Life Hacks 102

1. 0:00 – 1:26

   Kicking off Life Hacks 102 + Chris’ first pick: Sleep Cycle sleep tracking

   1. CWChris Williamson0:00

      (wind blowing) Right. Uh, so life hacks number two.

   2. YSYusef Smith0:10

      Number two.

   3. CWChris Williamson0:11

      You're waving around. What are you waving?

   4. JWJonny Watson0:13

      I don't know. Just making-

   5. CWChris Williamson0:14

      A peace sign. Peace, listeners. Peace. Um, okay, so I'm going to open up. On the last episode, I mentioned that I would be talking about Sleep Cycle, and that is going to be my first one today. So Sleep Cycle is an app that you use for tracking sleep. Um, you set an alarm last thing at night, and it presumes that that is the final thing that you do. So it calls that your sleep, uh, your going to bedtime. It then tracks when you wake up on a morning, sets an alarm off. Um, you can give it a window of time between an hour and 10 minutes during which it uses the motion sensor in your phone to detect your, your motion sensor or the microphone to detect the depth of sleep that you're in. And it tries to find a time to wake you when you are closest to light sleep. That feature, for me, I don't use an awful lot, but I know it can be pretty effective. The thing that I like the most is just tracking the amount of time that I've been asleep. I've used it for 1,200 plus nights now, so I've been doing it since 2018.

   6. YSYusef Smith1:14

      Big data collection there.

   7. CWChris Williamson1:15

      Yes.

   8. YSYusef Smith1:16

      So your correlates will be, will be very accurate now as well.

   9. CWChris Williamson1:21

      It's un- it's unbelie- Are you still using it?

   10. YSYusef Smith1:23

       Not recently.

   11. CWChris Williamson1:24

       Right. Okay, so-

   12. YSYusef Smith1:24

       Should explain what the correlates are, I suppose, as well.

2. 1:26 – 4:07

   Deep-dive into Sleep Cycle’s data: weather, location, and even the moon

   1. CWChris Williamson1:26

      Yeah. So the amount of data that it tracks to do with your sleep is unbelievable. So it associates the weather, the air temperature, the pressure, the moon's position.

   2. YSYusef Smith1:38

      (laughs)

   3. CWChris Williamson1:39

      Um, the location that, um, geographic location that you're in based on your phone's location services. It literally uses everything and then plots it against how good was your sleep. So it uses the length of time that you were asleep, plus the depth of sleep determined by either the microphone or the motion sensor, and then works out a quality of sleep that's based on a percentage. That percentage then gets plotted against all the other bits and pieces, and then it shows you an average of your time over the last week, over month, over all time. And it also tells you people in your country what their average is, so on and so forth. So if you're a bit of a, um, the sort of person who likes to drill down the data on that sort of thing, you can really get into it. And even if you don't, it tells you how long you've been asleep and what the effects on your sleep are. So I know that when it's a non-full moon, whatever the opposite is, like nonexistent moon.

   4. YSYusef Smith2:32

      Mm-hmm.

   5. CWChris Williamson2:32

      What is it?

   6. YSYusef Smith2:32

      Uh, crescent moon or like-

   7. CWChris Williamson2:34

      No, lower than that.

   8. JWJonny Watson2:35

      Half moon.

   9. CWChris Williamson2:35

      No, lower than that.

   10. JWJonny Watson2:36

       Quarter moon. Shit moon.

   11. CWChris Williamson2:38

       Shit moon. No moon. When there's no moon, um, my sleep goes up by 2%.

   12. YSYusef Smith2:42

       Blue moon.

   13. CWChris Williamson2:43

       No, that's twice in-

   14. JWJonny Watson2:43

       No (laughs) .

   15. CWChris Williamson2:43

       That's twice in the same month.

   16. YSYusef Smith2:45

       Is it?

   17. CWChris Williamson2:45

       And we've, we've had two of them this year. So we had one-

   18. JWJonny Watson2:47

       Is it once in a blue moon?

   19. CWChris Williamson2:49

       Yeah, but, but that's the thing. What is a blue moon? Blue Moon is when one, one full moon occurs during the same month. But this year it was a red moon and, and a super moon, so it was a blue blood red super moon. That was the final one of the year, Jan-

   20. YSYusef Smith3:05

       Your lunar knowledge is incredible.

   21. CWChris Williamson3:08

       I like the moon. I bought my mom a moon for her (laughs) . For Christmas.

   22. YSYusef Smith3:12

       (laughs) Why do you like the moon?

   23. CWChris Williamson3:13

       It's cool. I bought Darren's, I bought my business partner's kid a moon for his first birthday. Hi, mate.

   24. JWJonny Watson3:20

       Hi. He's done now.

   25. CWChris Williamson3:21

       No, no, still going.

   26. JWJonny Watson3:22

       Come in. Come in.

   27. CWChris Williamson3:24

       David's just having a little-

   28. YSYusef Smith3:26

       Talk about the moon?

   29. CWChris Williamson3:26

       ... schweum through. So, um-

   30. YSYusef Smith3:28

       Do you like the moon, David?
3. 4:07 – 5:39

   How to make Sleep Cycle actionable: using sleep notes to self-experiment

   1. JWJonny Watson4:07

      Do you know, just a quick point on it. Do you not... So like all I would look at in Fitbit is hours really.

   2. CWChris Williamson4:13

      Mm-hmm.

