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Life Hacks 110 | Modern Wisdom Podcast 115

Jonny & Yusef join me again for another Life Hacks episode as we detail our favourite apps, websites, resources and tools for a productive and efficient life. Expect to learn... How to make your Instagram stories look beautiful, our choice for the best phone case, how to steal coffee from Costa, why flipflops are needed at every back door, the ultimate upgrade for flossing, the best moisturiser on earth, and much more. This episode is brought to you by Totum Performance, try 7 Days for FREE here - http://bit.ly/Totum7Days Check out everything I recommend from books to products and help support the podcast at no extra cost to you by shopping through this link - https://www.amazon.co.uk/shop/modernwisdom - Extra Stuff: Large Coffee in a Medium Costa Cup [Will Robertson] Scalable Salad - Tabbouleh Salad Mous Phone Case - https://amzn.to/2PeP6HU Schedule Send on Gmail Keep FlipFlops Near The Door Diversify Your Personality With Golf Canva - https://www.canva.com Unfold - https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/unfold-create-stories/id1247275033 Brave Browser - https://brave.com The Ready State - https://thereadystate.com Create groups for people you’re introducing Water Flosser - https://amzn.to/2BEOinU Create A Happiness Buffet Clarins Super Moisture Gel - https://amzn.to/2BEuwsE Apple Health Whoop 3.0 - https://www.talkable.com/x/39aywE Stand Up for phone use 2nd Phone for socials MyFlightDelayed.com Canada & US Visa Polygrip For Toilets - Listen to all episodes online. Search "Modern Wisdom" on any Podcast App or click here: iTunes: https://apple.co/2MNqIgw Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2LSimPn Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/modern-wisdom - Get in touch in the comments below or head to... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx Email: modernwisdompodcast@gmail.com

Chris WilliamsonhostJonnyguestYusefguestGuestguest
Oct 28, 20191h 22mWatch on YouTube ↗

EVERY SPOKEN WORD

  1. 0:001:27

    Cold open banter: life hacks count, coffee “stealing,” and weird physiology questions

    1. CW

      It's life hacks 110?

    2. JO

      All those hacks.

    3. YU

      How many life hacks?

    4. CW

      I've got shit loads, mate. I've got a big, big pot of life hacks. He hasn't even got any life hacks. Mate, you're, you don't even have any. What are you doing? Definitely one of the, the things that makes people weak is a over reliance on any one thing.

    5. YU

      Every time I've got a taxi that isn't Uber, they've been racist and, uh-

    6. CW

      To who? You? If you use one of the self-serve Costa coffee machines you can fit a large coffee into a medium cup then you only get charged for a medium.

    7. YU

      That is stealing.

    8. CW

      It's also shit coffee.

    9. YU

      Can you ejaculate without an erection?

    10. CW

      Anyone who's listening, can you tell us if you've ejaculated without an erection?

    11. YU

      I know someone that, uh, had a poo and came. (laughs)

    12. CW

      (laughs)

    13. YU

      At code on top, top code.

    14. CW

      Thousands of people watching you and you've just m- you've pulled it out the bag. Ladies and gentlemen welcome back. I'm joined by Johnny and Yusuf from propanefitness.com. It's life hacks 110?

    15. JO

      All those hacks.

    16. YU

      How many life hacks?

    17. CW

      I think it's probably about 250.

    18. YU

      50?

    19. CW

      250.

    20. YU

      Yeah.

    21. CW

      25 per episode.

    22. JO

      This is why I don't have any.

    23. CW

      You've run out. Johnny's run out of life hacks to say, but it's okay, it's all right. Me and Yusuf have got loads and you can just-

    24. JO

      I'll just talk about them.

    25. CW

      You're here for the, here for the ride.

    26. YU

      I think we will grease the groove and then Johnny will be like, "Ah, you did 10."

    27. JO

      I'll under pop in the most.

    28. CW

      Uh, so if you're new-

    29. YU

      Let's just hot potato Johnny.

    30. JO

      No.

  2. 1:272:16

    Show format + sponsor: Total Performance training program

    1. CW

      Not yet. Uh, if you're new to life hacks it is our most popular series on modern wisdom, tools, principles, products for a productive and efficient life. And this episode is brought to you by Total Performance. It is an online course which delivers daily workouts and training, functional movements but they're physique focused. I actually filmed the mobility, uh, course for them which was loads of fun. Uh, so you'll be doing functional style movements but with a broey twist which is really what everyone wants to do. So head to totalperformance.co.uk and follow the link, uh, to sign up or you can go to the show notes below and you'll get seven days of programming for free. So you can just go try it out and rinse them for seven days of, of training, get swollen that. On to-

    2. YU

      So Johnny, why don't you start us off? (laughs)

  3. 2:164:28

    Listener-submitted hack: gaming Costa self-serve machines (and the ethics debate)

    1. CW

      Johnny, why don't you start us off? I will do one. This is actually the first life hack that I've featured which has been officially submitted by a listener and it's mint.

    2. JO

      Okay.

    3. CW

      You ready for this?

    4. JO

      I'm ready for this.

    5. CW

      Okay so back to the screen.

    6. YU

      (laughs)

    7. CW

      Will Robertson if you use one of the self-serve Costa coffee machines you can fit a large coffee into a medium cup then you only get charged for a medium.

    8. YU

      That is stealing Will Robertson.

    9. CW

      It's also shit coffee Will Robertson.

    10. YU

      But it's good for the environment because you're using less wasted cup space.

    11. CW

      Hang on don't you go to Costa?

