonny Watson1:06

       Look at it.

   26. CWChris Williamson1:07

       ... available from Next, I think discount code Jon-

   27. JWJonny Watson1:10

       Like two, three-

   28. CWChris Williamson1:10

       ... Johnny, JohnnyWatson25-

   29. YSYusef Smith1:11

       Three years ago.

   30. CWChris Williamson1:12

       ... for, uh, 25% off.
2. 2:20 – 4:52

   Year starts rough: hospital recovery, 'Project Swol,' and the norovirus drive home

   1. JWJonny Watson2:20

      Biggest fail.

   2. CWChris Williamson2:21

      It is Christmas.

   3. YSYusef Smith2:22

      (laughs)

   4. CWChris Williamson2:22

      It is Christmas, it is the time of giving. I want you to give the listeners at home a massive Yusuf fail, from this-

   5. YSYusef Smith2:29

      Big, big fail.

   6. CWChris Williamson2:30

      ... from this year.

   7. YSYusef Smith2:30

      Yeah. I, I just failed into this year, to be honest. So I started this year having just come out of hospital-

   8. JWJonny Watson2:39

      Oh, it was the jitis.

   9. YSYusef Smith2:39

      It was, I got the jitis. So I'd had, uh, three or four infections just back to back, ended up in hospital for, uh, eight or nine days, and then came out, ten day retreat instantly. (laughs) And then came out of the retreat into the new year at 67 kilos, which is 10 kilos below my, my baseline. So I started on a low, and actually managed to build up this year over that time. Uh, if you've followed Propain for a while, you'll have seen that, um, I've turned this into a kind of journalistic piece called Project Swol, where I invited anyone who's had a bit of a rough time over the, the previous few months to, to join me in coming back to baseline. Again.

   10. CWChris Williamson3:22

       Swoldom.

   11. YSYusef Smith3:23

       Back to Swoldom. And-

   12. CWChris Williamson3:24

       Real Swoldom.

   13. YSYusef Smith3:24

       Yeah, and it was great actually. It's, it's really good to know that, um, you don't... you can't really undo years of training, even if you do have like a bit of a shocker for a fe-

   14. CWChris Williamson3:33

       Real catastrophic period. Yeah, that's-

   15. YSYusef Smith3:35

       Yeah.

   16. CWChris Williamson3:36

       ... that's, that's quite nice. I mean, (clears throat) you entered the year quite badly. I entered the year very, very badly because I contracted the norovirus as I was in Manchester on New Year's Eve.

   17. YSYusef Smith3:45

       (laughs) Oh, I remember that.

   18. CWChris Williamson3:46

       2017 into 2018, didn't I?

   19. YSYusef Smith3:48

       Just out both ends.

   20. CWChris Williamson3:49

       And so, yeah, I, I found myself in Manchester running one of our events down there, um, suffering the beginning of vomiting and diarrhea, without, it hadn't onset yet because y- it's like, um, what's it called? Breaking the seal. Like, I, I hadn't broken the seal yet, so I was still, I felt uncomfortable it needed to come out.

   21. YSYusef Smith4:09

       Like trying to hold it in.

   22. CWChris Williamson4:09

       Um, but I was left at 3:00 in the morning in Manchester with the awkward decision of like, "What do I do now? It's 3:00 in the morning. I c- am not gonna be able to find a hotel. It's 3:00 AM in Manchester on New Year's Eve, definitely not gonna be any hotels. I can ask to stay with a friend, but if I ask to stay with a friend, I'm gonna have to ask to have their toilet for the evening and just destroy it. Or I can try and drive home, remembering that I live three hours away from Manchester." So I chose that option. The quickest ever journey from Newcastle, uh, from Manchester to Newcastle I've had. Burst through the door, straight into my, uh, bathroom, and then lifted myself off my feet with the pressure of, of, um, nausea that came out of my mouth.

   23. YSYusef Smith4:47

       There's nothing like the urgency where it's like, "Oh God."

   24. CWChris Williamson4:50

       It's gonna come.

   25. YSYusef Smith4:50

       Something horrible.

   26. CWChris Williamson4:51

       Yeah, it's gonna happen.

3. 4:52 – 6:49

   From bodily functions to food rules: pork pitfalls and Christmas eating as a Muslim

   1. JWJonny Watson4:52

      I think that's, I think it's good. I think it's a great feeling.

   2. YSYusef Smith4:55

      It's, yeah.

   3. JWJonny Watson4:55

      You just like things coming out of you, don't you?

   4. YSYusef Smith4:57

      (laughs)

   5. CWChris Williamson4:57

      Well, Chris-

   6. JWJonny Watson4:57

      You love things.

   7. CWChris Williamson4:58

      ... find me someone who doesn't.

   8. JWJonny Watson4:59

      (sniffs)

   9. CWChris Williamson5:00

      Fair enough.

   10. YSYusef Smith5:01

       (laughs)

   11. JWJonny Watson5:01

       (laughs)

   12. CWChris Williamson5:01

       If you don't like things coming out of you, please comment below.

   13. JWJonny Watson5:04

       All stuff going out of you feels mint.

   14. CWChris Williamson5:07

       Does feel pretty good actually.

   15. YSYusef Smith5:07

       Some stuff going into you.

   16. CWChris Williamson5:09

       Yeah.

   17. YSYusef Smith5:09

       But not, not all stuff.

   18. JWJonny Watson5:10

       Yeah.

   19. CWChris Williamson5:10

       Some things going in, yeah.

   20. JWJonny Watson5:12

       I think there's, I would say the lion's share-

   21. CWChris Williamson5:14

       More as a woman.