   3. JWJonny Watson4:14

      I kind of take with a pinch of salt the whole sleep debt thing.

   4. CWChris Williamson4:16

      I'd agree.

   5. JWJonny Watson4:17

      I, the, the whole like lunar cycle compared to your sleep, I agree, nice to have, but it's a bit like, you know, being told the world's going to end. Like, there's not much you can do with the information.

   6. CWChris Williamson4:28

      Mm-hmm.

   7. JWJonny Watson4:28

      Is there anything that you do look at, or is anything you've changed or like added, stopped with your routines -

   8. CWChris Williamson4:39

      Um, so in terms of, in terms of the native options on Sleep Cycle, no. However, you can add sleep notes.

   9. JWJonny Watson4:45

      I mean, in terms of your sleep routines.

   10. CWChris Williamson4:47

       Yeah.

   11. JWJonny Watson4:47

       All right, okay.

   12. CWChris Williamson4:47

       You can add these sleep notes in. So sleep notes are more conditional options that you can choose before you go to bed. So for instance, you could have a sleep note which says, had caffeine after 6:00 PM today, spent more than five hours at work, worked the night, had alcohol, didn't have alcohol, felt stressed, did meditate, didn't meditate, did... Went to the gym, did whatever. And the correlate between bunches of those mean that you can perform an experiment on yourself-

   13. JWJonny Watson5:13

       I see.

   14. CWChris Williamson5:14

       ... with any variable that you want.

   15. JWJonny Watson5:15

       Mm-hmm.

   16. CWChris Williamson5:16

       So for me, I know if I have caffeine after 4:00 PM in the day, I'll have 5% worse sleep on that.

   17. JWJonny Watson5:21

       Does it then log that as something you can enter again?

   18. CWChris Williamson5:23

       Yes. Across time.

   19. YSYusef Smith5:25

       That's cool.

   20. JWJonny Watson5:26

       Um, so you're just building your own data on your own sleep basically?

   21. CWChris Williamson5:30

       Yes.

   22. YSYusef Smith5:31

       So I've used that as well. And it kind of tells you, like, caffeine worsens your sleep.

   23. CWChris Williamson5:35

       Mm-hmm.

   24. YSYusef Smith5:35

       Melatonin increases your, improves your sleep.

   25. JWJonny Watson5:37

       Like things you'd think, things you'd expect.

   26. YSYusef Smith5:39

       Yeah, expect.

4. 5:39 – 6:14

   Unexpected sleep insights + supplements: melatonin and ZMA discussion

   1. JWJonny Watson5:39

      Is there anything that's unexpected that came out of it?

   2. CWChris Williamson5:43

      (sighs)

   3. YSYusef Smith5:43

      For me, yes, but I think my sample size was too small.

   4. JWJonny Watson5:47

      What was the unexpected then?

   5. YSYusef Smith5:48

      Um, ZMA reduced sleep quality a little bit and then-

   6. JWJonny Watson5:50

      That's quite a common concern.

   7. YSYusef Smith5:52

      Yeah.

   8. JWJonny Watson5:52

      Or common complaint with ZMA, yeah.

   9. YSYusef Smith5:54

      I can't remember the other ones, but it, it changed over time, so...

   10. JWJonny Watson5:57

       Right.

   11. YSYusef Smith5:57

       So I was like, it's probably (overlapping conversation) -

   12. JWJonny Watson5:57

       If not, if the effect that melatonin has, if I have three milligrams of melatonin or five milligrams of melatonin-

   13. YSYusef Smith6:03

       I think that's the strongest thing for me out of all three.

   14. CWChris Williamson6:04

       Unbelievable, that 10% improved sleep.... let's see, I mean, you will become-

   15. YSYusef Smith6:08

       It's meant to reduce your sleep requirement by an hour.

   16. CWChris Williamson6:11

       You will become dependent on it-

   17. YSYusef Smith6:12

       Mm-hmm.

   18. CWChris Williamson6:12

       ... (laughs) after a little while.

   19. YSYusef Smith6:13

       Yeah.

5. 6:14 – 7:34

   Yusef’s sleep aid: Peaceers (soundscapes + Pavlovian conditioning)

   1. CWChris Williamson6:14

      But, um, right, okay, Scope.

   2. YSYusef Smith6:16

      So another sleep one, "And now-"

   3. CWChris Williamson6:18

      (laughs)

   4. YSYusef Smith6:19

      "... it is the time for you to set aside the worries of the day."

   5. CWChris Williamson6:22

      (laughs) That's that Pizzazz thing, isn't it?

   6. JWJonny Watson6:24

      It is, yeah.

   7. CWChris Williamson6:24

      Pizzazz.

   8. YSYusef Smith6:24

      "And allow things easy to be easy."

   9. CWChris Williamson6:29

      (laughs)

   10. YSYusef Smith6:29

       "And let your body take care of the rest."

   11. CWChris Williamson6:32

       You're weirding everyone out. What are you on about?

   12. YSYusef Smith6:33

       As you develop-

   13. JWJonny Watson6:34

       Dong!

   14. CWChris Williamson6:36

       (laughs)

   15. YSYusef Smith6:37

       (laughs) That is Peaceers, it's a l- guy with a delightful, soothing voice, and some soundscapes to lull you into sleep. And there's something really Pavlovian about it, that when you start to hear-

   16. CWChris Williamson6:50

       (laughs)

   17. YSYusef Smith6:50

       ... the voice, you do just get knocked out.