    12. JO

      Yeah but not... What he's talking about is the machines that like you get in petrol stations.

    13. CW

      Okay. Well I mean-

    14. JO

      I think so anyway.

    15. YU

      That's like saying hey look I can get away with stealing a marginal amount of extra fluid in my coffee therefore it's a life hack.

    16. JO

      I can't believe that either is stealing.

    17. YU

      So it you think it's not stealing because you've already paid for-

    18. CW

      Well the charge is for the size of the cup.

    19. JO

      He's using his own cup. He's getting, he's paying for the amount of coffee that there is in the mug.

    20. YU

      The charge is for the size of the cup or for the amount of liquid that you've dispensed?

    21. JO

      Well he's pay-

    22. YU

      It's cheaper if you have your own isn't it?

    23. JO

      But it's a fixed amount of liquid.

    24. CW

      That's not, that's not what he's doing.

    25. JO

      He's not making more liquid come out. Like he is pressing a button and amount of liquids coming out.

    26. YU

      He's pressed the wrong button for the price that he's being...

    27. JO

      Well no he's not.

    28. YU

      That's the same as what you're saying when you're in a Tesco checkout, um, just buy loads of steak but say that it's onions.

    29. JO

      I know someone who used to do that but it's not the same because what he's doing is he's going up to the machine puts his cup under presses medium and then pays. Presses large... Is that right?

    30. CW

      Yeah.

  4. 4:286:13

    Meal prep hack: “scalable salad” tabbouleh + push-chopper shortcut

    1. YU

      So today's life hack was something I made today and it is a scalable salad.

    2. CW

      Oh my God. (laughs)

    3. YU

      Absolutely beautiful. This is so-

    4. CW

      Can you explain what you mean by that?

    5. YU

      Oh man so, so I am totally inept at anything culinary and my beautiful flatmate Mike Randall showed me the way the other day with a, um, he's got a special knife and he just said I was chopping wrong. What this is is tabbouleh which is-

    6. CW

      Bless you.

    7. YU

      ... bulgur wheat, cu- cucumber, pomegranate if you want, um, peppers, parsley, mi- fresh mint, uh, beans, and olives. Chop them all up so just thinly dice them or if you just can't use a knife you can get a push chopper which is like a zigzag blade in a circular thing where you put the vege- vegetables in, you do that a few times the blade comes down and rotates-

    8. CW

      Yep.

    9. YU

      ... and just dices everything for you. Chuck it all in with the bulgur wheat and then you can add some shredded chicken on top, you can put some balsamic dressing. That will create about a kilo of salad for about four or five pounds compared to if you were to buy a salad of that level of quality it would cost you thousands-

    10. CW

      What's it called? Tabbouleh?

    11. JO

      (laughs)

    12. YU

      Tabbouleh. It's a-

    13. CW

      How do you spell that?

    14. YU

      ... Middle Eastern T-A-B-B-E-L-

    15. JO

      Is that a salad or is that the device?

    16. YU

      Oh t- no tabbouleh. Uh-

    17. JO

      Ooh lah.

    18. YU

      Tabbouleh. Um, it's the salad.

    19. CW

      Okay.

    20. YU

      Yeah.

    21. CW

      Okay.

    22. JO

      The... When we were speaking to, um, great-

    23. YU

      From meal prep.

    24. JO

      ... a man today Yusuf said in a normal sentence Baghdad.

    25. GU

      ... but couldn't say Baghdad. He had to say Baktun.

    26. CW

      (laughs)

    27. GU

      (laughs)

  5. 6:139:26

    Durable phone gear: Mous case, magnetic add-ons, and car mounts

    1. JO

      I do have one.

    2. CW

      Ah.

    3. JO

      I have one.

    4. GU

      Yes.

    5. CW

      Knew it.

    6. JO

      Come on then, Johnny. Hit us.

    7. GU

      Oil the pipes. Grease the groove. Pump the-

    8. JO

      Butter the bread.

    9. GU

      Batten the hatches.

    10. JO

      Mous.

    11. GU

      Oh.

    12. CW

      What's that?

    13. JO

      Or mouse.

    14. CW

      How do you spell that?

    15. JO

      It's this phone case. M-O-U-S.

    16. CW

      Okay, yep.

    17. GU

      Do you know what? I was gonna ask you about this earlier today, 'cause it looks hardy. Is it made of fibreglass?

    18. JO

      So if you Google them, they started on a Kickstarter campaign.

    19. GU

      Mm-hmm.

    20. JO

      And they have tested these phone cases, dropping them. They send a drone up, and they release the phone.

    21. CW

      Oh, right. Yeah.

    22. JO

      They hit it with hammers. So it was the second time, dropped my phone, picked it up, fucking hell, 150 quid.

    23. GU

      (gasps)

    24. JO

      So instead of that, bought a new phone. I was like, "I am not cracking..." I mean, famous last words.

    25. GU

      (gasps)

    26. JO

      I've actually had two dreams where I've cracked the screen of this. Um, but yeah, they, it's really nice. Service is really good, and I think everyone'll like them.

    27. CW

      Looks pretty cool, man. The one thing that I am gonna criticise it about-

    28. JO

      It's a bit clunky.

    29. CW

      ... is how in love with the fact that it had a magnetic wallet that could go on the back of it you were.

    30. GU

      (laughs)

  6. 9:2614:11

    Email productivity: Gmail schedule send, undo send, and batching inbox time

    1. GU

      This is a recent, relatively recent one, which is schedule send on Gmail. I don't know if you've seen this. I don't know whether you use web-based Gmail. Anyone who does-

    2. CW

      Don't.

