Modern WisdomNote Apps, Book Summaries & iPhone Tips - Life Hacks 205 | Modern Wisdom Podcast 341
CHAPTERS
- 0:22 – 5:13
Life Hacks kickoff + iPhone Shortcuts: auto Low Power Mode
The episode opens with the Life Hacks format and immediately dives into an iPhone automation that toggles Low Power Mode automatically at a chosen battery percentage. The group riffs on Apple’s Shortcuts app and how tiny automations remove friction from daily phone use.
- •Life Hacks episode premise and rapid-fire tool sharing
- •iPhone Shortcuts automation: enable Low Power Mode at 20% (or any threshold)
- •Where to set it up: Shortcuts app → Automations
- •Shortcuts as a gateway to broader personal automations
- •A quick nod to smart-home voice commands and light controls
- 5:13 – 7:43
“I’m leaving Evernote”: switching to Apple Notes (speed, reliability, quick capture)
Yusef announces he’s officially leaving Evernote for Apple Notes, framing it as a win for speed and stability. They break down why Evernote stopped functioning as an “external brain” and what Apple Notes now does better.
- •Reasons for leaving Evernote: removed command bar + increasing lag/slow mobile app
- •External brain tools must be instant—latency breaks the workflow
- •Apple Notes strengths: fast, stable, robust over time
- •Using Alfred/shortcuts-style access to reach notes from anywhere
- •Upcoming Apple Notes features mentioned: tags + Quick Note
- 7:43 – 11:57
Notion vs Apple Notes + alternatives (Nota, Obsidian, Ulysses, Scrivener)
The conversation broadens from Evernote to the note-taking ecosystem: Notion’s strengths, why offline access matters, and what people should choose based on use case. They also mention writing-focused tools and linking/nesting features people crave.
- •Notion is better as a collaborative workspace than a pure writing app
- •Offline access and data ownership as deciding factors
- •Apple Notes as “default capture” because it’s frictionless
- •Missing features in Apple Notes: nested pages/links and toggles/accordions
- •Alternatives floated: Nota.md (Markdown), Obsidian, Ulysses, Scrivener
- 11:57 – 14:42
Party/social hack: sing Happy Birthday one octave lower
Chris shares a surprisingly practical tip from a speech coach: people start Happy Birthday too high and crash on the later high note. Starting lower gives “headroom” and makes the song less painful for everyone.
- •Most groups start Happy Birthday too high, then fail near the end
- •Start roughly an octave lower to survive the ‘key change’/high section
- •The social dynamics and awkwardness of being sung to
- •Why some people ‘mime’ the hard part and let others carry it
- •Humorous riffing on birthday rituals and cringe tolerance
- 14:42 – 23:55
Blinkist (book summaries) vs full books: when summaries actually help
Jonny revisits Blinkist as a way to fit learning into short daily windows, then gets pushback about depth and bias in summaries. The trio explores when summaries work (sampling) and when they fail (real understanding/behavior change).
- •Blinkist format: ~15-minute audio ‘blinks’ of books
- •Use case: filling small time slots where podcasts/audiobooks don’t fit
- •Critique: summaries reflect what the summarizer thinks is important
- •Summaries as ‘tapas’—a filter to decide which full books deserve time
- •Debate using Essentialism and Digital Minimalism as examples
- 23:55 – 25:39
Birthday benchmarks: age-linked fitness or life targets
Yusef suggests making birthdays a recurring checkpoint by setting a challenge tied to your age. The point is to create a playful annual benchmark that nudges ongoing progress instead of passive aging.
- •Example: bench press bodyweight for reps equal to your age
- •Other options: squat, run/meditate for X minutes, write X pages
- •Framing birthdays as progress markers rather than decline markers
- •Reality check: targets may need adapting over decades
- •Humor about consistency and gym closures affecting the tradition
- 25:39 – 29:36
Cheap fun ‘movement toys’: Aerobie Pro disc, slackline, and throwback games
Chris recommends the Aerobie Pro disc as a low-cost, high-joy outdoor game with an easy learning curve. The group adds other playful gear ideas and talks about how repetition builds surprising skill in niche activities.
- •Aerobie Pro disc: huge fun-to-cost ratio and beginner-friendly
- •Other ‘grab-and-play’ ideas: slacklining, boomerang, Nerf football
- •Why these tools are social: instant games with friends
- •Learning curve comparison: Aerobie vs slackline
- •Jonny’s niche skills: disc throwing, bowling, expert Guitar Hero
- 29:36 – 32:18
VR detour: Oculus/Quest table tennis, hand tracking, and realism creep
A tangent into VR explores table tennis in Oculus/Quest and why it feels unusually real. They discuss emerging features like hand tracking and the unsettling direction of face/eye-tracked digital presence.
- •VR table tennis as one of the most ‘real-feeling’ VR activities
- •Oculus Quest as an accessible entry point vs expensive headsets
- •Hand tracking replacing controllers and why it tricks the brain
- •Future: mapping faces + eye tracking for realistic digital eye contact
- •How VR can cause real-world falls/overreactions (immersion hazards)
- 32:18 – 35:58
Time-capsule journaling: email your future self (FollowUpThen)
Jonny shares a reflective habit: writing an email to yourself and receiving it a year later. The group discusses how it reveals what worries never materialized and how fast priorities shift.
- •Six Minute Diary prompt led to writing a future-self email
- •FollowUpThen service: send to oneyear@followupthen.com
- •Reading your past predictions is equal parts hilarious and grounding
- •Common insight: most worries never happen; many goals get completed
- •Idea extension: longer time horizons (10-year letters, even video messages)
- 35:58 – 38:30
Diet-friendly comfort hacks: stuffing as a low-cal filler + Krispy Kreme logic
Yusef brings two food-related hacks: a surprisingly low-calorie “filler” (stuffing) and a calorie-reality check when choosing doughnuts. The theme is making indulgence more intentional rather than pretend-virtuous.
- •Tesco own-brand stuffing as flavorful, low calorie-density dieting filler
- •Alternative mentioned: Lidl stuffing as a substitute
- •Krispy Kreme decision rule: calories are similar—pick the one you’ll enjoy
- •Avoid ‘fake healthy’ swaps that don’t save much (e.g., sugary drinks)
- •The psychology of portion scarcity: people never feel they got “enough” stuffing
- 38:30 – 40:20
Price arbitrage: YouTube Premium for ~94p/month via Argentina billing
A listener-submitted hack explains how to reduce YouTube Premium’s price dramatically using a VPN and an Argentina billing location. The group jokes about the ethics and practicality while emphasizing the value of Premium itself.
- •YouTube Premium praised for ad-free viewing and convenience
- •Method: VPN to Argentina + billing address workaround + payment card compatibility
- •Claimed price point: ~94p/month
- •Only need VPN for setup once (per the submission)
- •Discussion of whether price is the real barrier to adopting Premium
- 40:20 – 51:56
Training performance: the ‘written warm-up’ checklist (Apple Notes)
Jonny argues the most skipped (and most important) training habit is a consistent warm-up. He shares a simple structure focused on elevating body temperature and uses an Apple Notes checklist to ensure compliance.
- •Warm-ups improve session performance and reduce injury risk
- •Keep it simple: elevate temperature, dynamic prep, minimal fluff
- •Example routine: barbell complex + light foam rolling + leg swings/dynamic work
- •Implementation: Apple Notes checklist to make warm-up automatic
- •Contrast: overly complex warm-ups vs doing nothing at all
- 51:56 – 56:40
Curio: audio-curated articles to break out of echo chambers
Jonny recommends Curio, a subscription service that narrates curated articles from high-quality publications. The discussion highlights curation as the antidote to narrow feeds and the time cost of self-filtering.
- •Curio turns curated long-form articles into narrated audio
- •Sources include: The Economist, Financial Times, and more
- •Fits ‘small windows of time’ similar to the Blinkist use case
- •Value of third-party curation: avoids sampling the ‘wrong’ content and quitting
- •Broader theme: escaping personal echo chambers through curated discovery
- 56:40 – 1:00:53
Reusable lint rollers + neighbor noise + quick home soundproofing ideas
A practical household hack appears: washable, reusable lint rollers (especially for dog owners). The segment drifts into vacuum/hair annoyances, noisy neighbors, and cheap-ish soundproofing or ear-protection solutions.
- •Washable lint rollers: rinse under tap, reuse in seconds
- •Meta-solution: choose non-moulting dog breeds (tradeoff: grooming)
- •Vacuum cleaner hair tangles and why ‘hair removal’ designs matter
- •Neighbor noise stories (alarms, hoovering) impacting podcasting
- •Potential fixes: ceiling soundproofing, earplugs, noise-canceling earbuds
- 1:00:53 – 1:13:47
What they’re watching/reading: Marcella, Time, Mortal Kombat, Knives Out, lucid dreaming
The episode shifts into media recommendations across TV, films, and YouTube. They cover gritty dramas, nostalgic action, a whodunit, and an unusual seminar on lucid dreaming/OBEs.
- •Marcella (ITV): strong start, twists, but later seasons taper
- •Time (BBC iPlayer): intense prison drama with Sean Bean and Stephen Graham
- •Mortal Kombat (2021): nostalgic, high production value, knowingly cheesy
- •Knives Out: modern whodunit with Daniel Craig’s standout performance
- •Michael Raduga ‘The Phase’ seminar: systematic approach to lucid dreaming-like states
- 1:13:47 – 1:23:38
Big-idea rabbit holes: Jed McKenna, AI risk fiction, existential risk & effective altruism
Chris recommends Jed McKenna’s enlightenment trilogy and explains why its anonymity adds credibility. The conversation then expands into AI dramatizations, existential risk, and what makes people devote their lives to high-stakes problems.
- •Jed McKenna books: unusually clear writing; anonymous author; no Audible edition
- •Speech Central tip: convert PDFs to ‘scrubbable’ audio using iPhone voices
- •AI thriller series ‘Next’ and concepts like recursive self-improvement/intelligence explosion
- •How to avoid going nihilistic when thinking about existential risk
- •Effective altruism references (e.g., 80,000 Hours) and the ‘when do you drop everything?’ question
- 1:23:38 – 1:26:05
Wrap-up: Propane Fitness training update + where to find links
They close by plugging Propane Fitness’s updated free training for coaches and pointing listeners to show notes for all tools mentioned. The episode ends with the usual call for audience-submitted hacks and a sign-off.
- •Propane’s free training module updated based on new testing and client results
- •Positioning: helps PTs/coaches transition online and grow revenue
- •Link: propanefitness.com/modernwisdom
- •Show notes contain links/discounts to all hacks discussed
- •Invitation for listeners to submit hacks in comments or via others