   18. JWJonny Watson6:53

       So... Sorry.

   19. YSYusef Smith6:55

       Oh. But just... Yeah, and then it plays again when you wake up, but gently brings you back up.

   20. JWJonny Watson6:59

       So it's kind of like s-

   21. YSYusef Smith7:00

       Very similar, um-

   22. CWChris Williamson7:01

       ... SleepCycle, but Sleep Ci- like a literary sleep cycle.

   23. YSYusef Smith7:04

       Kind of. It, it doesn't track anything, so if you, m- maybe if you, if you're gonna use Peaceers and you want tracking data as well, you'll probably need a Fitbit or a Bitfit or something.

   24. CWChris Williamson7:14

       A fit- (laughs) A Bitfit?

   25. JWJonny Watson7:16

       You could use both.

   26. YSYusef Smith7:16

       (laughs)

   27. CWChris Williamson7:16

       You could easily, you could easily use both, 'cause SleepCycle doesn't require-

   28. JWJonny Watson7:17

       We should launch Bitfit.

   29. YSYusef Smith7:18

       Ah. Yeah.

   30. CWChris Williamson7:20

       Bitfit.
6. 7:34 – 9:10

   When sleep tools backfire: reverse conditioning, insomnia cues, and Netflix debate

   1. JWJonny Watson7:34

      ... you start (laughs) um... I've developed a negative relationship with it. I've realized this.

   2. CWChris Williamson7:41

      Oh.

   3. JWJonny Watson7:41

      I told you this, yeah.

   4. CWChris Williamson7:41

      With Peaceers?

   5. JWJonny Watson7:42

      Yeah. So I had it, it was initially something recommended by a guy called Dave Asprey, when I used to listen to his stuff back when I was Bob Downe-

   6. CWChris Williamson7:52

      Mm-hmm.

   7. JWJonny Watson7:52

      ... TNO. Um, and I used to listen to it when I would struggle to sleep.

   8. CWChris Williamson8:00

      Mm-hmm.

   9. JWJonny Watson8:01

      So the noise, the voice is associated with me-

   10. CWChris Williamson8:04

       With insomnia, yes.

   11. YSYusef Smith8:05

       With insomnia, yes.

   12. JWJonny Watson8:05

       ... for me, with, with not being able to sleep.

   13. CWChris Williamson8:07

       Oh, that's a, that's reverse conditioning, then.

   14. JWJonny Watson8:09

       Mm-hmm.

   15. YSYusef Smith8:10

       Mm-hmm.

   16. JWJonny Watson8:10

       Classical, but wrong.

   17. YSYusef Smith8:12

       Yeah, that's interesting.

   18. CWChris Williamson8:12

       Netflix. Netflix, man.

   19. JWJonny Watson8:14

       I, I can't-

   20. CWChris Williamson8:14

       Netflix, mate, honestly.

   21. JWJonny Watson8:15

       I cannot-

   22. CWChris Williamson8:15

       I'm out like a light. I cannot fall asleep when something's on.

   23. JWJonny Watson8:18

       Really?

   24. CWChris Williamson8:19

       Music, audiobook or, um, TV. I cannot fall asleep.

   25. JWJonny Watson8:22

       So I think for me, I like for my falling asleep to not be the focus of what's going on.

   26. CWChris Williamson8:28

       It's not... I, I'm too easy to fall asleep.

   27. JWJonny Watson8:29

       I'm like, you know, if I'm, if I'm like, "Oh, my fucking God, I need to fall asleep, I need to fall asleep."

   28. YSYusef Smith8:32

       It's like you, th- the way, you're hunting a small woodland animal, and you, you, if you look directly at it, it's gonna run away, so you gotta just-

   29. JWJonny Watson8:38

       Yeah.

   30. YSYusef Smith8:38

       ... wait.
7. 9:10 – 11:10

   Building habits: why apps fail and accountability wins (money-on-the-line + shared spreadsheets)

   1. JWJonny Watson9:10

      So I've, uh, again, I'm very theme-based-

   2. CWChris Williamson9:13

      Mm-hmm.

   3. JWJonny Watson9:13

      ... rather than specific apps, but Yousaf's got Habitbull, uh, written on there.

   4. CWChris Williamson9:18

      Habitbull?

   5. JWJonny Watson9:18

      Something... Habitbull, which is an app for building momentum with habits. (clears throat) Um, something that, for me, has been the only thing that allows me to do or build any h- b- build any kind of habit, or break any kind of habit is direct, one-on-one accountability, some kind of challenge with someone else. And it's something that I originally heard from Tim Ferriss, there's, there's apps and websites where you can, um, give an amount of money to... It's like held in escrow. And then if you fail to do the thing or-

   6. CWChris Williamson9:53

      Keep hitting the table-

   7. JWJonny Watson9:55

      ... fail to, like, continue with a habit or fail to break the habit, you lose the money. Like, you're creating loss aversion to that thing.

   8. CWChris Williamson10:01

      Mm-hmm.

   9. JWJonny Watson10:01

      And so having some kind of competition or looking bad in front of someone-

   10. CWChris Williamson10:04

       Mm-hmm.

