Q&A: Becoming A Dad, Favourite Peptides & Red Rising

1. 0:00 – 3:25

   Has Self-Improvement Gone Too Far?

   1. CWChris Williamson0:00

      Hello, friends. Welcome back to the show. It is another Q&A episode, and as is tradition, I've asked for questions from Twitter, and YouTube community, and Instagram, but I also know that you guys have wanted more Q&As. With that in mind, if you go to chriswillx.com/stories, you can submit any story, question, life hack, problem that you're dealing with, and you can even submit a voicemail, and I am going to use that to speak to guests. I'm actually gonna put some of these stories across to guests. So maybe if you submit some business nightmare that you're going through at the moment, Alex Hormozi will react to it, or Jimmy Carr can roast your most recent horrible first date. Chriswillx.com/stories, that's always gonna be open. But if you dump them in straight away, maybe you'll get to be on one of the first episodes that we do this with. So that's always on. But given that it's a Q&A episode, let's get into it. Bryson Rebels, "Many of us are becoming sick of the self-improvement space. What's your take on this?" Dude, [swoosh sound] I've been feeling this murmuring for a while. I licked my finger and put it in the air, and I felt the winds are changing. I don't know what it's due to. Maybe it's an uncertain future, AI coming to take everybody's jobs, geopolitical uncertainty, but I know exactly what you mean. There is this, like, self-improvement fatigue that a lot of people are dealing with, and also very grind, sloppy content of, "Fuck your feelings, just work harder." A lot of the time that feels like burden, uh, homework, uh, overwhelm, and I think people are... They just need a little bit of a break. One of the reasons that I'm doing more Round Table Episodes and just hangs with the boys is I kind of feel like that sneaks some of the self-improvement desire in, but in a wrapper that doesn't make you feel so much like it's a, a task that you have to complete, like another to-do list. Sometimes you listen to a pod and you're like, "That's so amazing," but you feel guilty because you haven't r- made a Anki flashcards or put a ton of notes down in your Apple Notes for it. And yeah, I... Another interesting insight I learned was that in twenty-twenty, the biggest financial niches were all slow investment, 401k, dollar cost averaging, S&P. And this year, over the last twelve months, the biggest financial niches have all been get rich quick, uh, make money in no time, Kalshi Polymarket, like vibe betting your way to a quick million dollars. And I wonder whether this short-termist change is sort of contributing to this desire to maybe not think so long-termism from a self-improvement standpoint. I don't know, but I, I feel it, and I'm trying to create the balance. The show has always been about helping people to understand themselves and the world around them, but also delivering that in a way that's like, "Oh, I can just sit back and relax." Like the, the episode with Alex Petkas, like two, two and a half hours about The Odyssey is straight fire. Like, you, you don't need to remember anything that he said. You can just sit back and enjoy an amazing retelling of The Odyssey by a guy with a beautiful voice for two and a half hours and be like, "Oh, I don't feel like I wasted my time. I do feel like I learned a lot, but I don't feel now like I'm obliged to go and change my entire life in future." Um, I'm gonna keep on trying to walk that line. I'm glad that you brought it up. I, I think a lot of people... Like even me, like even I'm feeling this way, right? And I'm the tip of the fucking spear of this stuff, so I'm gonna try and help as best I can.