   22. JWJonny Watson5:14

       ... of things, because remember things to, for something to come out of you, like y-

   23. CWChris Williamson5:18

       It's had to go in, go in your body.

   24. JWJonny Watson5:19

       ... you already have control over that selection of things.

   25. CWChris Williamson5:22

       Yeah.

   26. YSYusef Smith5:23

       Y- yeah, I see.

   27. JWJonny Watson5:23

       But I could put anything into you.

   28. YSYusef Smith5:25

       Yeah. (laughs)

   29. CWChris Williamson5:26

       What if you got stealth penetrated?

   30. YSYusef Smith5:28

       That's gonna be the trailer for the-
4. 6:49 – 11:09

   Jonny’s biggest food fail: nut reaction at a wedding (and the panic-management playbook)

   1. JWJonny Watson6:49

      So I ate a ... I was at a wedding. I've done a lot of weddings this year. Actually, it's been the year of the wedding.

   2. YSYusef Smith6:55

      Oh, it really has.

   3. JWJonny Watson6:55

      So I've, um, I ate a sandwich that was-

   4. YSYusef Smith6:58

      A wedding a week for a year. (laughs)

   5. JWJonny Watson7:00

      (laughs) Not really. You learn a lot though. Um, so there was a pudding that was like an apple strudel that was homemade, and I was, like, looking at it going like, "Mm, not sure." Was assured by everybody there that it was nut-free. There was then, like, a plate of sandwiches, so I got bit of strudel, couple of sandwiches, sit down, and I'm speaking to my girlfriend's gran essentially, and-

   6. YSYusef Smith7:18

      You'd think the strudel would be the high-risk thing.

   7. JWJonny Watson7:19

      Well-

   8. YSYusef Smith7:20

      'Cause that's when someone would, like, sprinkle bits, and it's like-

   9. JWJonny Watson7:21

      Precisely, so I was like-

   10. CWChris Williamson7:22

       Almonds.

   11. JWJonny Watson7:22

       I'm, like, got it in arm's length.

   12. YSYusef Smith7:23

       Yeah, yeah, right.

   13. JWJonny Watson7:23

       I'm thinking I'll, I'll, I'll look at that later. Um, and my girlfriend's gran has a, has this thing that every time she sees me, the first thing she does is asks whether I've got my EpiPen with me.

   14. CWChris Williamson7:35

       (laughs)

   15. JWJonny Watson7:35

       First question. 'Cause I'm like, 'cause she's very ... she has this fear that I-

   16. CWChris Williamson7:39

       Very risk avert.

   17. YSYusef Smith7:39

       Very granny.

   18. JWJonny Watson7:39

       So I was speaking to her, right? Sa- sandwich one down, average. Sandwich two down, average again.

   19. CWChris Williamson7:47

       (laughs)

   20. JWJonny Watson7:47

       And then-

   21. YSYusef Smith7:47

       What, what, what were the sandwiches? 'Cause they were very PG choices over there.

   22. JWJonny Watson7:49

       So the first one was, like, I think ... so all of them had their crust cut off. Very wedding.

   23. CWChris Williamson7:54

       Yeah.

   24. JWJonny Watson7:54

       Very wedding. So it's crust cut off, like different types of bread, like cheese and pickle, cucumber, chicken mayo, like all that sort of stuff. So I'd just eaten the cucumber one, and like mouth just goes mental. Like, pins and need- instant pins and needles in your mouth, instant, like lips pins and needles. So, so this is actually funny enough why I said this about the sick thing, because the first thing I do ... so I'm, like, sat, sat speaking to my girlfriend's nan thinking, "I can't say anything to her 'cause she-"

   25. CWChris Williamson8:27

       She'll lose it. She-

   26. JWJonny Watson8:28

       'Cause bear in mind, there's a wedding going on, so, like, I, I don't want to d- for it all to descend into panic.

   27. YSYusef Smith8:32

       "Gran, I haven't actually got my EpiPen-"

   28. JWJonny Watson8:33

       I, I just want to check-

   29. YSYusef Smith8:34

       ... "but I think I'm starting to feel."

   30. CWChris Williamson8:34

       Also going into anaphylaxis.
5. 11:09 – 13:24

   If there’s no EpiPen: dark humor, improvised triage fantasies, and 'Crank' research

   1. YSYusef Smith11:09

      We were saying the other day, so it, it was three doctors describing how would they deal with someone who-

   2. CWChris Williamson11:16

      (laughs) Oh, shit, yeah.

   3. JWJonny Watson11:16

      Oh, shit, yeah.

   4. YSYusef Smith11:16

      ... is going under.

   5. CWChris Williamson11:17

      It was at your birthday, wasn't it? So we went, we went-

   6. JWJonny Watson11:18

      It was at your birthday in a Lebanese restaurant. And I said to the ... so there's nuts on the menu, and I asked the lady, "Is there nuts in this?" She said, "No, there's no nuts in the kitchen." Like-

   7. YSYusef Smith11:27

      Well, but obviously it is in the kitchen.

   8. JWJonny Watson11:28

      Okay. I can see that there's nuts in the kitchen.

   9. CWChris Williamson11:31

      (laughs)

   10. YSYusef Smith11:32

       It's, it, it's like, so when ... I, I'm allergic to oyster sauce, and I went to this Korean sandwich place, and I was like, "Is there any oyster sauce used in the chicken sandwich?" And the guy was like, "Oh no, don't worry. It's totally vegan." And you're like, "That's just discredited anything you could possibly say now."

   11. CWChris Williamson11:47

       (laughs)

   12. JWJonny Watson11:47

       Mate, more than anything.