   11. JWJonny Watson10:05

       ... having that accountability for me has allowed me to be consistent with meditation, journaling, sleep habits, like, all the, all the-

   12. CWChris Williamson10:12

       So you, you do that as-

   13. JWJonny Watson10:12

       ... the habits I've spoken about-

   14. CWChris Williamson10:13

       ... you do that by having a Google Drive document where-

   15. JWJonny Watson10:16

       Really basic.

   16. CWChris Williamson10:16

       ... two, m- mul- multiple people have access. It's a spreadsheet that's hosted online.

   17. JWJonny Watson10:19

       Yep.

   18. CWChris Williamson10:20

       Both people have access. You log whether or not you did the thing that you said you were going to do-

   19. JWJonny Watson10:24

       That's it.

   20. CWChris Williamson10:24

       ... and can see whether the other person did as well.

   21. JWJonny Watson10:26

       That's it. That's exactly it.

   22. CWChris Williamson10:27

       External accountability is a big thing, man.

   23. JWJonny Watson10:29

       Huge, huge. And obviously, that's the service we provide, but it's, um, Yousaf and I, for those people listening. But yeah, I think that... 'Cause I've tried so many habit apps-

   24. CWChris Williamson10:42

       Yeah.

   25. JWJonny Watson10:43

       ... like there's Coach.me or Lift, Habitbull, uh, there's, I, there's loads of names.

   26. YSYusef Smith10:48

       Productiv-

   27. JWJonny Watson10:49

       There's Way Of Life Productive-

   28. CWChris Williamson10:50

       I think I've got, I think I've got at least three-

   29. JWJonny Watson10:52

       Mm-hmm.

   30. CWChris Williamson10:52

       ... that I've never used.
8. 11:10 – 12:35

   Meditation consistency: skipping days, scaled habits, and ‘hit the tipping point’

   1. JWJonny Watson11:10

      Th- something that... Um, meditation is something that we all do. The th- the thi- two things got me meditating, one was, one was Yousaf challenging me, and then the other was being involved in a challenge.

   2. CWChris Williamson11:21

      Yeah.

   3. JWJonny Watson11:21

      Of daily, like-

   4. YSYusef Smith11:22

      (laughs)

   5. JWJonny Watson11:22

      ... if... In the back of your head, someone else is meditating, someone else is gonna do that thing today.

   6. CWChris Williamson11:28

      Yeah.

   7. JWJonny Watson11:28

      I'm not gonna be the one that gives up. I'm not gonna be the one that breaks the chain.

   8. CWChris Williamson11:31

      Yeah.

   9. JWJonny Watson11:32

      And having... Just generally on, like, these, these, these apps and the, the process of building a habit as being, like, start with two minutes a day, build it up to three minutes a day, four minutes a day. Try that, and you get to, like, three weeks in, you're doing six minutes a day of meditation-

   10. CWChris Williamson11:45

       Still shite, isn't it?

   11. JWJonny Watson11:46

       Something inconsequential, you're still below the tipping point of actually feeling any kind of benefit.

   12. CWChris Williamson11:50

       Yeah.

   13. JWJonny Watson11:51

       And I was harping on about this to Yousaf one day, we were on a course in Liverpool, and he just goes, "Just meditate for 30 minutes a day for 10 days, and tell me honestly that you don't feel anything."

   14. CWChris Williamson12:01

       (laughs)

   15. JWJonny Watson12:01

       I'm like, "Fine." Like, uh, if that's what's required for me to get to say to you-

   16. YSYusef Smith12:06

       There you go.

   17. CWChris Williamson12:06

       (laughs) Yeah.

   18. JWJonny Watson12:06

       "See, I told you so. I told you meditation doesn't do anything," then that's what-

   19. CWChris Williamson12:10

       Did it.

   20. JWJonny Watson12:11

       That's what broke the seal.

   21. CWChris Williamson12:11

       Now, then.

   22. YSYusef Smith12:12

       Right, ready-

   23. JWJonny Watson12:12

       Really interesting, there's two things there of like...

   24. ... the negative feedback from pieces causing you to sleep worse-

   25. CWChris Williamson12:19

       Mm-hmm.

   26. JWJonny Watson12:19

       ... because you only listen to it on the days when you slept-

   27. CWChris Williamson12:21

       Mm-hmm.

   28. JWJonny Watson12:22

       ... when you weren't able to sleep. And the negative feedback of, uh, meditating for six minutes a day-

   29. CWChris Williamson12:28

       Mm-hmm.

   30. JWJonny Watson12:28

       ... and thi- thinking like, "Well, this is a waste of time," and actually, like, if anything doing that makes you meditate less in the long term, which is so interesting.

9. 12:35 – 17:10

   Chris’ next pick: Headspace guided meditation + why guided works as training wheels

   1. CWChris Williamson12:35

      Mm-hmm. I'm gonna do, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do two. Um, first one is getting things that will play on your mind out of the way early in the day. So for me, if I don't meditate before I leave the house, it will stress me throughout the rest of the day-

   2. JWJonny Watson12:48

      (clears throat)

   3. CWChris Williamson12:49

      ... that I know I still need to meditate.

   4. JWJonny Watson12:50

      Mm-hmm.