    3. GU

      Um, you'll see now at the bottom, if you go on to, you've written your email out, you go to send, and just next to send there's a little drop down arrow that allows you to schedule it. So you can be working away on a nighttime or in the morning, have emails that you require to arrive with someone, and just schedule them for- Mailbutler slowly getting chipped away by Gmail.

    4. CW

      Yeah.

    5. GU

      I'm noticing a lot of the functions that we were espousing with Mailbutler a few episodes ago are now like just getting integrated by Gmail.

    6. CW

      Eaten up.

    7. GU

      Separate. I also am being... Do you pay for Mailbutler? No. So they're, they are basically pushing me out the app and making me pay.

    8. CW

      Are they?

    9. GU

      Wow. Yeah.

    10. CW

      Have you rang them and said, "Excuse me."

    11. GU

      I'm not, I'm just annoyed about it. It's, it feels very beany to me. There's bean sauce all over it.

    12. CW

      (laughs)

    13. GU

      Do you get what I mean?

    14. CW

      Yeah.

    15. GU

      It doesn't, it keeps fucking crashing. It keep, like when I start an app- You know what I'm really worried about is, 'cause it, I've got a big backlog of... 'Cause it puts them in a separate folder when you've scheduled messages. I'm worried that if one day Mailbutler doesn't launch properly and then it just fires out all of my like scheduled messages.

    16. CW

      (laughs) Oh, you lose them.

    17. GU

      All at once. How many messages have you scheduled? Oh, like loads of snoozed and scheduled and follow-up ones, and, but it's a really intricate, like a house of cards system that I've built.

    18. CW

      (laughs)

    19. GU

      So if one day... This is why you keep needing new devices.

    20. CW

      'Cause I have like-

    21. GU

      You just, it's just clogged. (laughs)

    22. CW

      That's the same reason. That's the exact same reason as to why I'm terrified of moving my reminders from future reminders on Apple over to Things, and fully migrating.

    23. GU

      Ugh.

    24. CW

      Because if Things breaks, I know that Apple Reminders doesn't, and if Things breaks at some point, the entire structure upon which my life is predicated-

    25. GU

      It's horrible, isn't it?

    26. CW

      ... will fall to the ground around me.

    27. GU

      Suddenly you, you send out an email that was scheduled for July that says, "Hey, Kevin, how's the twins? Like, hope you're..." And you're like, "Oh, no, he doesn't have the twins yet." Sickening, like.

    28. CW

      Oh, oh, also I'm gonna put on the end of that as well, schedule send on Gmail is in there, but undo on Gmail is also there.

    29. GU

      Undo send.

    30. JO

      That's another, that's another Mailbutler thing.

  7. 14:1116:57

    Household micro-hacks: back-door sliders, “thong anxiety,” and Iceland cold stories

    1. YU

      This is a triple life hack that all... We found out just before recording that all three of us do.

    2. CW

      Mm-hmm.

    3. YU

      That is, keeping flip-flops next to the back door of the house. So if you need to take the bins out, to pop out, water the plants, whatever it is. We're so, we're so grownup. Um, then, uh, put the-

    4. JO

      Quick release footwear, isn't it?

    5. YU

      Quick release, yeah.

    6. CW

      Mm-hmm.

    7. YU

      I've, I've just... I, I picked the most ridiculous pair of, um, Primark flip-flops that I could find.

    8. CW

      And they're pink.

    9. YU

      They're bright orange. Orangey-pink, and they say, "Why not?" on them.

    10. CW

      (taps flip-flop) Oh.

    11. YU

      And they're just like, you know the, there's no toe hole, it's just like a...

    12. CW

      They're sliders, not flip-flops.

    13. YU

      Sliders.

    14. JO

      Oh, okay.

    15. CW

      Yeah.

    16. JO

      There's no, there's no thong?

    17. YU

      American... Yeah. Australians call them thongs, don't they?

    18. CW

      Yeah.

    19. JO

      With, well, that's the technical terms for those.

    20. CW

      What it, what it is. Yeah, it's that little bit of meat.

    21. JO

      I have thong anxiety. Does anyone else get that?

    22. CW

      I love-

    23. YU

      It's horrible.

    24. CW

      Havana's flip-flops are by far the most comfortable flip-flops on the planet.

    25. JO

      They're the premier league.

    26. CW

      Yeah.

    27. JO

      But I get thong anxiety.

    28. YU

      What is thong anxiety?

    29. JO

      When you are... It only really happens in foreign countries. You're wearing flip-flops 'cause you wear them constantly when it's hot, and you're going down a slight decline. Maybe your feet are a bit wet.

    30. YU

      Oh.

  8. 16:5724:47

    Resilience principle: diversify your personality across domains (don’t build identity on one thing)

    1. JO

      Diversify your personality.

    2. CW

      Well, I mean, uh, uh, you can either elaborate this to be better or worse.

    3. JO

      If you say that like that, it's not awful. Isn't that shit?

    4. YU

      (laughs)

    5. JO

      No, I'll explain what I mean. Have I done this one before? Don't think so. Ringing a bell?

    6. YU

      No.

    7. JO

      You know when you have a bad day?

    8. CW

      Happens all the time, yeah.

    9. JO

      Yeah. Normally it's a bad day in a domain. Right?

    10. YU

      Mm-hmm.

    11. CW

      A bad day at work, a bad day at the gym.