   13. YSYusef Smith11:49

       I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna get anything from you.

   14. CWChris Williamson11:50

       "Excuse me."

   15. JWJonny Watson11:51

       Yeah.

   16. YSYusef Smith11:51

       Um, (laughs)

   17. CWChris Williamson11:52

       "I have a question."

   18. YSYusef Smith11:53

       "I have a question." So we were saying, like, how ... if you didn't have an EpiPen, how would you keep someone stable when they're going into anaphylaxis without that? And we're thinking, "Well, I, I don't know." Because like-

   19. CWChris Williamson12:05

       David had a biro in his pocket and he was like, "I'm gonna give you a trachotomy with this biro pen."

   20. JWJonny Watson12:09

       Yeah.

   21. YSYusef Smith12:09

       Like, "This could be it in there."

   22. CWChris Williamson12:09

       Like one of the guys, like-

   23. YSYusef Smith12:10

       Julian's got-

   24. CWChris Williamson12:10

       ... Julian was gonna turn him upside down.

   25. YSYusef Smith12:12

       Julian, do you just like not start shouting?

   26. JWJonny Watson12:12

       Without, without hesitating, I'd turn you upside down.

   27. CWChris Williamson12:15

       (laughs)

   28. YSYusef Smith12:16

       Upside down, shake, and scream.

   29. CWChris Williamson12:18

       For adrenaline?

   30. YSYusef Smith12:19

       Yeah, just try and agitate someone as much as you can-
6. 13:24 – 16:51

   Best habit upgrades: journaling systems, note review, and 'just-in-time' learning

   1. CWChris Williamson13:24

      Okay. So moving on, let's go on to a good habit or one of your favorite habits or one of your favorite routines that you've managed to add to your life this year.

   2. YSYusef Smith13:34

      Right. So I think habits has been journaling. I got an app on my laptop called Day One. Absolutely brilliant. I know you two went, did it properly. You got the 6 Minute Diary.

   3. JWJonny Watson13:46

      I, I have Day One. I've got Day One as well.

   4. CWChris Williamson13:48

      We have Day One as well.

   5. JWJonny Watson13:48

      I've had Day One for a long time.

   6. YSYusef Smith13:48

      Do you both use it?

   7. CWChris Williamson13:50

      I use Day One for-

   8. JWJonny Watson13:51

      Oh, you see.

   9. YSYusef Smith13:51

      Okay.

   10. CWChris Williamson13:52

       I use Day One for very, very specific things. Obviously you can take photos in it, and it's password protected.

   11. YSYusef Smith13:58

       Mm-hmm.

   12. CWChris Williamson13:58

       So it's got a lot of, like, um, significant moments. Yeah.

   13. JWJonny Watson14:02

       Okay. Me too.

   14. YSYusef Smith14:03

       So I don't use it as a diary, it's just kind of insights that come up and I, I, I'm sure 6 Minute Diary would formalize it and ask you the probing questions, but-

   15. CWChris Williamson14:10

       Mm-hmm.

   16. YSYusef Smith14:10

       This is more just, like, things that come up that are important to note down, batch them out, and then you have a chronological, chronological order of it all.

   17. JWJonny Watson14:17

       So do you ... so I kept a ... I've kept two journals, one in Day One and one in Evernote.

   18. CWChris Williamson14:22

       Mm-hmm.

   19. JWJonny Watson14:22

       And I did them pretty cons- both of them pretty consistently.

   20. YSYusef Smith14:24

       Yeah, I remember.

   21. CWChris Williamson14:25

       Good.

   22. JWJonny Watson14:25

       And I remember just getting to the point where I was like, uh, without sitting in ... without creating a separate habit, which is going back and reviewing this stuff, I'm not sure what I'm getting out of it. So what do you get out of it? Why do you keep doing it?

   23. YSYusef Smith14:38

       Yeah. So I, so I have a process for that now, 'cause I realized that-

   24. JWJonny Watson14:40

       Okay.

   25. YSYusef Smith14:40

       ... a lot of my ... the last p- 10 years, it's probably since before I got Evernote, I would just mindlessly accumulate summaries of books that I'd been reading and just pile stuff in. So now Evernote, copy the link, paste it into Pocket, read the audio on Pocket, or li- listen to the audio on Pocket while I'm driving, or read the audio at certain increments. And you can set timed reminders with Evernote so that you can look at a book that you've read a while ago and refresh yourself on it, implement it.

   26. CWChris Williamson15:09

       So you're, you're basically using the Anki periodizing system to-

   27. YSYusef Smith15:12

       Sort of, yeah.

   28. CWChris Williamson15:13

       ... take you back through ...

   29. YSYusef Smith15:14

       I know there was that long article that George sent that, that's, like, really taking Anki to this full level and-

   30. CWChris Williamson15:19

       Extreme. Mm-hmm.
7. 16:51 – 18:03

   Chaos interlude: Yusef takes his trousers off mid-episode (boiler broke)

   1. CWChris Williamson16:51

      Uh, well, I mean, uh, I don't want to sound like a copycat, but for me, journaling this year has also been a, a huge change, so I got the 6 Minute Diary at the very beginning of the ... Why are you taking your belt off for?

   2. YSYusef Smith17:01

      I'm gonna have to take off one item of clothing and-

   3. CWChris Williamson17:03

      You can't take off your trousers.

   4. YSYusef Smith17:04

      It's all right. I've got leggings on.

   5. CWChris Williamson17:06

      Youssef.

   6. YSYusef Smith17:07

      But I can't, I can't be taking off my, my Christmas jumper.

   7. CWChris Williamson17:09

      What's happening?

