Modern WisdomEnd Of Year Review: 2021's Lessons, Hacks & Fails
CHAPTERS
- 0:00 – 0:28
Buy Bitcoin, run 5/3/1: framing the “future self” advice question
Chris and Yusef riff on the classic retroactive-advice fantasy—get rich early (Bitcoin) and get strong consistently (5/3/1). The joke becomes a serious setup: what would an older, wiser version of you advise you to do right now?
- •Humorous ‘two pieces of advice’ premise: Bitcoin + 5/3/1 progressive overload
- •Shifts from nostalgia to actionable present-day reflection
- •Introduces the theme of extracting lessons for the next year
- 0:28 – 6:07
Jonny & Yusef’s Christmas catch-up (and why Christmas food is overrated)
The hosts trade stories about a low-key Christmas, gifts that become ‘adult presents’ (toiletries, socks), and the strange logic of seasonal foods. It’s light banter that transitions them into end-of-year reflection mode.
- •Yusef’s first Christmas not in hospital; family traditions and jokes
- •Adult gift reality: socks, shower gel, ‘not buying toiletries for months’
- •Debate about seasonal foods (Christmas cake vs Easter eggs)
- •Quiet holidays, overeating, and “British Christmas” naps
- 6:07 – 7:09
Setting up the end-of-year review: templates, process, and why it matters
Chris explains the structure of the episode: lessons from 2021 plus a few life hacks. He also mentions his free end-of-year review template and why a formal review helps clarify priorities for the year ahead.
- •Episode plan: lessons learned + life hacks + year wrap-up
- •Chris shares review template (Chriswillex.com/review)
- •End-of-year review as a forcing function for clarity and goals
- •Jonny has already completed his review; Chris hasn’t yet
- 7:09 – 12:49
Jonny’s Lesson #1: ‘Negative pilot’—test what matters by removing it
Jonny argues that you can’t tell what’s truly helping unless you temporarily stop doing it. He shares examples from training, meditation, journaling, and business to show how subtraction reveals impact.
- •‘Negative pilot’ = intentionally stop a habit/process to see the effects
- •Forced breaks (COVID/cold) showed training’s wide benefits
- •Stopping meditation had clear costs; stopping journaling less so
- •Business example: pausing their podcast revealed audience demand
- •Practical suggestion: pick one uncertain habit to remove for a while
- 12:49 – 18:46
Chris’s Lesson: Essentialism, focus, and choosing what you’ll fail at
Chris builds on Jonny’s subtraction theme using Essentialism and Oliver Burkeman’s ‘choose what you’ll fail at’ idea. He explains how clarity about priorities reduces FOMO and enables long-term progress (with rehab/training as a concrete example).
- •Key quote: “You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything”
- •Burkeman: before goals, decide what you will ‘suck at’ this year
- •FOMO makes people try to do everything; focus requires tradeoffs
- •Chris example: Achilles/back rehab meant accepting short-term fitness tradeoffs
- •End-of-year review helps define a few ‘North Star’ goals across life areas
- 18:46 – 24:57
Yusef’s Lesson: stop over-optimizing—often you just need more reps
Yusef critiques the ‘life hack’ impulse that substitutes efficiency tweaks for doing the work. He argues for prioritizing consistent volume (reading, training, meditation) before chasing perfect quality via tools and tricks.
- •Screen time reality check: time exists, but gets wasted on apps
- •Over-optimization: speed-listening, gadgets, and ‘advanced’ techniques can be avoidance
- •Better to meditate 40 minutes than chase 10 minutes of ‘perfect’ meditation
- •Training analogy: don’t use advanced methods if you’re missing sessions
- •Book recs: Mindfulness in Plain English; Mindfulness, Bliss and Beyond
- 24:57 – 36:11
Jonny’s Lesson #2: mini wins, hedonic adaptation, and not moving goalposts
Jonny reflects on how hitting milestones (money, PBs, weigh-ins) often feels surprisingly the same. The group discusses hedonic adaptation and why focusing on small, repeatable wins is more motivating than chasing arbitrary numbers.
- •Milestones can feel flat unless life changes 10–100x
- •Outcomes as ‘rewards for running a system’ (Paul Mort framing)
- •Motivation is sustained by mini victories and weekly progress markers
- •Hedonic adaptation examples (Ali Abdaal; Steven Bartlett anecdote)
- •Chris: celebrate wins intentionally; beware constantly moving goalposts
- 36:11 – 39:21
Yusef’s Lesson: it never gets easier—you just level up your capacity
Yusef explains that progress doesn’t eliminate problems; it replaces them with new, more complex ones. The point is to expect ongoing challenge and learn to tolerate friction rather than waiting for a ‘problem-free level.’