   5. CWChris Williamson12:50

      And I'm like, "Oh, shit. Shit, I didn't get it done." So what I've done is I've programmed in that I can have, I'm allowed to have (sound of hand hitting table) in my own mind a three-minute, this is on Headspace which is going to be my next one, a three-minute emergency session, which is like, "You have three minutes. Get in the car. Before you set off, you have three minutes. Just drive a bit faster." Like-

   6. JWJonny Watson13:10

      Mm-hmm. (laughs)

   7. CWChris Williamson13:11

      ... so, and that three minutes at least means, like, I still need to come back and try and do a 15-minute, uh, 20-minute, half an hour later on, but I'm like, "Right. The anxiety of the fact that I didn't do my morning, my morning thing that I said I was going to do."

   8. JWJonny Watson13:24

      Mm-hmm.

   9. CWChris Williamson13:24

      That's out.

   10. JWJonny Watson13:25

       Again, another ir- irony that not meditating makes you more anxious than if you just didn't meditate as, as a person.

   11. CWChris Williamson13:32

       Yeah.

   12. JWJonny Watson13:33

       But-

   13. CWChris Williamson13:33

       Yeah, a little bit. If y- y- you build a very, very high wall that you then throw yourself off the top into.

   14. JWJonny Watson13:39

       (laughs)

   15. CWChris Williamson13:39

       (laughs) So yeah, my m- my main one is n- next one is going to be Headspace. Um, I guess when I first heard about it was probably about 18 months ago and it seems to have just got everywhere since then.

   16. JWJonny Watson13:50

       Mm-hmm.

   17. CWChris Williamson13:50

       Andy Puddicombe, the guy that owns it, just is, he's released a podcast that's massive. They're working with Nike now. There's a Nike pack. Like, he's working with huge-

   18. JWJonny Watson14:00

       Blessing Olowuke.

   19. CWChris Williamson14:00

       ... NBA teams, like these, these teams that are the best in the country in America at basketball. Um, all sorts of stuff.

   20. JWJonny Watson14:07

       He's just been on a couple of famous podcasts as well I think.

   21. CWChris Williamson14:09

       He's getting everywhere at the moment. He was with Russell Brand the other day. I saw he was just on Russell Brand's podcast. Uh, he's fantastic. So anyway, Headspace, it's an app for guided meditation. If you haven't ever done meditation before, you will hear us speak about it a fair bit and you might just think it's all a bit woo-woo. I've got some friends who know it isn't for them. Jordan Wallis, owner of Reebok CrossFit Tyneside, for him meditation is not for him. And I actually completely agree based on what I know about his personality and I do genuinely think that there's a lot of people, s- uh, large minority of people should I say, for whom meditation isn't correct. However, I do think that it could benefit an awful lot of people, but the same as we said in the last episode when we were talking about people who want to get into mobility but don't know where to start, you need to find the training wheels version. You don't go into a gym and try and pick up 200 kilos off the floor immediately in a deadlift when you don't even know how to perform an empty bar deadlift. You go in and you do the basics first and you get a coach. Guided meditation is an easy way to start off that journey. You sit down, you press a button on the app, and you listen to what they say. Exactly the same way as you would do with the ROM work that we spoke about last time, that you go through the poses. These are mental poses or mental states that it asks you to go through, thought experiments. And over time, as you move through different packs, you are given less, uh, fewer and fewer cues, and you allow yourself to be more in control of your brain rather than, uh, the impetus coming from outside in. It tracks stuff like daily streaks. There's loads and loads of different packs. There's ones for anxiety, sport performance, creativity at work, family, relationships, all manner of different things. And you can choose between three-minute and thir- uh, three-minute and 20-minute sessions for the most part. Um, for me, I've moved through different guided meditation courses. But the one that I keep coming back to the most has been Headspace. And I think the length of the sessions is good. The fact that there's so many and they're all different with a little bit of different introduction is really, really good. And I like the visualizations that he uses. A lot of the ones I f- I genuinely do feel. So he does some about warm, uh, warm sun filling up the body. He does a lot of check-ins with the body as well, which is nice. Um, yeah, it's, it's, it's definitely, definitely one of my favorite resources and it's free again as well. You can get a free trial so you can see whether or not you like it. Um, meditation apps, what's your- Well, t- two things just on what you've said. I think having, the thing you mentioned about having a backup of the, of meditation to fall back on. Mm-hmm. Something else that I do with the, with that habits tracking is that a- all, every habit I do has a scaled version. Mm-hmm. Because I think having, being able to maintain, I think the psychology of breaking your streak with something- Yeah.

   22. JWJonny Watson16:51

       ... is really negative.

   23. CWChris Williamson16:52

       Yeah.

   24. JWJonny Watson16:52

       So again, negative thing, like, because you've skipped a day, you're less likely to do it again the next day.

   25. CWChris Williamson16:57

       Mm-hmm.

   26. JWJonny Watson16:57

       Because the hav- you haven't got that wave of-

   27. CWChris Williamson16:59

       You get the catastrophic thinking, right?

   28. JWJonny Watson17:01

       Yeah, yeah, yeah.

   29. I've been, I've eaten all, I've eaten this cake, now I'll finish the packet.

   30. CWChris Williamson17:03

       Exactly. Whereas if you've meditated for five days in a row, you're more and more likely to hit the sixth day, seventh day- Yeah.
10. 17:10 – 19:20

    Critiquing meditation apps + alternative course: ‘Release Into Now’

    1. JWJonny Watson17:10

       Um, meditating, I think I also started with Headspace, did the, is it Ten and Ten, Take 10?