   8. JWJonny Watson17:10

      (laughs)

   9. YSYusef Smith17:10

      So it's gonna have to happen.

   10. CWChris Williamson17:12

       Is this actually ... I promise this wasn't planned.

   11. YSYusef Smith17:15

       Right. There we go.

   12. CWChris Williamson17:16

       What are you doing?

   13. YSYusef Smith17:17

       Oh.

   14. CWChris Williamson17:17

       You look like a frog.

   15. YSYusef Smith17:18

       (laughs)

   16. CWChris Williamson17:19

       You've got full leggings on. This is gonna all ... The sound of you taking your trousers off is going to be captured by the, the ...

   17. YSYusef Smith17:25

       Why are you wearing leggings?

   18. CWChris Williamson17:26

       It's your pack- Your package is going to be fully frontal now, isn't it, through the-

   19. YSYusef Smith17:29

       Yeah. I've realized that, so I think I'll, I'll just do that. There we go.

   20. JWJonny Watson17:31

       Why are you wearing leggings?

   21. CWChris Williamson17:32

       Why are you wearing leggings?

   22. YSYusef Smith17:33

       My boiler broke last night, so I've been fr- I've been wearing all the clothes that I have to talk about ..........................

   23. CWChris Williamson17:38

       I can't believe that you've just done that.

   24. YSYusef Smith17:41

       Uh, it's ... (laughs) I think it's okay. There's no package visible.

   25. CWChris Williamson17:44

       Jesus Christ.

   26. YSYusef Smith17:45

       It's, it's still Christmassy. Red and g- red and green.

   27. CWChris Williamson17:47

       (laughs) I'm gonna try and continue as if nothing's occurred.

   28. JWJonny Watson17:51

       Sort of the list of things that I would've, could've expected might have happened.

   29. YSYusef Smith17:56

       (laughs)

   30. CWChris Williamson17:56

       (laughs)
8. 18:03 – 21:05

   Chris’s sacred morning routine: journaling, meditation, reading timer, ROMWOD, writing, gym—no phone

   1. CWChris Williamson18:03

      Um, so, yeah, journaling for me has been massive. 6 Minute Diary is a, uh, a real game-changer. I've instantiated a daily habit for something that I never thought I would do. Shout out to the guys that make it because, like, I'm, I'm not an easy, an easy person to change with regards to that. Um, but that's ... I guess that's going over old ground. We've spoken about that before.

   2. JWJonny Watson18:20

      Mm-hmm.

   3. CWChris Williamson18:21

      Um-I think my best development from this year has been learning the sacredness of a morning routine. I've always had one, but I never really treated it very sacred-

   4. Mm-hmm.

   5. ... and I, that's the best word that I can come up with as well.

   6. Very dispensable, sometimes

   7. JWJonny Watson18:41

      Just-

   8. CWChris Williamson18:41

      ... when you just- Yeah, ju- m- very transitory, like if it gets done, it's a bonus, if it doesn't get done, it doesn't matter. And now, I, I almost look forward to going to sleep because the start of my day includes a load of shit that I love to do.

   9. That's really nice.

   10. I start my day with a bunch of shit that's awesome. So I'll get up, I will go and stand outside, whether it's raining, whether it's whatever, I'll stand outside for a minute, couple of minutes and just take in the air. Coffee, breakfast, sit down, journal, meditate.

   11. What do you have for breakfast?

   12. Uh, always the same. So it is two sachets of Quaker's instant oats, golden syrup flavor, then blueberries, a combination of mixed nuts and, uh, yogurt-covered raisins and other stuff, and a, um, sometimes a smoothie, innocent smoothie, sometimes like a greens drink, water, coffee, sit down.

   13. No protein?

   14. No protein.

   15. Good lord.

   16. Makes me feel uncomfortable in the morning. Um-

   17. Just too muscular.

   18. That's it.

   19. Too turgid?

   20. Yeah. Um, and then-

   21. Oh, there's too much synthesis going on here, man.

   22. There is a lot. I mean-

   23. You should put it-

   24. ... have a go.

   25. ... put it to the side.

   26. Have a feel.

   27. Even through the Christmas jumper.

   28. Yeah. It's-

   29. JWJonny Watson19:54

       It's just right on the brink, isn't it? Ready to, ready to burst.

   30. CWChris Williamson19:56

       Ready to pop.
9. 21:05 – 26:56

   Jonny’s mindset shift: Derren Brown’s 'Happy,' process goals over outcome goals, and simplifying habits

   1. JWJonny Watson21:05

      Yeah, so um, I was on a plane going to a wedding.

   2. CWChris Williamson21:11

      Of course you were.

   3. JWJonny Watson21:12

      And uh, (laughs) I read a Derren Brown's book called Happy, and I remember, so it was like a five-hour flight to Cyprus, and I remember I got on the plane and I had like, I still kind of do, but like everything was 90-day goals with outcomes and I was, I really believed, because of the, a lot of people I follow believe this, that like targets and goals and things to tick off were like the way to manage all areas of your life. And Derren just systematically rubbished that belief for five hours on 2 times speed, so it's a lot of Derren. And like, I got off the plane and I was just like...

   4. CWChris Williamson21:52

      Did you listen to it con- continuously in one go?

   5. JWJonny Watson21:53

      Yeah, it's a long book.

   6. CWChris Williamson21:54

      When you say that you got on, you got on the plane in, like as one person and got off with your world destroyed?

   7. JWJonny Watson22:00

      Lit- literally. Well, so like, how often do you have five hours to sit and just-

   8. CWChris Williamson22:05

      Uninterrupted.