    12. JO

      So, like, people who have... Exactly. So like-

    13. YU

      It's only a really, really bad day if it's, like, pan-domain. (laughs)

    14. JO

      Like, or five.

    15. CW

      Yeah.

    16. JO

      But how, how often... And that has actually happened.

    17. YU

      Oh, God. (laughs)

    18. JO

      The worst things, you have a shit day at work, you go and you can't even, like, you can't even unrack 100 kilos without being, feeling too heavy.

    19. CW

      Mm-hmm.

    20. JO

      You go home, you have an argument with your girlfriend, Netflix won't work, you can't get to sleep.

    21. YU

      You feel so tired you just can't sleep.

    22. CW

      No.

    23. YU

      Um, you... Well, I can't even remember the rest of the words.

    24. JO

      Put... (laughs)

    25. YU

      (laughs)

    26. JO

      But yeah, ha- So it's... I suppose it's an argument to have.

    27. YU

      You love so much but it goes to waste.

    28. JO

      Mo- s- stop, stop.

    29. YU

      Could it be worse?

    30. JO

      (laughs) No... Stop.

  9. 24:4727:48

    Content creation shortcuts: Canva + Unfold (and a brief iPhone upgrade rabbit hole)

    1. CW

      Uh, next up, two apps that will make creating content for social media infinitely easier, Canva and Unfold. So Unfold, I may have mentioned in passing before, uh, but Canva is a, a new one that I've been, uh, sent by Cam, uh, who is the person behind Sonny's website, good, uh, knowledge base for all things to do with online, uh, online content. And he uses Canva, and it is just this huge premade library of templates made by other people, like real bits of content, and they just look like professional flyers-

    2. JO

      Mm-hmm.

    3. CW

      ... uh, or Instagram stories, and you can create whatever s- r- setting you want, so a Facebook cover photo or a Facebook event photo or Instagram 916 or a square or a whatever, like all different... Twitter photos, everything, every different permutation you can think of. And the pro version has some extra features, but you don't need it, so you can get the free version and you can just customize everything. They have all of these really great looking flyers. You see one, you're like, "Fucking hell, that's mint." Then you go onto it and you can edit it, and you can just take someone else's design, rejig it a bit, and then that's your stuff. It's amazing.

    4. JO

      We estimate that we probably saved... It'll be, way into the thousands-

    5. YU

      Oh, easily.

    6. JO

      ... on, like, designers from using Canva.

    7. YU

      If we were to go back and... 'Cause we, we, we get a bit trigger happy with Canva even, but-

    8. CW

      Mm-hmm.

    9. YU

      ... if we were to go back and say, like, price up all of the things we've made with Canva as if it were to be made by a designer.

    10. JO

      Even if it's, like, not quite as good but it, it took you, like, a minute and a half to make.

    11. CW

      Do you do it on mobile or is there a desktop version?

    12. JO

      There's a web app, yeah.

    13. CW

      Is there?

    14. JO

      Web version. Really good.

    15. YU

      Oh, I'd feel sick doing it on mobile.

    16. JO

      (laughs)

    17. YU

      I, I just can't do anything on a mobile. Like, I, I think-

    18. CW

      You do have the smallest iPhone.

    19. JO

      You know who's getting the 11? Do you know about this?

    20. CW

      Me?

    21. YU

      Next week, yeah.

    22. CW

      Amazing.

    23. JO

      Doesn't that... Isn't that... I, like, I'm still, I, I've been thinking about that probably every 30 minutes.

    24. YU

      It'll be a full, full device upgrade, won't it? 'Cause-

    25. JO

      But I, I'm, I'm just amazed that you're not going for, like, the 7D4 or something.

    26. YU

      (laughs)

    27. JO

      You know what I mean? Like, you're going for the-

    28. YU

      I just think it's... I'm due for an upgrade. It's, it's time to-

    29. JO

      You're going for the mainstream, the one that's just been launched.

    30. YU

      It's quite cheap. It's cheaper than the XR.

  10. 27:4831:24

    Browser privacy & Big Tech: Brave vs Chrome, the “creepy line,” and cross-platform trade-offs

    1. YU

      (laughs) Brave browser. Did we discuss this last time?

    2. CW

      No.

    3. YU

      No.

    4. JO

      Bean pie.

    5. YU

      So this is in... I mean it's-

    6. JO

      Bean casserole.

    7. YU

      Bean casserole. This is a, basically Chrome. Now, it's, it's a different browser. I resist the idea of using a new browser because you think like, "Oh, I've got all the favorites and bookmarks set up and, and all the extensions. It's going to be a ball ache to switch over." But Brave is essentially Chrome, plus privacy improvements and speed improvements. So it was seamless. Like, you open it up and it just, it ports everything over from Chrome, but it's just faster, stops all kinds of pop-ups and ads and all that kind of stuff. And it's just quicker. And it looks nicer. It has a really cool logo.

    8. CW

      (laughs)

    9. YU

      So, um, I made the switch. Much more, um, amenable to that than something like Firefox or Opera or-

    10. CW

      Fucking hell. Have you ever gone back and used Firefox or Opera now?

    11. YU

      Ugh.

    12. CW

      Or Windows, uh, Internet Explorer?

    13. YU

      I have to use Windows Explorer in hospital and it is infuriating.

    14. JO

      Fuck me. I just think there's a...

    15. YU

      (laughs)

    16. JO

      What's... So what's the problem with Chrome?

    17. YU

      Chrome... So the interview that Chris did recently with the Facebook mentor, what was his name?