2. 3:25 – 7:30

   How to Know When to Walk Away

   1. CWChris Williamson3:26

      Yanda03x, "How do you know when it's time to break up with your partner? I'm currently in a relationship with someone who has a really good work ethic and is constantly busy chasing his dreams, which kinda leaves me feeling lonely ninety percent of the time. I want to be supportive, but it is hard to be when you are constantly questioning whether your partner still wants this or if he is using busy as an excuse to not spend time with you." [sighs] Well, I'm sorry that you're going through that. I... [sighs] It kind of doesn't matter whether he still wants this or is using busy because either way you still feel lonely ninety percent of the time. I don't think that you should be trying to use your brain to convince your heart, and your gut, and your body, and your emotions that you feel a different way to the way that you feel. So much of relationships, especially uncertainty around leav- leaving relationships, is you trying to convince yourself that not feeling good is okay. Well, look at all of the reasons why I should be okay. He's got a great work ethic. He's chasing his dreams. You know, uh, and yet I feel lonely. Like this presumably is a guy that's reliable and, and, and hardworking and stuff. All of these things are great, but you feel lonely ninety percent of the time. I, I don't know what else to say other than that's not what a s- a happy relationship is supposed to feel like. You're not supposed to feel lonely ninety percent of the time. And you can try and bet on a future where his ambition fuel runs out, but you're basically in love with the potential of someone as opposed to who they actually are if you do that, and I think that's a, a reliable way to be pretty miserable. Like you... Happiness can't exist when you want things to be different, and that means that if you're permanently thinking, "I wish I had more time with him. I wish that he was home more. I'm worried about what the future holds because maybe he's not gonna change, and this is going to be my life for the rest of time." Like, that is not a conducive environment to you being the best partner to him, f- you feeling whole and being able to focus on yourself. If you're pining after this guy who isn't there, that's not the way that you're supposed to feel. Um, I actually have a list of twenty-five questions to work out whether you should break up with someone or not, and that's at chriswillx.com/valentines? /valentine I think. And, um, maybe that'll help. But I can save you the time of having to go and download all of those, although they are great, and just say, if you feel lonely ninety percent of the time, that is not how a relationship is supposed to feel and it shouldn't be your job as someone who's Obviously in this and really trying and wanting to make it work, to convince yourself to feel a way that you don't feel, like you, you simply can't do that. You feel the way that you do. So I think a good piece of advice would be to sit him down and say, "Hey, look, I feel lonely almost all the time, and I understand that you're chasing your dreams at the moment, but your dreams are kind of my nightmare. And if that's the case, you need to choose one or the other. Um, I, I deserve to feel better than this, and if that doesn't work for you, I'm gonna be really sad, but I need to prioritize me." So that's how it is. Like, that is you just drawing an incredibly fair, bright boundary around yourself. And romantic discernment is a kind of preventative healthcare that we should all be undertaking. And at the moment, it seems like you're in a situation that is, is really tough and, um, because you love someone and, and you're gonna be attracted to their ambition as well, that's great, but you shouldn't be feeding on the scraps relationally of what is left over after somebody does something else. And if they say, "Well, you got into this relationship with me and you, you knew what you were getting into. You knew that I was ambitious before we got started." You go, "That's true, but just because I wanted it then doesn't mean that I need to continue putting up with it now." Um, I hope that helps.

3. 7:30 – 11:19

   Recovering From a Ruptured Achilles

   1. CWChris Williamson7:31

      JCass3586, during your Achilles rupture, what was your mental state, and how was your comeback to full duty? Yeah, so for the people that didn't know, I can't... There's no way. I can't. My... I don't have the, I don't have the bendiness to be able to show you my foot, but I, I swear that I fully detached my Achilles playing cricket, which is like the most British way to do it, uh, in the middle of 2020. It sucked, but I have to be honest, doing a probably the single worst physical injury that you can get, like common, moderately common, I think one in 5,000 people has ruptured their Achilles. It's a full 12-month rehab. Doing that during a pandemic is about as good of a time as you can... There's never a good time to rupture your Achilles. However, if you're gonna do it, do it during a pandemic because you don't feel like you're missing out on anything. The world's not moving forward without you. There's no plans that you have to say no to. There's no temptation to do anything other than I'm gonna spend I, I... an hour every single morning. For all the talk, talking about grind slop and like how cringe productivity culture has become now, I had an, a one-hour morning routine that was just rehabbing my Achilles, and the only reason that I have full capacity in my Achilles now, full mobility and full strength, is because I was so diligent with it. So, you know, chalk one up for the fucking autistic productivity bros. That's what I say. That being said, mental state, it was tough because you have to lay up for a long time. There is nothing you can do. You can't speed up the first two to three months of recovery. The worst period was after it had happened and before I had the surgery because you can't put any weight on your leg and you know that you're not even waiting... You're not waiting for the thing to get better. You're waiting for the thing to begin getting better. And it was 13 days from when it ruptured to when I got the, the, the surgery, and by that time, I'm not kidding, my leg had got a third. It, it was two-thirds the size of what it was normally. My quad had completely disintegrated. My lower leg had completely disintegrated because I haven't put any weight on it for all that time. It is mad. You know when you see people in wheelchairs and you go, "Wow, like their legs look so skinny." People that are, are wheelchair-bound. God, their legs look so skinny. Like that's so strange to see someone whose, their legs have atrophied so much. It doesn't ta- It took less than two weeks for me to look down at the difference between my left leg, which was getting a lot of work 'cause I was hopping around everywhere, and my right leg, which was getting zero work and go, "Oh, that's, that is terrifying." It is absolutely unreal. Um, other stuff I did that really helped, I read The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday. I read The Art of Resilience by Russ Edgie, and I watched, uh, Resurfaced, which is an Amazon Prime documentary about Andy Murray's hip replacement. All of these were suggested by friends who'd been through other horrendous injuries and come back from it. You really do need to galvanize like everything, ancestral wisdom, ancestral trauma, pray to G- like whatever you need to because if you've got a 12-month recovery, you know, fucking McGregor, McGregor for him to come back, like he is going to have to be so locked in. Um, it was tough. That being said, I made a special podcast recording setup where my foot was elevated above my heart, and I put the laptop down on my crotch. That... I don't know what episode that is. It was around about the Gad Saad episode in the back end of 2020, and you can see it's like full blowjob angle, just crotch to face, and then the mic arm came in. So I kept going, and I'm really glad that I did, but I don't... I really hope that I don't rupture the other Achilles or this one again. I'd be... That would be, I'd be tres sad.