   9. JWJonny Watson22:05

      ... listen to someone-

   10. CWChris Williamson22:06

       Yeah.

   11. JWJonny Watson22:07

       ... and like it-

   12. CWChris Williamson22:08

       Someone pick apart happiness, systematically.

   13. JWJonny Watson22:09

       For those of you who think that Derren Brown's just like a magician, like he is an incredibly well, well-read-

   14. CWChris Williamson22:15

       Insightful.

   15. JWJonny Watson22:16

       ... very intelligent man. He's also a lawyer, did you know that?

   16. CWChris Williamson22:19

       Mm-hmm.

   17. Is he?

   18. JWJonny Watson22:19

       What the fuck?

   19. CWChris Williamson22:20

       What a bastard.

   20. JWJonny Watson22:20

       He's a lawyer who j- yeah. But anyway, so um-

   21. CWChris Williamson22:23

       Of course he is. Manipulative cunt.

   22. JWJonny Watson22:25

       Like it's very, and he's like-

   23. CWChris Williamson22:25

       (laughs)

   24. JWJonny Watson22:25

       ... taking lots of schools of thought, synthesizing it into just this like goal setting in, in the way that essentially I was doing at the time is completely and utterly pointless. I was like-

   25. CWChris Williamson22:35

       Great.

   26. JWJonny Watson22:35

       ... "Okay." So then that sort of started to shift my beliefs. Recently read James Clear's Atomic Habits, which kind of put a, like a bottle cap on that thought process of the, um, you know, actually, you know, my, my version of my r- my reality today and what it'll be like this time next year and, and two years time, all of that is just like something that I'm experiencing at that point in time, so the process is the most important thing. And so since then, I've been more, I've, I've almost removed the focus on hitting a certain thing, focused more on like just installing something into my life.

   27. CWChris Williamson23:10

       I've heard you use the term it's a process goal, not an outcome goal-

   28. JWJonny Watson23:14

       Mm-hmm. Yeah.

   29. CWChris Williamson23:14

       ... a lot more in the last like six months or whatever.

   30. JWJonny Watson23:17

       I think, so that and, and uh, ch- simplifying stuff a lot.
10. 26:56 – 32:22

    Coffee and caffeine fails: the 'heaped spoon' meltdown and Jonny’s tea-gear rabbit hole

    1. CWChris Williamson26:56

       Uh, another fail from this year, please. What have you gone down?

    2. JWJonny Watson26:59

       What has ... Another fail?

    3. YSYusef Smith27:00

       Oh, I, I had a, I had a win.

    4. CWChris Williamson27:02

       Hit us with a win.

    5. YSYusef Smith27:03

       Okay.

    6. CWChris Williamson27:03

       No. No, I don't want a win, I want a fail.

    7. JWJonny Watson27:04

       Don't hit us with a win.

    8. CWChris Williamson27:05

       Done.

    9. YSYusef Smith27:06

       Gonna have to check.

    10. CWChris Williamson27:08

        It's a, it's in the shape of a spoon.

    11. YSYusef Smith27:10

        It's in the shape of a spoon? Oh yeah. Okay. Th- This is, Chris really wanted me to tell this story. Because-

    12. CWChris Williamson27:16

        Because it's hilarious. (laughs)

    13. YSYusef Smith27:17

        (laughs) So I've, I've been cold turkey coffee for a long time.

    14. CWChris Williamson27:21

        Oh, God.

    15. JWJonny Watson27:22

        (laughs)

    16. YSYusef Smith27:22

        For years, actually, because I developed a real ... Basically, I can't have a healthy relationship with coffee. I can only have an extreme high or extreme low one. So I was like, "Right, I'm just gonna ban coffee from my life."

    17. JWJonny Watson27:36

        It's odd, it's more caffeine than coffee though, right?

    18. YSYusef Smith27:38

        Yeah, cafe-

    19. JWJonny Watson27:38

        'Cause you're not, you don't like ... Like, I w- I've never heard you say like, "Oh, I'd love a coffee." Like, "I'd love a-"

    20. YSYusef Smith27:43

        Yeah, like-

    21. CWChris Williamson27:44

        Okay.

    22. YSYusef Smith27:44

        It's not good for-

    23. JWJonny Watson27:44

        It's a, it's a delivery mechanism for caffeine for you, yeah?

    24. YSYusef Smith27:47

        For co- ... Yeah, that's true. Whi- which I would perfect- I, I would take IV if I could just get access to constituted caffeine. So-

    25. JWJonny Watson27:56

        Mm-hmm.

    26. YSYusef Smith27:56

        ... um, so yeah, I can't have a healthy relationship with it. That's very much like what an alcoholic says. So I've been cu- cold turkey. I started reintroducing it tentatively this year, and found that, yeah, you get absolute like ... when you reintroduce it, 'cause you're so sensitive to it, that a single coffee will send your heart rate up, it will send you ... Make you so, feeling like you're so productive. Whether you actually are, different story.

    27. JWJonny Watson28:23

        Mm-hmm.

    28. YSYusef Smith28:24

        But, um, what I found was actually you're taking borrowed wakefulness. You're, you're taking wakefulness forward and front-loading it, and then later on in the day, you start to feel tired. And I actually never used to fall asleep during the day. As soon as I started drinking coffee, within a few days, I was falling asleep during the day quite consistently in the afternoon. And I think it's because I was so sensitive to it that the effect was lasting over into the evening, reducing my sleep quality, causing that tiredness to roll on forward-

    29. JWJonny Watson28:55

        Mm-hmm.

    30. YSYusef Smith28:55

        ... and to be tired during the day. One day, this sounds so stupid, but I had-
11. 32:22 – 35:29

    Sauna overexposure: chasing 'Rhonda Patrick benefits' until it becomes unbearable

    1. CWChris Williamson32:22

       Sell it at 7.29. So, we, me and Yosef have begun going semi-regularly to sauna, and we're gonna begin a swimming, a little swimming routine as well, aren't we?

    2. JWJonny Watson32:32

       Mm-hmm. Swimwads.

    3. CWChris Williamson32:32

       Yeah, we've got-

    4. JWJonny Watson32:33

       Thanks, Sabina.

    5. CWChris Williamson32:34

       Yeah, we've got some cool, um, swim WADS from Sabina, uh, who is now, like, unreal at swimming and has asthma, so was, well, a bad person to be a swimmer, and is now proper good. So we're following in her-

    6. JWJonny Watson32:46

       Can't do it.

    7. CWChris Williamson32:46

       ... aqua fam. Full immersion, total immersion swimming. You go jasmin pool, and you hold your breath.

    8. JWJonny Watson32:52

       Oh, okay.

    9. CWChris Williamson32:53

       And then you get banned. Just finish the surface.

    10. JWJonny Watson32:54

        And then you get banned, and then you gotta come back with a different ID. So, we've been going sauna. Video, Gerdin and myself have also gone for a little sauna trip. Sauna.

    11. CWChris Williamson33:03

        Why are you not coming to the sauna with us?

    12. JWJonny Watson33:06

        So, I used to have a membership at David Lloyd.

    13. CWChris Williamson33:11

        'Cause for leisure.

    14. JWJonny Watson33:13

        Um, and while I was doing, I was revising for my ACA exams. I used to use the café as a place to revise. And what I used to do was, when exams were approaching, I would also, like, so like, my, my routine, my schedule became like very regimented, and like the rest of my life also dialed in. So like, I was, like, going in the gym in the morning. I'd look back, I've got no fucking clue why I was going in the gym in the morning and doing like 20 minutes of incline walking.

    15. CWChris Williamson33:42

        (laughs)

    16. JWJonny Watson33:42

        Listen to an audiobook.

    17. CWChris Williamson33:44

        (laughs)

    18. JWJonny Watson33:44

        And then I'd go down and do some stretching, and I'd do, like, revision block one, and that was, then I was doing, like, a training session, revision block two. And I read at the time that sauna, um, like in, uh, as you've probably read the same stuff-

    19. CWChris Williamson33:57

        Mm-hmm.

    20. JWJonny Watson33:57

        ... like, the fair whack of time in a sauna can have, like, real effects on your recovery.

    21. CWChris Williamson34:03

        Rhon- Rhonda Patrick.

    22. JWJonny Watson34:04

        Yeah.

    23. CWChris Williamson34:05

        P- Uh-

    24. JWJonny Watson34:05

        Tim Ferriss podcast.

    25. CWChris Williamson34:06

        Sauna report.

    26. JWJonny Watson34:07

        Yeah.

    27. CWChris Williamson34:07

        Whole host of multi-system benefits from sauna.

    28. JWJonny Watson34:10

        Lots. Lots and lots. So I was like, "Okay."

    29. CWChris Williamson34:12

        But it's big dose. It's three times a week for 30 minutes.

    30. JWJonny Watson34:15

        Yep. So I thought three times a week for 30 minutes-
12. 35:29 – 40:21

    Teenage disaster stories: DIY rosé, projectile vomiting, and the casein-caseinate nightmare

    1. JWJonny Watson35:29

       I once made my own rose wine from mixing white wine and red wine, and I, like, then walked into my parents' kitchen and got a stack of, like, you know, like, water crackers, like, the (laughs) -

    2. CWChris Williamson35:42

       Told you this story before.

    3. JWJonny Watson35:43

       ... Jacob's crackers. Sat next to my dad, and thought like, "I'm gonna eat these crackers."

    4. CWChris Williamson35:46

       (laughs)

    5. JWJonny Watson35:46

       And just decided to go, like ...

    6. CWChris Williamson35:49

       (laughs)

    7. JWJonny Watson35:49

       (laughs) Like, went all down me. And my dad just looked at me and went, "Son, look at the state of the floor."

    8. CWChris Williamson35:54

       (laughs)

    9. JWJonny Watson35:57

       I then went upstairs, went to bed, woke up while being sick, was sick on myself, sick on the floor. Then thought, "I'm being sick." Stood up, stood in the sick, slipped in the sick, sick again.

    10. CWChris Williamson36:08

        Oh. (laughs)

    11. JWJonny Watson36:10

        Stood up. So I've got sick-

    12. CWChris Williamson36:11

        Sick. (laughs)

    13. JWJonny Watson36:11

        (Laughs) So I've got sick all down me, sick all over the floor-

    14. CWChris Williamson36:15

        (laughs)

    15. JWJonny Watson36:15

        ... all over my bed, and I-

    16. CWChris Williamson36:17

        Oh.

    17. JWJonny Watson36:17

        So I can't fully remember this part, this part-

    18. CWChris Williamson36:19

        (laughs)

    19. JWJonny Watson36:19

        ... but apparently I went downstairs. This is at, like, quarter to eleven at night.

    20. CWChris Williamson36:24

        Slipped on the sick. (laughs)

    21. JWJonny Watson36:25

        And, um, just standing in the living room.

    22. CWChris Williamson36:29

        (laughs)

    23. JWJonny Watson36:29

        But my, my, my mum started watching TV. I walk in, I go, "Oh, Mum, I've been sick," and so-

    24. CWChris Williamson36:34

        (laughs)

    25. JWJonny Watson36:35

        (laughs)

    26. CWChris Williamson36:35

        (laughs)

    27. JWJonny Watson36:35

        And she was just like ... You know, like, what, where do you even begin with the questions?

    28. CWChris Williamson36:40

        (laughs)

    29. JWJonny Watson36:40

        'Cause neither of them had any idea. So this was, like, some friends had come round with bottles of wine.

    30. CWChris Williamson36:45

        Yeah.
13. 40:21 – 51:16

    Wins & tools: whiteboard reminders, Pomodoro tomato, and ignoring 'C-player' critics

    1. YSYusef Smith40:21

       So, so my win-

    2. CWChris Williamson40:22

       Yes, your win. Your win.

    3. YSYusef Smith40:24

       ... Johnny had been, um-

    4. JWJonny Watson40:27

       Oh, God.

    5. YSYusef Smith40:27

       ... getting me to get a whiteboard in my room. He was like, "I'm telling you, man, get a whiteboard." He was like, "Look-"

    6. CWChris Williamson40:33

       L- listen, yeah.

    7. JWJonny Watson40:35

       "... this is the best thing that you can do, yeah?"

    8. CWChris Williamson40:36

       "Honestly, man, get some glittery pens."

    9. JWJonny Watson40:39

       "I'm telling you, get, like-"

    10. CWChris Williamson40:41

        "I'm telling you, yeah."

    11. JWJonny Watson40:43

        "... you can, like, write things on it and, like, put..."

    12. CWChris Williamson40:45

        "And you can do pictures."

    13. JWJonny Watson40:46

        "Do your pictures and stuff."

    14. CWChris Williamson40:48

        Oh, why is there only one light on? You've broken it.

    15. JWJonny Watson40:51

        Oh, my God.

    16. YSYusef Smith40:52

        Light.

    17. CWChris Williamson40:53

        (laughs) You've broken your Christmas jumper in only one night, mate.

    18. JWJonny Watson40:55

        Holy shit. Has that happened the whole time, Jonny?

    19. CWChris Williamson40:56

        Look, look at it. It's on the left. It's on the left. It's just one... If you pick up-

    20. JWJonny Watson41:00

        So, I was trying to do a big cinematic thing while you two were having your own-

    21. CWChris Williamson41:04

        Discussion.

    22. JWJonny Watson41:04

        I was, like, making eye contact with the camera, and I thought, "I'll set my lights off."

    23. CWChris Williamson41:07

        Yeah.

    24. JWJonny Watson41:07

        Thinking, "Big dramatic display."

    25. CWChris Williamson41:09

        Oh, we've broken the circuit.

    26. JWJonny Watson41:10

        You've ruined it, man.

    27. CWChris Williamson41:12

        I'm telling you, yeah.

    28. JWJonny Watson41:13

        What are you doing by pressing it?

    29. YSYusef Smith41:15

        Trying to see if there's a connection between them.

    30. JWJonny Watson41:17

        Oh.
14. 51:16 – 1:06:23

    New Year planning philosophy: resolutions vs rolling starts, mortality as motivation, and 'do fewer things better'

    1. CWChris Williamson51:16

       Um, so moving forward into next year. First off, are you going to do New Year's resolutions? Have you got an approach to them? Do you tend to reflect at the end of the year? How do you play it, Johnny?

    2. JWJonny Watson51:29

       Uh, so no, I pro- I pro- I probably won't set New Year's resolutions. I think I try as much as possible to just not see it. I think even when I was more goal-centric, I tried to not see it as January the first, new me. Just because, like, January the 12th is gonna be no different to today, if, you know, in terms, from a, from a practical sense. So, um, I think waiting to start stuff gives a lot of people a reason to write off between now and then.

    3. CWChris Williamson52:02

       (laughs)

    4. JWJonny Watson52:02

       Um, which like, i- i- it's not a criticism. Like, I've done that myself.

    5. YSYusef Smith52:06

       And we see it with our clients every-

    6. JWJonny Watson52:08

       Yeah.

    7. YSYusef Smith52:08

       ... every single year.

    8. JWJonny Watson52:09

       Yeah.

    9. YSYusef Smith52:09

       It's such an easily done thing.

    10. JWJonny Watson52:10

        Um, and, and I've, I've had the thought pattern of like, "Yeah, but that would be good to start on a Monday." Or like the big one, which is, "Yeah, that would be good to start on the first of January," but you're still gonna have the same fears and, and concerns and doubts about it now as you will on the first of January and as you will on the first of February.

    11. CWChris Williamson52:28

        Mm-hmm.

    12. JWJonny Watson52:28

        Like, so-

    13. CWChris Williamson52:29

        You are right. It's an arbitrary date.

    14. JWJonny Watson52:30

        It is, but it, it is a nice ... It's a, it's a mark in the, like a stake in the ground to say, um, you know, "That's a year gone by. Am I heading in the right direction?" Um, something ... This is a very morbid way to take things, but something else-

    15. YSYusef Smith52:44

        (laughs)

    16. JWJonny Watson52:44

        ... that, um, fi-

    17. YSYusef Smith52:46

        Is that a surprise to anyone that's listening-

    18. JWJonny Watson52:48

        (laughs)

    19. YSYusef Smith52:48

        ... that we're potentially gonna just say something morbid or something?

    20. JWJonny Watson52:50

        To talk about some ... Yeah. So something else from the Derren Brown book is he talks about death. And something that I have w- I don't really know why, but over the past year and a bit, I think just as you get into your late 20s, you're like, you become aware of, like you don't feel this like, "I'm 21 and bulletproof" anymore.