    18. CW

      Roger McNamee.

    19. YU

      Roger McNamee was just saying if you have an Android device or anything Google... He thinks Google is the most insidious company because he says, like, an Android device is effectively a scout data vacuum for just-

    20. JO

      (laughs)

    21. YU

      ... any... And, and it's just totally shameless. It will just take-

    22. CW

      Mm.

    23. YU

      ... anything that you... that is within reach. Even if you're, like, relatives and people who don't even have, like...

    24. CW

      Yeah, he was... He ga- he gave some pretty scary stats about the fact that Google's able... Google and Facebook are able to make profiles about people who don't have accounts. So if multiple people are referencing the same person or trying to tag them or do whatever-

    25. JO

      They cross-reference it.

    26. CW

      ... it will create a profile of this person pending their, like, appearance within the sphere.

    27. JO

      Oh, God.

    28. CW

      Yeah.

    29. JO

      You know they have something... I think it's Google has something called the creepy line. Have you heard about this?

    30. YU

      The creepy line?

  11. 31:2434:40

    Mobility & recovery: The Ready State app, ROMWOD debates, and upcoming guest teases

    1. GU

      I've got one that's, uh, that's really new and I probably don't... This is the same, I feel like I always recommend stuff like this.

    2. CW

      Untested. Um, throw us out, throw us out a 0.5 version. Come on.

    3. GU

      The Ready State.

    4. CW

      Peak state.

    5. GU

      Peak state. So Chris went to America. Chris came back from America and told me to stop doing ROM WOD. Which was a very sad day, but it was Steve McGill, right, saying, "Bendy bendy combined with fatigued-based heavy lifting, bad idea."

    6. CW

      Heavy lifting. I think that-

    7. GU

      But I do it.

    8. CW

      I think that for some types of, uh, physiologies, ROM WOD can create a environment which predisposes you to injury in CrossFit.

    9. GU

      Mm-hmm.

    10. CW

      And I think that myself and you have that particular type of body.

    11. GU

      Yeah.

    12. CW

      So I advised Johnny for a l- for a period to stick to doing some more stiffening of the spine rather than, uh, increasing flexibility in the spine.

    13. GU

      Mm-hmm.

    14. CW

      Um, which you did, but mornings without stretch... Even I now, as someone who is fully dedicated to back rehab and like (sighs) I'd just love to just lie and-

    15. GU

      Just do some ROM WOD.

    16. CW

      ... get that stretch response on the morning, yeah. I miss ROM WOD a lot.

    17. GU

      I think part of what we got from it is the, is the relaxation, the mental benefit, rather than the...

    18. CW

      Focus on the breath.

    19. GU

      You don't, you don't really change anything.

    20. CW

      Yeah.

    21. GU

      Or well, you don't like stand up and think, "Man, I've got so much more range of motion in this joint."

    22. CW

      Mm-hmm.

    23. GU

      You just feel a bit better. Um, Kelly Starrett had the Mobility WOD, launched it like 10 years ago.

    24. CW

      M WOD, yeah.

    25. GU

      M WOD. Been around a long time. It's kind of morphed over the years from being very scatter gun YouTube videos that were all over the place to apps that were trying to program things, but there wasn't really any logic to the programming. I've tried his app several times and left it 'cause it just isn't what you want.

    26. CW

      Mm-hmm.

    27. GU

      He's completely rebranded, I think-

    28. CW

      The Ready State.

    29. GU

      The Ready State. I think his wife is now the CEO and he's basically the talent.

    30. CW

      Got it.

  12. 34:4036:35

    Networking shortcut: introduce people via group chat then exit

    1. CW

      I have got an absolute fucking belter next. Is everyone ready?

    2. GU

      Let's do this.

    3. CW

      Right, so um, this is a tactic which you will both have been subject to. Uh, and it is create group chats for people that you're introducing. So let's say that I need to introduce Youssef to a masseuse. He wants to get a massage from someone that I use. I then, rather than being like, "Here's the thing," or send him an email and then copy them both in, I'll just create a group chat. "Hi, people. Hi, two people. This is this. This is why he's here. Um, I'll leave you two to crack on." Then just immediately exit the group. And it's a really nice way of, within a minute, just condensing down the entire task of whatever it is that you need to do and then you leave those two people to crack on. You've given both of them each other's phone number, so it's not like, "Hang on. Who's this person that's texting me? Oh, it must have been this, this, this." And you... It's j- it's easy. It's seamless.

    4. GU

      For, for extra amusement as well, you can just do it between two random people and just watch them watch the groups.

    5. CW

      And claim that they both have skills that neither of them have.

    6. GU

      (laughs)

    7. CW

      There was something I saw that I think I sent you, a guy that... on Facebook, where he added everybody on Facebook with the same name as him.

    8. GU

      It was all the Addys in this, wasn't it?

    9. CW

      I've been added too. I've been added to-

    10. GU

      Yeah, Chris Williamson group.

    11. CW

      ... a group of Christopher Williamsons, yeah.

    12. GU

      And then like, some... The guy's written like, "Well, well, well. How's everybody doing?" (laughs) And then someone's written like, "Fuck off, you prick," or something like that. (laughs)

    13. CW

      (laughs)

    14. GU

      The first, the first response was just that.

    15. CW

      Brilliant. Wow.

    16. GU

      Um, yeah. It... 'Cause well, I did it recently, I, I tried to include an Alex Williams in a, in a thread-

    17. CW

      (gasps) That's brilliant.

    18. GU

      ... and it was just someone else called Alex Williams. And I, I thought like, "Oh, this is fine." And then Johnny sent me a text later that day-

    19. YU

      ... of just this guy on a beach. Like, "Do you know this man?" I'm like, "No." He was like, "That's who you've added to the, the thread on (laughs)

    20. CW

      It wasn't the person.

    21. JO

      Big, muscular man.

    22. CW

      Was there anything, uh-

    23. YU

      Sen-

    24. CW

      Confidential? Yeah.

    25. JO

      No.

    26. CW

      Oh, okay.

    27. JO

      No data. No personal data.

    28. CW

      Okay, right, Yusuf.

  13. 36:3540:13

    Health & hygiene hacks: water flossers, CRP/inflammation, and PFAS concerns

    1. YU

      I recently bought a water flosser.

    2. CW

      Oh, wow. Okay, so-

    3. YU

      So, so-

    4. CW

      ... this is, we've gone from flossing in the shower-

    5. YU

      Yeah. I've, I've s- I've doubled down on flossing recently.

    6. CW

      Wow, okay.

    7. YU

      I think-

    8. JO

      'Cause of the deflation.

    9. YU

      'Cause of the deflation. It, this was after having a chat with Dean St Maud, who is a man, he's a pharmacolog- pharmacologist?

    10. JO

      He's Irish, muscular-

    11. YU

      Chem-

    12. JO

      ... lean.

    13. YU

      ... chemical-

    14. JO

      Clubber.

    15. YU

      ... pharmacologist man with a PhD. Knows a lot about supplements, drugs, bodybuilding.

    16. CW

      Okay.

    17. YU

      That kind of thing. And he said the highest yield thing you can do to reduce your CRP, which is an indicat- uh, uh, indicator of inflammation, is flossing.

    18. CW

      C-reactive protein.

    19. YU

      Protein, yeah. So I thought-

    20. CW

      That's deflation.

    21. YU

      ... floss, but then you run into the problem of PFAS, P-F-A-S, which is a, some kind of polyfluoro whatever in floss that leaks into your bloodstream. Estrogenic.

    22. CW

      F- fucking hell.

    23. YU

      So-

    24. CW

      You, you and estrogen are just at a, a war.

    25. YU

      (laughs)

    26. CW

      A constant war at the moment.

    27. YU

      I'm running away from estrogen. I'm like the snake eating my tail. So, um, I thought, right, water doesn't have eis- well, it does have estrogen in actually.

    28. CW

      (laughs) Filtered water.

    29. YU

      Filter- yeah. But, um-

    30. JO

      Even that-

  14. 40:1343:38

    Happiness systems: ‘happiness buffet,’ morning comedy instead of news, and getting a dog

    1. JO

      Just goes for ages. Um, so this is from, via Paul Mort, via a book that he read, which I'm not sure what the book is called. (laughs) Um, I think it's called like The Happiness Experiment or something. But it's to create a happiness buffet.

    2. YU

      Equation. Happiness equation.

    3. JO

      May- yeah.

    4. YU

      Yeah.

    5. JO

      Yeah, okay. Um, so, um, basically ...

    6. YU

      My brother's listening to that at the moment.

    7. JO

      Is he really?

    8. YU

      I, I listened to a bit of it in the car. He's on Audible. I was so proud of him.

    9. CW

      That's cool.

    10. JO

      That is cool.

    11. CW

      Okay.

    12. JO

      Um, bas- it's really simple. Basically just make a list of things that make you happy. Sit and consider that. Like, "I am happiness. I am happiness."

    13. YU

      I heard that bit of the book.

    14. JO

      "I am happiest when," and then list those things.

    15. YU

      Mm-hmm.

    16. JO

      And then prioritize them in your schedule. Super fucking simple.

    17. CW

      What would s- what would your things be? What would some things that would appear in your top ten?

    18. JO

      So spending ... it, for me, it's normally spending time with people.

    19. CW

      Okay.

    20. JO

      Almost always. "And funnily enough, even creating the list of things that make you happy-"

    21. YU

      (laughs)

    22. JO

      "... is a happiness inducing task."

    23. CW

      (laughs)

    24. JO

      (laughs)

    25. CW

      Is that the guy?

    26. YU

      Yeah. He's Egyptian.

    27. JO

      Oh, nice. Is he?

    28. CW

      Oh, is he really?

    29. YU

      Yeah.

    30. CW

      Bless you.

  15. 43:3847:46

    Grooming & skincare: moisturizers, skin types, and starting early

    1. CW

      Okay. So, um, I've had this question asked a couple of times, so I'm going to give it out. Uh, the favorite moisturizer that I use is Clarins For Men Super Moisture Gel.

    2. YU

      Ooh.

    3. CW

      So I've used this... It was, like, a housemate that I lived with 10 years ago, Adam, uh, who used it and introduced me to it. And I was like, "Seems to be okay, doesn't make me too greasy. Doesn't do anything else." And I've now used it pretty much non-stop for 10 years. Um...

    4. YU

      What's a bit of your body that you've moisturized in the last 24 hours?

    5. CW

      Face.

    6. YU

      Soft.

    7. CW

      Soft face.

    8. JO

      Thank you.

    9. CW

      What if I said scrotum?

    10. JO

      Do you moisturize any, do you moisturize anywhere else?

    11. CW

      No.

    12. JO

      For the same thing?

    13. CW

      No. So, I don't... I'm not bothered with that. However-

    14. YU

      Don't moisturize your scrotum though. It's rude.

