CHAPTERS
- 0:01 – 1:04
Phone notifications, primitive life hacks & birthday-review jokes
The trio banter about how some early “life hacks” (like turning off notifications) now feel basic, and mock how people get yanked around by group chat pings. They also tee up a running joke about using birthdays as a prompt to prune your social circle.
- 1:04 – 6:06
Giveaways, sponsors & last episode’s winning tip (plus: don’t microdose LSD)
Chris announces sponsor details and a giveaway for the Six Minute Diary, including how to enter via iTunes reviews. They also pick a previous winner (Aldi low-fat ready meals) and riff on a suggestion to microdose LSD, strongly discouraging it.
- 6:06 – 10:58
Life hack: Whiten your teeth (what works, what’s BS, and sensitivity fixes)
Chris argues teeth whitening is a high-leverage ‘easy upgrade’ for confidence and appearance, then outlines what actually works. They discuss Crest 3D Whitestrips, why many whitening products are ineffective, and how to manage sensitivity using Sensodyne and a gum shield.
- 10:58 – 17:55
Life hack: Wi‑Fi scales for daily weigh-ins (and the accidental ‘cleaner weight’ data)
Jonny re-pitches Wi‑Fi scales as a way to make daily weighing effortless and trend-based rather than random. The scales auto-log to an app, but the group laughs about unassigned weigh-ins revealing the cleaner’s weight over time.
- 17:55 – 20:07
YouTube workarounds: region-unlock via ‘Upak’ + better long-video management
Jonny shares a region-lock workaround by swapping “tube” with “pak” in the URL, then pivots to managing long content with playlists and a resume/continue-watching approach. They debate whether YouTube’s resume behavior is native or inconsistent enough to warrant extensions.
- 20:07 – 23:55
Ordering on holiday: ask waiters for the most popular dishes (and pick the busiest restaurant)
Chris recommends outsourcing menu choices by asking the waiter what’s most popular, especially in unfamiliar cuisines. He adds a street-level heuristic: when traveling, choose the busiest restaurant to reduce risk and improve freshness/turnover.
- 23:55 – 27:04
Facebook feed control: ‘Why am I seeing this?’ + curating social media exposure
Jonny explains Facebook’s feature that lets you see why you’re shown an ad/post and adjust your preferences, useful for both users and business owners spying on targeting categories. This sparks a broader discussion about algorithmic feeds and the dangers of infinite scroll.
- 27:04 – 29:56
Birthday notifications as relationship triage + curated Twitter as bliss
They return to the birthday-notification idea: use it to decide whether to message, ignore, or remove someone. Chris shares how unfollowing everyone on Twitter and slowly re-adding select accounts dramatically improved his experience.
- 29:56 – 34:22
Messenger without Facebook: messenger.com, WhatsApp Web, and ‘Send vs Receive’
Chris introduces messenger.com as a way to use Facebook Messenger without opening Facebook and getting sucked into the feed. They discuss web vs app reliability, aggregators like Franz, and a principle of minimizing ‘receive’ time to reduce distraction.
- 34:22 – 39:25
Meditation stack: Sam Harris ‘Waking Up’ app + guided-to-unguided hybrid
Jonny recommends the Waking Up app for its progressive structure and short sessions, describing a routine of guided meditation followed by unguided practice. Chris shares a promo code and discusses how structure prevents reinforcing bad habits in meditation.
- 39:25 – 50:05
At-home haircuts debate: marginal gains vs enjoyment (and repeated hacks)
A long, comedic argument erupts over whether home haircuts save enough time/money to justify skipping the salon experience. They tie it to the broader philosophy of marginal gains and whether optimizing everything is desirable—or even realistic.
- 50:05 – 53:46
Property/landlord hack: the ‘plant canary’ to assess tenant care
Chris shares a landlord heuristic: gift tenants a plant and check if it’s cared for as a proxy for how they treat the property. He links it to the famous “no blue M&Ms” rider trick used to verify attention to detail in concert setups.
- 53:46 – 1:02:22
Wearables: new Fitbits, Whoop subscription value, and avoiding smartwatch distractions
Jonny praises newer waterproof Fitbits with heart-rate tracking and better sleep data, comparing them to Whoop. Chris weighs whether Whoop’s monthly cost is worth it, discusses what data he actually uses, and considers alternatives like Garmin without notifications.
- 1:02:22 – 1:06:58
Dental tip: don’t graze sweets—eat sugary foods in one sitting + food/portion tangents
A dentist-sourced tip suggests consuming sweets in one block rather than grazing, to reduce repeated acid attacks on teeth. This spirals into snack talk (Picnic bars), portion-size culture, and US calorie labeling and mega portions.
- 1:06:58 – 1:18:00
Gym & everyday micro-hacks: shaking protein properly, toilet-roll patent, and steel shakers
Chris explains a better protein-shaker motion (rotational/side-to-side) and the universal habit of bracing the lid with your finger. They discuss steel shakers’ durability and cleaning benefits, then detour into the toilet-roll ‘over vs under’ debate via the original patent.
- 1:18:00 – 1:43:18
Solitude & travel etiquette: silent driving, buying phones outright, and a plane-seat truce
Chris advocates driving in silence to reclaim solitude (inspired by Cal Newport’s definition: freedom from other minds’ input). The conversation drifts into travel annoyances, phone contracts vs buying outright, and ends with a story about de-escalating a conflict over reclining on a flight.