    21. YSYusef Smith53:09

        Oh man, you're chronically aware of your own mortality as you approach 30.

    22. JWJonny Watson53:12

        Yeah, so that for me has been m- a q- a theme this year-

    23. CWChris Williamson53:14

        Yeah. (laughs)

    24. JWJonny Watson53:15

        ... I suppose of like, wow, um, you know, you're heading into your 30s. You're heading into, uh, later life and actually, you know, you could easily, you know, be diagnosed with something or like your life's, and even, even if your life's being lived to its fullest extent, you've had 30 of the years so far, um, and so d- I mean, Derren has a lot of thoughts about death in the book, but I think one of them is just being constantly, you know, the momentum will arrive, be mi- be mindful of death. And I think having a yearly review or even having a monthly review or weekly review prevents this like, "Uh."

    25. CWChris Williamson53:52

        Mm-hmm.

    26. JWJonny Watson53:52

        "Oh shit, I'm 50."

    27. CWChris Williamson53:53

        Just drudging through life without-

    28. JWJonny Watson53:54

        Yeah, and, and having, having a point at which like, "Am I going in the right direction or not? And if I'm not, then what am I gonna do about it?" is very important. And so I think having a, a retrospective view and, "What am I gonna change?" Great. But personally, in terms of setting New Year's resolutions, prob- probably not. I don't know.

    29. YSYusef Smith54:11

        I read the most harrowing experience of a guy who was 45, I think, or his late 40s, and he just recognized that he'd pissed away his life.

    30. CWChris Williamson54:21

        (sighs)
15. 1:06:23 – 1:10:01

    Deep focus stack: Cold Turkey app, fixed-schedule productivity, and book recommendations

    1. CWChris Williamson1:06:23

       So the app.

    2. JWJonny Watson1:06:24

       Cold Turkey for Mac is a nuclear warhead of a piece of-

    3. CWChris Williamson1:06:28

       Just be careful before you download it. Just be brief.

    4. JWJonny Watson1:06:31

       Just g- just respect it. Like, it does exactly what it says.

    5. CWChris Williamson1:06:34

       Y- you said-

    6. Briefly explain what Cold Turkey does for Mac.

    7. JWJonny Watson1:06:37

       So it will block access to apps or websites on a, either for a period of time or on a schedule. Um...

    8. CWChris Williamson1:06:46

       There's an upgrade, isn't there? So that's like the-

    9. JWJonny Watson1:06:47

       Hm.

    10. CWChris Williamson1:06:48

        ... that's the plutonium version.

    11. JWJonny Watson1:06:50

        Yeah.

    12. CWChris Williamson1:06:50

        But there's a depleted uranium version?

    13. JWJonny Watson1:06:51

        So, so when I first got it-

    14. CWChris Williamson1:06:52

        Unstable.

    15. JWJonny Watson1:06:53

        ... over a year ago-

    16. CWChris Williamson1:06:54

        Yeah, yeah.

    17. JWJonny Watson1:06:54

        ... I noticed in one of the settings in Advanced, there's a, there's a little toggle switch that says, "Frozen Turkey on or off." I was like, "Ooh, what's that?"

    18. CWChris Williamson1:07:01

        Ooh, that looks nice.

    19. JWJonny Watson1:07:02

        Hovered over the explanation and it was like, "Frozen Turkey will lock you out of your laptop, app times you." And I went like, "Oh, God, get off that. Like, go, go on another menu." Recently, r- read Deep Work on Yusef's recommendation, and thought ... like, so in that, in that book, they talk about this idea of fixed scheduled productivity. So having a deadline at the end of every day, or the end of any task you're trying to do. So the end of your gym session or whatever, that you-... cannot and do not shoot over. So I was like, "Well, I'm shit at that," 'cause I'm like, "I'll finish work at 5:00," and I never do. So I was like, "Right, well, I'm just gonna lock myself out of my laptop at, at a f- fixed time every day," put Frozen Turkey on, and I remember thinking, like, "This is just, like, the standard bit of software, it won't do anything." 5:30, your screen just goes gray and in replace, uh, i- in where was your app and everything is just a quote that says, like, um, "You run your day, your day runs you," or some, like, some shit like that. And you're like, "Oh, my God, I..." And you're like, okay, laptop off, back on again, can't get on my laptop. You're like, "Right, I've locked myself out of my laptop."

    20. YSYusef Smith1:08:07

        (laughs)

    21. JWJonny Watson1:08:07

        But it's fantastic. You've got it as well.

    22. YSYusef Smith1:08:10

        Yeah, so I- I've, I've used it for... I've realized that-

    23. JWJonny Watson1:08:13

        He's still just sat here in his leggings- I know.

    24. YSYusef Smith1:08:15

        ... and his long socks.

    25. JWJonny Watson1:08:15

        I know.

    26. YSYusef Smith1:08:16

        I'm still hot.

    27. JWJonny Watson1:08:17

        Yeah.

    28. YSYusef Smith1:08:17

        Such a terrible Egyptian. So, realized that a lot of the, um, time sink that I was doing was from switching time, from having a distraction come up or checking messages or whatever-

    29. JWJonny Watson1:08:28

        Mm-hmm.

    30. YSYusef Smith1:08:28

        ... and thinking, "Oh, it's only a two-second job to reply to this," or whatever, and it ends up completely derailing your chain of- train of thought and everything else. And responding to messages causes more to come back up. So, I've set iMessage and a lot of communications apps into Cold Turkey and set it so that every 30 minutes, I get a five-minute window to blast response people. Which, um, Johnny certainly (laughs) certainly felt.

Episode duration: 1:18:33