    2. CWChris Williamson17:17

       Yeah.

    3. JWJonny Watson17:18

       Um, it is a great introduction. I think, uh, I've since moved away from it. I, fro- from what I did, I don't, I can't speak for what it's like now. When I was doing it, I feel like he made a big deal about, y'know you- "So it's day three, are you feeling anything yet?"

    4. CWChris Williamson17:34

       Yeah. Yeah.

    5. JWJonny Watson17:35

       Like-

    6. CWChris Williamson17:35

       I feel like, you know, it was like you've done 100 minutes of meditation by the end of Take, of Take 10, you know, that's enough to change your brain and things like that.

    7. JWJonny Watson17:42

       Mm-hmm.

    8. CWChris Williamson17:42

       And I remember thinking, "I must be doing it wrong because I don't feel any changes."

    9. JWJonny Watson17:47

       Mm-hmm.

    10. CWChris Williamson17:47

        I think it, it vastly, a lot of the apps, Calm's the same, so I've tried-

    11. JWJonny Watson17:52

        Mm-hmm.

    12. CWChris Williamson17:52

        ... some of the Calm subscriptions. They vastly underplay the, the time it takes, the investment it takes-

    13. JWJonny Watson18:00

        Yeah.

    14. CWChris Williamson18:00

        ... to actually get to the point where you're like, "Okay-"

    15. JWJonny Watson18:03

        (clears throat) I totally agree.

    16. CWChris Williamson18:03

        "... I can feel some change from meditation." So-

    17. JWJonny Watson18:06

        I totally agree.

    18. CWChris Williamson18:06

        Which I see, I see why they're doing that, like if they just delivered this negative, like, "Guys, buckle down." Because you, you hear- If you don't have an hou- if you don't have an hour to sit down, you can just fuck off.

    19. JWJonny Watson18:14

        (laughs)

    20. CWChris Williamson18:14

        Like unless you've, unless you've got at least 200 hours, like what's the point?

    21. JWJonny Watson18:18

        Yeah.

    22. CWChris Williamson18:18

        You know? Obviously that's not gonna get people to subscribe. You don't buy in. No. And it needs to be inclusive, I guess, as well. It does. Yeah, it does. So, um, another one, Aubrey Marcus has done a fantas- he's the guy that owns On Nit, um, he's done a fantastic course called Release Into Now.... and I think we've all done it. Have you done it, Scott?

    23. YSYusef Smith18:35

        Yeah. I haven't done the full thingy.

    24. CWChris Williamson18:36

        But you've done bits of it.

    25. JWJonny Watson18:37

        I've done bits of it.

    26. CWChris Williamson18:37

        That is- that is, for me-

    27. JWJonny Watson18:39

        Done it the wrong way, basically. (laughs)

    28. CWChris Williamson18:39

        ... if- if you've done... Yeah. (laughs) If you've done a... If you've got yourself into meditation and you've realized that it's for you, or if you're looking for a new guided meditation, I strongly recommend that you buy Release Into Now. Probably the nicest, most complete meditation course that I've ever done. Like, that's not speaking from a massive pool of options.

    29. YSYusef Smith18:58

        And it's in high enough doses as well. It's a 30-minute session or an hour session or whatever, so it's-

    30. JWJonny Watson19:02

        Tha- that's what sta- makes it stand out, I think.
11. 19:20 – 22:50

    Is meditation ‘for everyone’? How to evaluate fit + move beyond the app

    1. JWJonny Watson19:20

       Just to quickly touch on that.

    2. YSYusef Smith19:22

       Mm-hmm.

    3. JWJonny Watson19:22

       You mentioned not everyone is suited to-

    4. CWChris Williamson19:25

       A large minority.

    5. JWJonny Watson19:25

       And I've heard you mention that before as well.

    6. YSYusef Smith19:27

       Yeah.

    7. JWJonny Watson19:28

       What's the... How... I'm sat here, I've never med- meditated before.

    8. YSYusef Smith19:32

       Mm-hmm.

    9. JWJonny Watson19:32

       How might I begin to understand?

    10. YSYusef Smith19:34

        Don't- don't decide straightaway. Some people are, "Oh, that's not for me."

    11. JWJonny Watson19:37

        Right.

    12. YSYusef Smith19:37

        And probably, if they're deciding that early on, it may be that they-

    13. CWChris Williamson19:40

        (laughs) Probably is for you. (laughs)

    14. YSYusef Smith19:41

        ... need to give it a bit of an

    15. (laughs)

    16. JWJonny Watson19:42

        So that- that's what I find so interesting, when people... Like Jordan.

    17. YSYusef Smith19:45

        Mm-hmm.

    18. JWJonny Watson19:45

        You know, how- how do you arrive at that?

    19. YSYusef Smith19:48

        You- you've- you've gotta give it a solid shot. 50, 100 hours before you can really start to-

    20. JWJonny Watson19:52

        (laughs)

    21. YSYusef Smith19:53

        ... to say. And- and actually if you find it really challenging and really unpleasant, that's probably a sign that you shouldn't be doing it.

    22. CWChris Williamson20:00

        Yeah.

    23. JWJonny Watson20:00

        It's the thing to do.

    24. YSYusef Smith20:00

        And if you've- if you're like, "Well, actually I'm- I'm able to do it, but I- I get more out of physical practice or whatever," then you may have a different sticking point, and we move through different sticking points as we evolve. It's not as if we have a static, um, problem.

    25. CWChris Williamson20:14

        Mm-hmm.

    26. JWJonny Watson20:14

        Mm-hmm.

    27. YSYusef Smith20:14

        So right now my sticking point is the body. It's not the mind.

    28. JWJonny Watson20:17

        Mm-hmm.

    29. YSYusef Smith20:17

        But that's just because I've now outweighed my physical/spiritual practices by... I- I've outweighed them with the amount of meditation that I've done.

    30. JWJonny Watson20:26

        Mm-hmm.
12. 22:50 – 26:24

    Unguided meditation tools: Insight Timer + dealing with a noisy mind (and retreat reality)

    1. YSYusef Smith22:50

       I do still use an app for meditation saying that.

    2. CWChris Williamson22:53

       Yeah.

    3. YSYusef Smith22:53

       But the app is- is completely minimal. It's just a black timer. You set the time, you say start or stop.

    4. CWChris Williamson22:58

       That's Insight Timer, right?

    5. JWJonny Watson22:59

       Mm-hmm.

    6. YSYusef Smith22:59

       Insight Timer. Now, I do use a little crutch, which is a... The sound of a wooden clave every five minutes, just to like-

    7. CWChris Williamson23:07

       Oh, okay.

    8. YSYusef Smith23:08

       ... um, mark the time.

    9. JWJonny Watson23:09

       'Cause something I was gonna ask you was someone who... Someone hears that they've done 10 and 10.

    10. YSYusef Smith23:15

        Mm-hmm.

    11. JWJonny Watson23:15

        It's take 10, right?

    12. CWChris Williamson23:16

        I'm not sure.

    13. JWJonny Watson23:17

        Okay. Whatever- whatever it is. You-

    14. YSYusef Smith23:19

        Welcome to take 10.

    15. JWJonny Watson23:20

        To t- (laughs) That sounds about-

    16. YSYusef Smith23:21

        Hands and the arms.

    17. JWJonny Watson23:22

        Legs, even the legs.

    18. YSYusef Smith23:24

        Down to the legs.

    19. CWChris Williamson23:24

        If you've ever heard Andy Puddicombe before, you'll know exactly what we're doing.

    20. JWJonny Watson23:28

        Is there any sounds?

    21. YSYusef Smith23:29

        (laughs)

    22. JWJonny Watson23:31

        Any sensations?

    23. YSYusef Smith23:32

        Sitting by the side of the road, cars going past.

    24. CWChris Williamson23:35

        (laughs)

    25. JWJonny Watson23:36

        (laughs)

    26. YSYusef Smith23:36

        Just blathering.

    27. CWChris Williamson23:37

        Andy, there's a really small chance that you might be listening to this and I'm so sorry if you're-

    28. JWJonny Watson23:43

        And you can open the eyes again.

    29. CWChris Williamson23:44

        (laughs)

    30. JWJonny Watson23:44

        So you (laughs) ... So you've done that. You've listened to Andy say, "You can open the eyes again," and you're-
13. 26:24 – 32:06

    Quantifying calm: Muse EEG headband, bird feedback, and state vs trait change

    1. JWJonny Watson26:24

       Muse.

    2. YSYusef Smith26:25

       (humming)

    3. CWChris Williamson26:25

       Muse. We're going, we're going, we're going deep in meditation, right? So I got a message, I got a message off someone on, uh, Instagram the other day after I uploaded a screenshot from Muse saying, "Can you please tell me about that app that tracks your naps in the middle of the day?"

    4. JWJonny Watson26:39

       (laughs)

    5. CWChris Williamson26:39

       "It looks really good because it's got active, neutral and calm in it."

    6. JWJonny Watson26:43

       Oh.

    7. CWChris Williamson26:44

       (laughs)

    8. JWJonny Watson26:44

       So you're having a, a, a, an active-

    9. CWChris Williamson26:46

       Napitation. (laughs)

    10. JWJonny Watson26:48

        (laughs) Having an active nap. What is that? Is that not just awake?

    11. CWChris Williamson26:50

        I'm not sure. Yeah, it's moving.

    12. JWJonny Watson26:52

        (laughs)

    13. CWChris Williamson26:52

        What's Muse?

    14. JWJonny Watson26:53

        It is a little headband that you wear around your forehead.

    15. CWChris Williamson26:57

        Portable EEG?

    16. JWJonny Watson26:59

        Yep.

    17. CWChris Williamson27:00

        Machine?

    18. JWJonny Watson27:01

        Basically measures your brain activity while you're meditating.

    19. CWChris Williamson27:04

        Mm-hmm.

    20. JWJonny Watson27:04

        And it translates the electrical signal that it picked up into audio in the sound of either like a busy park or a beach. And when you are calm for extended periods of time, it plays the noise of birds. When you are less calm, it get... The weather picks up, it gets more noisy. And basically you meditate through that process.

    21. CWChris Williamson27:28

        Mm-hmm.

    22. JWJonny Watson27:28

        And it then gives you a calm percentage. It's actually really clever how it work. It gives you a score based on how many birds you had, how calm you were, how many recoveries you had. So ...

    23. CWChris Williamson27:37

        It's pretty similar to your sleep cycle.

    24. JWJonny Watson27:38

        ... in a sense brought it back down.

    25. CWChris Williamson27:39

        Yeah.