- •New levels bring different problems (business scale analogy)
- •Sam Harris: expecting ‘inbox zero for life’ is unrealistic
- •Strength analogy: 100kg feels easier, but then 200kg becomes the challenge
- •Enjoy/accept frustration as part of growth
- •Don’t coast well below your capability if you want a satisfying path
- 39:21 – 44:23
Chris’s ‘Anxiety Cost’ model: finish small tasks early to buy back headspace
Chris introduces ‘anxiety cost’ as the mental tax of unfinished tasks that resets daily. He argues that doing quick, inevitable tasks early reduces rumination and prevents penalties (literal and psychological).
- •Anxiety cost = time spent thinking about what you haven’t done
- •Examples: buying gifts early, paying fines, doing admin immediately
- •Yusef’s dissertation strategy: avoid the long anxiety arc and all-nighters
- •Caution: not everything should be done instantly—use discernment
- •Risk compounding: forgetting tasks turns anxiety into real financial cost
- 44:23 – 56:11
Why people polarize: moral ‘taste buds,’ identity, and COVID-era sense-making
Yusef uses Jonathan Haidt’s moral foundations framework (via ZDoggMD) to explain why people interpret events through moral lenses rather than evidence. The discussion explores how group identity, algorithms, and loyalty dynamics push people into extreme certainty.
- •Moral lenses can block clear perception of reality
- •Haidt’s moral foundations: care, fairness, loyalty, authority, sanctity, liberty
- •Extremism as loyalty signaling and threat display (Gurwinder idea)
- •Nuance becomes socially costly; centrists get attacked from both sides
- •Examples of online escalation and breakdown in civil disagreement
- 56:11 – 1:00:32
Protect your sacred headspace: CEOs as decision engines (not inbox machines)
Jonny notes their best business results often happened when he worked less or was offline—suggesting the real value is high-quality decisions, not constant busyness. Chris frames leaders as ‘hard-to-replicate complex decision engines’ whose main job is judgment under uncertainty.
- •Better outcomes sometimes correlate with less reactive work
- •Bezos-style view: get paid for 1–3 high-quality decisions per day
- •Early-stage founders over-index on firefighting and operations
- •Protecting energy/headspace improves decision quality and downstream results
- •Leadership value is context-specific judgment, hard to replace or delegate
- 1:00:32 – 1:08:57
Chris’s screen-time fail → new strategy: build a life that makes bad habits unnecessary
Chris admits he failed to meaningfully reduce phone screen time despite typical tactics. His takeaway is to design an environment and lifestyle that naturally crowds out unwanted behaviors—making the habit change a byproduct of a better life, not constant self-control.
- •Turning off notifications/grayscale helps, but isn’t sufficient alone
- •Core shift: design a life that makes you not want to check your phone
- •Enjoyment beats optimization—‘hard to compete with the guy having fun’
- •Analogies: sports/CrossFit communities create effortless consistency
- •‘Holding pattern’ replacements (Kindle on desk) reduce default phone checking
- 1:08:57 – 1:23:05
Favourite life hacks of 2021: Waking Up Moments, creatine tabs, ClearWhey, Spotify queueing
The group swaps practical ‘quality of life’ upgrades: mindfulness prompts, supplement convenience, and better podcast consumption workflows. They also detour into why Premium subscriptions (Spotify/YouTube) feel indispensable once you’ve experienced them.
- •Waking Up app ‘Moments’: random 1-minute mindfulness nudges through the day
- •Creatine tablets: remove friction and improve consistency vs powder dosing
- •ClearWhey: ‘juice-like’ protein as a superior alternative to milky shakes
- •Spotify ‘My Episodes’ feature: non-linear queueing and easier discovery
- •Premium subscriptions as high-ROI upgrades; reviews request for Spotify
- 1:23:05 – 1:27:55
Reacting to ‘Don’t Look Up’: climate, COVID parallels, and the AI oversight problem
Jonny and Yusef discuss how the film creates frustration about ignored existential threats, and how it can map onto climate change, COVID, or broader risk denial. Chris pivots to artificial intelligence as a less-visible, potentially irreversible risk—and argues for serious oversight similar to nuclear and biosecurity controls.
- •Film as a mirror for societal denial and delayed action
- •Interpretations: climate change, COVID-era dysfunction, general existential risk
- •AI risk: control/alignment must be solved before capabilities emerge
- •Incentives favor ‘build first, fix later’—a dangerous dynamic
- •Analogy: foundation mistakes only revealed many ‘stories’ later
- 1:27:55 – 1:29:10
Closing out 2021: gratitude, upcoming guests, and where to find Propane Fitness
Chris wraps the year with thanks, highlights future high-profile guests, and plugs Jonny and Yusef’s work. The episode ends on a light note, calling back to the running Hasbulla joke.
- •Chris thanks Jonny & Yusef for the year’s episodes and life hacks
- •Teases upcoming guests (e.g., Steven Pinker, Andrew Huberman)
- •Where to find Propane Fitness resources and business help links
- •Final holiday send-off and end-screen call to subscribe