    15. CW

      I remember you need it to be smooth, isn't it?

    16. JO

      Moisten up, yeah.

    17. CW

      Very moist. Uh, one thing I-

    18. JO

      Vinegary.

    19. CW

      One thing that I remember being told-

    20. JO

      Vinegary. (laughs)

    21. CW

      One thing that I remember being told by, uh, a friend who was, uh, studying dermatology at uni, and their argument was the earlier that you start moisturizing, the better.

    22. JO

      Oh.

    23. YU

      Putting money in your pension, isn't it?

    24. CW

      Reversing-

    25. YU

      Compounds.

    26. CW

      Reversing wrinkles is quite difficult, but slowing the onset apparently is quite easy. Any dermatologists or anyone who knows what the fuck they're talking about, please correct me in the comments below. But, um, yeah, I've moisturized for the last 10 years with this same product essentially, uh, and it's all right.

    27. YU

      That's good.

    28. CW

      Managed to shave a couple of months off how old I look.

    29. YU

      The common doctor's recommendation is DIPRA-Base.

    30. CW

      Okay.

  16. 47:4653:05

    Quantified self & physiology: Apple Health dashboards, Whoop data, HRV-breathing link (plus NSFW detour)

    1. YU

      Yeah, it is... It's digital, but I feel very late to this party because I've only really played around properly with Apple Health.

    2. CW

      Okay.

    3. YU

      As of two days ago. Because-

    4. CW

      I've barely used it.

    5. YU

      That's it. I was aware that it, like, it tracks you, your steps and it has all these features, and I was like, "Oh, I don't have any devices that really do that."

    6. CW

      Mm-hmm.

    7. YU

      Then I was like, actually... Chris gave me a Withings watch-

    8. CW

      Mm-hmm.

    9. YU

      ... that syncs with your scales. Or Nokia now, isn't it?

    10. CW

      Mm-hmm.

    11. YU

      Um, so it gives you... You have your daily weight, you have your heart rate from the watch, and you have a step count either from the watch or from your phone.... plus, if you track your meditation, and if you're an avid Lifehack listener, and you've been using Insight Timer to track your total meditation volume, it pulls the data from that as well.

    12. CW

      Mm-hmm.

    13. YU

      So actually now, I've got, on Apple Health, steps, heart rate, m- total meditation time-

    14. CW

      Using sleep cycle?

    15. YU

      Uh, no, but I should do, 'cause I think it-

    16. CW

      So you don't have your, don't have your phone in your room. It's not an, it's not a sacrifice that you want to make.

    17. YU

      Uh, yeah. That's, it's a trade-off, isn't it? I still have my phone in my room just 'cause I, I don't have anywhere else to, to put it. But yeah, that's, that's where-

    18. JO

      That's not true.

    19. YU

      ... Li- Lifehacks.

    20. CW

      You have an entire house, mate.

    21. YU

      Yeah, I need to get-

    22. CW

      I've been there.

    23. YU

      ... an alarm clock. Um-

    24. JO

      Oh, I see.

    25. YU

      But, but yeah. That's-

    26. JO

      So-

    27. YU

      ... that's why.

    28. JO

      ... mindful minutes.

    29. YU

      Mindful minutes. And then if, obviously if you've got, like, a, a Whoop band or a Fitbit

    30. JO

      It, uh, Whoop doesn't time, does it?

  17. 53:0557:25

    Wearables in practice: Whoop 3.0 usefulness, recovery signals, and training constraints

    1. CW

      Right. Jonathan.

    2. JO

      Oh, I'll just say-

    3. YU

      Biting your tongue.

    4. JO

      ... Whoop, then.

    5. CW

      Whoop. Okay.

    6. JO

      Mm-hmm.

    7. CW

      The new Whoop band.

    8. JO

      So this is the Whoop 3.0.

    9. CW

      Okay.

    10. JO

      Um, so I had the 2.0.

    11. CW

      Hated it.

    12. JO

      So my two recommendations for someone thinking about Whoop or ...

    13. CW

      Withings.

    14. YU

      Withing. Fitbit.

    15. JO

      Oura.

    16. CW

      Yeah, Oura.

    17. JO

      The Oura Ring. Now, I don't know that much about the Oura Ring. I think they're pretty similar. I would say it's probably not worth it unless you're doing some kind of cardiovascular output based exercise. So, like, it told me very little on the P- on power, for power lifting. Every session, it considered to be low strain. Because strain, in Whoop terms, is the, the time you spend in different, um, heart rate bands. So, it would only really say something about my HRV. So, like, all these things that are heart rate based I think are good for, if you're a runner, triathlete, if you're doing an Ironman, if you're doing anything endurance based. Obviously CrossFit. Anything where there's a lot of heart rate output. Probably for the other stuff, it's not really that important.

    18. CW

      Mm-hmm.

    19. JO

      Just stick with a Fitbit. But, the 3.0 is better. The strap's better. Um, there's a bit more data on the app. I, I've, I've got over 30 days of data now, so I'm starting to pay more attention to the green and amber readings in the morning.

    20. CW

      Mm-hmm.

    21. JO

      Um, and they're starting to t- they're starting to tie up a lot more with how my session ends up going. Which is really cool.

    22. CW

      So my, my issue, my issue with the WHOOP has always been that whether or not you find out about ... y- you wake up one morning and you're in the red, do you change anything?

    23. JO

      So, I would ... so, uh, twice in the past 10 days, based on my recovery, I've not trained that day.

    24. CW

      Really?