4. 11:19 – 11:48

   Does This Make You Gay?

   1. CWChris Williamson11:20

      Barrett Wurch, I accidentally looked at a dude's butt today, and I was wondering if I'm gay now. I actually think that that's how they get you. Do you remember in school where you'd say, "Hey, look down here," and you'd actually have your hand like that, and that meant that they could punch you in the arm? I think that this is how people become gay. It's by accidentally looking at another dude's butt. So, uh, yes you are, and Tim Dillon and Douglas Murray are on their way to your house right now. That's what's

5. 11:48 – 13:09

   When is the Next Debate Episode?

   1. CWChris Williamson11:48

      going on. Anonymous12835, are we getting more debate episodes, and what is the next one going to be about? Yes, you are, and the next one is going to be about AI. So it's Zach Kass, who is pro, Liv Boeree, who is, uh, moderately skeptical, and Arik, uh, from 80,000 Hours, who is quite skeptical. And I'm fired up for this. I think Lots of people having lots of conversations about AI. Lots of them seem to be very entry level or incredibly technical, and I'm gonna see if these guys can bridge that gap so that no matter where you're at on the AI pilled understanding debate, you can get, you can get a really good insight in a single episode. So that one's gonna be on. I wanted to do one about geopolitics, a huge one about what's gonna happen with the future of geopolitics. I'm trying to find the right crew to put together for that. Professor Jiang is maybe one. I'd love to bring Preet- Peter Zeihan on. Like, my dream would be Balaji, Zeihan, and Professor Jiang, but Balaji's locked down in Singapore and Zeihan's traveling all summer, so I'm kind of screwed on that. Maybe Eric Weinstein. I don't know. Um, yes, answer is yes. Next one's gonna be about AI, and I'll keep on cranking more

6. 13:09 – 14:35

   Dublin Show Opener

   1. CWChris Williamson13:09

      as I can. Max Forbso, "Is there any opener for your show in Dublin? Got VIP tickets. Can't wait to see the show." Yes, there is. Haven't announced them yet, but there is. And when will I be... I'll be announcing that at some point soon. However, if you wanna come and see me in the UK and Ireland, tickets are available now. They're very limited everywhere. Dublin's sold out, so congratulations, Max, for getting tickets. But chriswilliamson.live, all of the tickets are available on there as they are limited. Edinburgh is October 11th, and then we've got 10 or 12 dates around the UK and Ireland, and I can't wait. I'm so fired up. We sold out everywhere in Australia. The new show, Mostly Wise, fucking rules. I really enjoy it. There's Q&A, there's meet and greet, there's definitely some surprises in there as well. And also, if you've already got tickets to see me live in the UK and Ireland or if you're gonna get them, head to chriswilliamson.live/stories and you can submit either the worst first date you've ever been on, a problem you're dealing with, or a life hack that no one knows about that everybody should, and I'm gonna be choosing some of those and bringing people up on stage to discuss them. Like, why... Like, what is this? Why is it... W- please explain to me what the fuck I just read out from this card in front of me. So chriswilliamson.live/stories, you can pick the date that you're going to submit as much or as little as you want and, um, some of you are gonna be a part of the show when I go on tour. So God help all of the people in Newcastle.