    26. YSYusef Smith27:39

        Actually, it is. Yeah.

    27. JWJonny Watson27:41

        Um, so for me I'm very numbers driven.

    28. CWChris Williamson27:45

        Yeah.

    29. JWJonny Watson27:45

        Data orientated.

    30. CWChris Williamson27:46

        Mm-hmm.
14. 32:06 – 36:10

    Quickfire hacks: trackpad speed to max + Media Monster for filming sets with music

    1. YSYusef Smith32:06

       Quick round. Is this the quick, simple ones?

    2. CWChris Williamson32:08

       Yeah. Quick, simple ones.

    3. JWJonny Watson32:09

       Quick, simple ones?

    4. CWChris Williamson32:09

       Quick, simple ones.

    5. JWJonny Watson32:10

       (mumbles)

    6. CWChris Williamson32:11

       Let me think about a quick, simple one. (laughs) Are you-

    7. YSYusef Smith32:15

       I've got my quick, simple one ready if you guys need some time?

    8. CWChris Williamson32:17

       Go on then.

    9. JWJonny Watson32:18

       Good.

    10. YSYusef Smith32:18

        So, I stole this from Chris. Chris is probably going to think of this one, so he'll be annoyed now.

    11. CWChris Williamson32:23

        (laughs)

    12. YSYusef Smith32:23

        But this was from the founder of WordPress, Noah whatever. Noah ...

    13. JWJonny Watson32:29

        I told you both this.

    14. YSYusef Smith32:30

        Yeah.

    15. CWChris Williamson32:31

        What is it?

    16. YSYusef Smith32:32

        The-

    17. CWChris Williamson32:32

        Go on.

    18. YSYusef Smith32:32

        So you set your trackpad speed to max-

    19. CWChris Williamson32:34

        Oh, this is such a game changer.

    20. YSYusef Smith32:35

        ... and then, and then you set your mate's trackpad scroll to the opposite.

    21. CWChris Williamson32:40

        (laughs)

    22. YSYusef Smith32:40

        And-

    23. CWChris Williamson32:41

        (laughs) That's, one of those is correct, and the other one is not.

    24. YSYusef Smith32:45

        The other one's just being nasty.

    25. CWChris Williamson32:46

        Yeah.

    26. YSYusef Smith32:47

        Um-

    27. CWChris Williamson32:47

        They did it to me.

    28. YSYusef Smith32:48

        You know, uh, where some people scroll the correct way, where you scroll down (overlapped)

    29. CWChris Williamson32:52

        I thought you were gonna explain the trackpad speed. We're doing the quickfire round.

    30. YSYusef Smith32:55

        (laughs)
15. 36:10 – 39:23

    Final apps and wrap: MyFitnessPal, Waterlogged hydration tracking, and closing banter

    1. CWChris Williamson36:10

       Media Monster. Um, I think my last one is going to be MyFitnessPal. Now, I'm not going to go through everything for MyFitnessPal, 'cause you can use it to track your calories, uh, your callo- caloric intake. You can also do it to track water intake as well.

    2. YSYusef Smith36:23

       Mm.

    3. JWJonny Watson36:23

       Mm-hmm.

    4. CWChris Williamson36:23

       There's even a water button on it. But if you are not prepared-

    5. JWJonny Watson36:26

       Waterlogged. There's a better app for that.

    6. CWChris Williamson36:28

       Waterlogged?

    7. JWJonny Watson36:29

       Waterlogged.

    8. CWChris Williamson36:30

       Is it? That's a really, really, really good name.

    9. JWJonny Watson36:34

       I know.

    10. CWChris Williamson36:35

        Cooll. Fuck, why didn't we think of Waterlogged?

    11. JWJonny Watson36:37

        So, Waterlogged lets you take photos of the water, and then, photos of the like, the, the fluid you're drinking, so if it's a can of Coke.

    12. CWChris Williamson36:43

        Yeah.

    13. JWJonny Watson36:43

        And then you just press that, and it tops up a little human to the amount you, to the t- your target, so the full-

    14. CWChris Williamson36:48

        From a photo?

    15. JWJonny Watson36:49

        Full version. As in, you take a photo, log the quantity-

    16. CWChris Williamson36:53

        Mm-hmm.

    17. JWJonny Watson36:53

        ... so that when you're logging, you just press the photo of the thing that you've had.

    18. CWChris Williamson36:56

        Ah.

    19. JWJonny Watson36:56

        Rather than like, "I've had eight cups of ..."

    20. CWChris Williamson36:59

        That's pretty cool.

    21. JWJonny Watson36:59

        Like how they do in MyFitness Pal.

    22. CWChris Williamson37:00

        Mm-hmm.

    23. JWJonny Watson37:00

        Sorry.

    24. CWChris Williamson37:00

        Uh, MyFitness Pal for, for logging your weight, if you are not prepared to spend £80 on a Withings scale.

    25. JWJonny Watson37:07

        It's-

    26. CWChris Williamson37:08

        For nothing. It's a no-brainer. It's like, honestly. You're n- you're never gonna win that argument. Continue. (laughs)

    27. (laughs)

    28. JWJonny Watson37:14

        (laughs)

    29. CWChris Williamson37:14

        I haven't bought a withing scale. For most of these things, we've all ended up in the same camp now, haven't we?

    30. JWJonny Watson37:19

        (laughs)

Episode duration: 39:24