    25. JO

      And then my recovery was up massively the next day.

    26. CW

      Mm-hmm.

    27. JO

      Um-

    28. CW

      See, I, I don't heed the advice of the app-

    29. JO

      You would just train regardless.

    30. CW

      But if it's a training day, my-

  18. 57:251:06:29

    Reducing phone/social media use: stand to scroll, separate devices, and the Light Phone idea

    1. CW

      ... um, set it away and it'll track the route as well, yeah, and tie that in with the heart rate, and, and stuff like that. Uh, so my next one is a strategy for reducing social media or phone use. And it's, you know, I, I need an entire armory filled with these tactics based on, like, my requirement for work. Um, and my most favorite recent hack is standing when I use my phone.

    2. YU

      Mm-hmm.

    3. JO

      Not allowing myself to use my phone when sitting or lying down. And it's that aid o- age-old adage, a body at rest stays at rest, a body in motion stays in motion.

    4. YU

      That is a great tip.

    5. CW

      Good one.

    6. YU

      'Cause then it, it makes you conscious. It stops you just becoming a slug of just, like, bleh.

    7. CW

      Mm-hmm. Yeah.

    8. YU

      And-

    9. CW

      'Cause you don't want stand up. You don't want to stand up for any longer than you have to stand up, and if you're like ... It's the same reason as to why I don't allow my phone to go from my kitchen into my bedroom. So if I want to use my phone, I have to go out of the ...

    10. YU

      So, what's the effect that both of those things ha- has on you? Is, is it that it stops you ... like, is it that you think, like, "Oh, I can't be arsed to stand up so I'm not gonna use my phone?" Or do you stand up and use your phone, but the, the effect is that you just stand up more?

    11. CW

      Uh, so the effect is probably both. I mean, I have to stand up if I want to use my phone, so I am standing up more. But the main thing is it's just increasing friction. It stops mindless, mindless opening of the phone.

    12. YU

      So t- so it does do both, then.

    13. CW

      Yeah.

    14. YU

      You end up standing more and not using your phone more.

    15. CW

      Well, on a, on a standing desk as well. I'm standing a lot more.

    16. JO

      How, how do you, how do you police that, though?

    17. CW

      What do you mean?

    18. JO

      So, like, you're sat down now.

    19. CW

      Yep.

    20. JO

      Or, like-

    21. CW

      Stand-

    22. JO

      ... standard example, you're sat here watching TV.

    23. CW

      Mm-hmm.

    24. JO

      And you, you go to look at your phone.

    25. CW

      Just, uh, put it back down, if I can't be arsed. It's like, am I bothered enough to look at my phone for me stand up?

    26. JO

      So my ... the thing-

    27. CW

      No, I'm not.

    28. JO

      ... the thing for me with my phone-

    29. CW

      Therefore I won't look at it.

    30. JO

      ... when I probably spend time on it, it's when I have time, periods of low willpower. So, like, I'll wake up in the morning. It's 6:30, go downstairs, like, get a drink, about to sit and meditate, go to open InsightTimer, I'm a bit tired, and I find, just find myself on Instagram.

  19. 1:06:291:09:12

    Quick-fire life admin: flight delay compensation, Canada visa gotchas, toilet descaling, cleaners, and wrap-up

    1. GU

      So I had a long, long delay on a flight the other day. It was a 40-hour delay, and-

    2. CW

      A what?

    3. GU

      So the first one-

    4. CW

      When was this?

    5. GU

      Uh, coming back from Croatia.

    6. CW

      From Klema.

    7. GU

      Klema.

    8. CW

      Klema.

    9. GU

      From Klema. And, uh, so it ended up as a huge ball ache, £1,000 out of pocket, and-

    10. CW

      Fuck me.

    11. GU

      ... just generally, like, four-

    12. CW

      1000 pounds?

    13. GU

      1000 out of pocket.

    14. CW

      40 hours?

    15. GU

      And, and, f- yeah, 48 hours total.

    16. YU

      ... total time out of my life, but 40 hours of the- the delay.

    17. GU

      Fuck.

    18. YU

      So I was just, like, very annoyed.

    19. GU

      So the challenge here, Chris, is to spot the-

    20. YU

      The scurvy problem.

    21. GU

      ... the scurvy problem epicenter of this?

    22. YU

      Okay. (laughs)

    23. CW

      Right. I mean, the problem first will have been that he decided to use skyscanner dot, like dot -

    24. YU

      Biz. (laughs)

    25. CW

      ... or something.

    26. YU

      .biz. The, uh, th- I think the, the mistake was using a budget airline. The, just ... it... uh, I think just using easyJet in general was a mistake, 'cause it's alwa- every time I've been on them ... again, maybe I've been unlucky, but they've always just-

    27. CW

      Okay.

    28. YU

      ... been delayed or canceled. But, um, you can go to the airline direct now. The regulations have changed so you ... if you have a delay or a cancellation, you can reclaim expenses as long as they are within reasonable limits and things.

    29. CW

      Mm-hmm.

    30. YU

      Um, the, the online form is annoying, but anyway, you can do that. You can then also try and claim for, um, delay. If they accept responsibility, they will give you €640 per person that was delayed. But it ... although it's scaled down depending on the mileage. If it's rejected but you still feel like you have a case, you can just go to one of these, like ... I think I used, like, myflightdelayed.com or something. They take a 20-30% fee, but it's well worth it, because they just ... they're just solicitors that have got economies of scale. They will just handle all of that stuff and just send you the-

Episode duration: 1:22:29

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