7. 14:35 – 15:11

   Why Chris’ Hair Keeps Changing

   1. CWChris Williamson14:35

      Arthur Gamgi, "Chris, why does your hair keep changing?" [sighs] Reliably hair grows. I have the follicular constitution of a golden doodle, and this is, this, this is what happens. This is what happens. I had long hair at the start of the year. I shaved it off. I've got long hair again. Long for me. Uh, I haven't subjected you to the afro yet. I think that's probably a gift to humanity to not make people look at that. But, um, I only have two hairstyles, very short or curly. That's it.

8. 15:11 – 17:05

   Chris’ Favourite Fiction Books

   1. CWChris Williamson15:12

      Your Poke dad-- Your Poke dad, "Started reading Red Rising after seeing recommendations from multiple sources, yours included. Can you do an episode just on this or does that exist already?" Uh, Red Rising, I think I might be the biggest front end of the funnel drug dealer for people getting into Red Rising, except for the author maybe because it's the top of the reading list, chriswillx.com/books. It's like my... one of my favorite fiction books, if not my favorite fiction series of all time. It absolutely fucking rules. Pierce and me texted a couple of weeks ago. I checked in to see how writing was going, and I think his response was, "Writing a book is like playing golf, except the holes are oases and the clubs are made of adders." I don't even know what that means. I have no idea what that means, but it was very entertaining. So, um, that's the insight from what Pierce Brown's camp has to say. He's gonna come on the show. I'm gonna say it now. Dungeon Crawler Carl is very different to Red Rising, but as compelling and I am so... I'm so addicted to this series. So if you've read Red Rising or you couldn't get into it or whatever and you need a different fantasy series, Dungeon Crawler Carl will rip your face off. It is-- It should come with a warning label. It is so fucking good and Matt Dinman who writes Dungeon Crawler Carl is also gonna come on the show. We've been in touch. So yeah, you're gonna see some more fiction writers. My dream, my absolute dream roundtable would be Brandon Sanderson, Matt Dinman and Pierce Brown. I think... Oh my god. Or Patrick Rothfuss, I get. Like, that shit gets me hard to think about those three men in a... Maybe, maybe I looked at a guy's butt today. I don't know. Anyway, um, there might be a Red Rising episode coming out soon. It'll probably be with Pierce Brown, but he has to write Red God first. Hold on tight.

9. 17:05 – 19:46

   Beliefs That Once Protected But Now Confine

   1. CWChris Williamson17:06

      Kurt Moon6456, "What belief once protected you but now confines you?" Fuck me. That's a good question. What belief once protected you but now confines you? Something like err on the side of caution. I think for a long time I highly scrutinized every decision and what that, what that resulted in was me very rarely making mistakes. Businesses moved more slowly. I didn't-- I wasn't rash with life changes and that was great, especially when I'm young because it avoided me making any silly mistakes when I maybe didn't have the ballast to be able to ride it out. Um, it's interesting because people say that you can take more risk when you're younger, but you can actually withstand more risk when you're older. Like you've got more resources, more support, more experience, better contacts. Uh- I think that that's one, that's one that comes to mind. Uh, certainly a belief that protected me for a long time. Err on the side of caution. Don't move too quickly. Don't be rash. Ensure that you understand the full ledger balance sheet of decisions before you go for it. But I read this line from Sasha Chapin earlier on today, and he talks about how it's an intolerance for risk, and what people call planning a lot of the time is just catastrophe fantasization. Like, it's the publicly acceptable version of anxiety where, where if I plan enough for this thing, I'll understand exactly how this situation could unfold. Very careful, I make sure that I've got all of my ducks in a row and, you know, boots are laced well, and you-- At some point that just becomes a protection mechanism from never taking on any risk. So yeah, I'm trying to move with more gut than head now, and that's probably gonna result in me making more mistakes, especially given that I haven't been using my gut for a long time. But my gut is telling me to follow my gut, and I'm gonna, I'm gonna try and do that a little bit more. That's a fucking awesome... Do you guys-- I actually think, unfortunately, I think question of the day so far has been, "I accidentally looked at a dude's butt. Does that make me gay now?" But that's a close second, KurtMoon6456.

10. 19:46 – 24:55

    Chris’ Health Update

    1. CWChris Williamson19:46

       Constructor5008, "How are your Lyme and mold problems going? Did the treatments work well? What, what, what was worth it to do? What was, what was worth it to do?" Um, yeah, dude, I'm still on the other side of a lot of that stuff. It's still very much in the system. Uh, I think it's mostly the mold now, but it is a fucking bastard to try and get rid of. You're just-- You're taking binders from living in a house that has toxic mold. And the treatments that work the most, hemo-hyperoxygenation, which I put in the second health vlog that many of you might have watched, that was me being held at 104 degrees, which is like forty, forty point one or something like that, forty point five degrees Celsius. My body was held in a forced fever for four hours, and your blood's being filtered and loads of other stuff's going on. That really felt like a step change. But to be honest, there's no such thing as a acute solution to a chronic problem, and this goes for almost everybody that's dealing with chronic complex illness stuff. It is slow detox over time. It's hundreds and hundreds of saunas using binders. It's HBOT sessions. It's morning walks. It's getting enough sleep, and it's just like putting pennies in the jar over and over. Um, I'm still not 100%, and I haven't, I haven't made a big song and dance about it on the show or really publicly at all because I kind of got... I kind of started to feel a bit embarrassed or maybe worried or ashamed about being the guy, the guy that's always got a health problem going on and is always whining, always complaining about it and like that... I don't know. I just don't wanna be a shit hang, especially for you guys. You know, you give me your time and, and the guest comes through and they wanna spend time with me or... I don't wanna be there going, "Ugh, I slept for nine hours last night and I woke up feeling more tired than when I went to bed." Or, "I, I have no idea what's going on, but my brain is forgetting the thing that I thought three seconds ago permanently, and it's been like that for the last two weeks and I don't know what, I don't know what has triggered that to happen." Or like my-- Regardless of what I do, my mood just doesn't want to improve at the moment. Like who the fuck wants to listen to that? And maybe you guys do, I don't know. But I, I've kind of kept myself... I've kept that to myself. I've kept myself quiet, um, just because, yeah, I got, I got... It felt silly. It felt silly to-- I didn't want to be the guy that was always saying that, that was always asking for... It felt like asking for attention or making this my entire fucking personality. I'd like to think that I'm more than just a guy who is tired and sad and forgetful a lot. Uh, but that's still a big part of my life. It's as big a part of my life as the podcast is. Running Modern Wisdom is a full-time job, and fixing my health is a full-time job too. And a lot of what people who are dealing with complex health issues go through is something that feels like their light's been taken away from them, like they're spending all of their time getting ready to live as opposed to doing the job of living. It's just not that fun to listen to, so I've kept it to myself, but I'm still in it. And for the people who are dealing with tinnitus or POTS or dysautonomia or autoimmune, mold, Lyme, EBV, CMV, you know, whatever it is that you're going through, like I'm fucking still a part of the club even if I'm not whining about it all the time. And this is a problem everybody deals with. Like how much am I supposed to ask for help from my friends and, and, and talk about it publicly, and how much is it just me indulging in being a martyr or a victim? And nobody wants to be the latter. So anyway, I'm still in it. I'm pushing through. Hopefully, this will be some glorious story that I tell about this difficult thing I came over, overcame in a combination of private and public. But right now I'm still in the trenches. Did you know your gut controls your energy, your recovery, how well you absorb everything that you eat, and the one nutrient that keeps it all running properly is fiber? Well, it turns out that 95% of Americans don't get enough of it, which is why I'm such a huge fan of- Of Momentous Fiber+. Most fiber supplements are a one-trick pony, one type of fiber solving one part of the problem. Fiber+ is a three-in-one formula built to tackle digestion, gut barrier strength, and blood sugar stability all at once. I use this every single day. It is kinda hard to get enough fiber just through food alone. 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11. 24:55 – 27:40

    Why We Ask For Advice

    1. CWChris Williamson24:55

       at checkout. Ka Saluja, "Why do I feel the need to ask for others' advice before making decisions?" