Skip to content
Modern WisdomModern Wisdom

Life Hacks 101

Today I am joined by Jonny & Yusef from PropaneFitness.com as we go through our favourite tools, apps, websites & principles for a productive and efficient life. Find out how to improve your mobility at home, why you shouldn't have audiobooks quicker than 2x speed and how a shoe horn will change your life. Further Reading: https://www.Apple.com https://www.ROMwod.com Toby For Chrome: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/toby-for-chrome/hddnkoipeenegfoeaoibdmnaalmgkpip David Allen's Guided Mindsweep: https://gettingthingsdone.com/2010/07/free-guided-mind-sweep-with-david-allen/ https://www.Optimize.me https://www.Evernote.com Withings Scale: https://amzn.to/2IYENle FitBit: https://amzn.to/2kwtzde - Listen to all episodes online. Search "Modern Wisdom" on any Podcast App or click here: iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/modern-wisdom/id1347973549 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0XrOqvxlqQI6bmdYHuIVnr?si=iUpczE97SJqe1kNdYBipnw Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/modern-wisdom - I want to hear from you!! Get in touch in the comments below or head to... Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Email: modernwisdompodcast@gmail.com

Chris WilliamsonhostJonnyguestYusefguestGuestguest
May 28, 20181h 2mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Stacking Life Hacks: Routines, Tech, and Systems For Daily Efficiency

  1. Chris Williamson and the Propain Fitness guys (Yusef and Jonny) share a rapid-fire tour of the specific tools, apps, and habits they use to streamline everyday life. They cover everything from Apple’s ecosystem and digital capture systems to mobility routines, book-summary platforms, and food prep. A recurring theme is David Allen–style ‘getting things out of your head’ and turning information into repeatable systems rather than one-off efforts. The conversation mixes practical recommendations with meta-advice on avoiding information overload and actually implementing what you learn.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Use a unified ecosystem to automate capture and syncing.

Running Mac, iPhone, and Apple services together (iCal, Reminders, Notes, Siri, iMessage) eliminates friction: you can capture ideas by voice, sync notes across devices, and manage tasks from anywhere instead of juggling incompatible systems.

Design a simple, repeatable morning ‘launch sequence’ and protect it from your phone.

A consistent chain of low-friction actions (coffee, journaling, meditation, mobility, day prioritization) creates mental clarity and dramatically increases the odds of a productive day; the key is minimizing early phone/TV exposure and inertia triggers.

Outsource mobility to a prescriptive program like ROMWOD.

Daily guided stretching removes decision fatigue (“what should I do?”), builds range of motion over months, and is easy to comply with because the sessions are structured, appropriately challenging, and searchable by problem area (e.g., hips, back).

Implement a robust capture-and-review system for ideas and media.

Tools like Toby (tab/read/watch queues), Evernote (your ‘external brain’), Web Clipper, and MP3 audiobook players let you capture links, notes, and audiobooks for later, then review and apply them instead of relying on memory or scattershot consumption.

Prioritize application over volume when consuming self-help content.

Rather than chasing book counts or bingeing summaries (e.g., Optimize.me masterclasses), stop reading when you have a ‘revelation’, write it up with an action in Evernote, and push it into your task system so each idea actually changes your behavior.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

The brain isn’t tremendously good at remembering things. It’s good at decision-making and doing.

Yusef

People complain about the results they didn’t get from the program they didn’t follow.

Chris (summarizing Propain Fitness article)

I’d far rather have one book a year that’s totally improved one part of my life than have ten books that I forget about.

Jonny

If you’ve got something which is a system that’s prescriptive and laid out, stick to it long term… chopping and changing doesn’t give you the privilege to say either, ‘That worked’ or ‘That didn’t work.’

Chris

Evernote is a way to index any documents into folders, subfolders, tags… it’s an external brain. It’s a prosthetic brain.

Yusef

Using the Apple ecosystem (Mac, iPhone, iCal, Reminders, Siri, Do Not Disturb) for seamless capture and syncingMorning routines and launch sequences to avoid phone-driven distractionMobility and stretching systems, especially ROMWOD and yoga-style routinesInformation capture and organization tools: Toby, Evernote, Web Clipper, Scannable, MP3 audiobook appsSummarizing and applying self-help content (Optimize.me, audiobooks, note-taking, Evernote workflows)Memory systems and mind palaces for high-volume learningSimple everyday efficiency hacks: food prep, shoehorns, thermos coffee, WiFi scales, and activity trackers

High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.

Get more out of YouTube videos.

High quality summaries for YouTube videos. Accurate transcripts to search & find moments. Powered by ChatGPT & Claude AI.

Add to Chrome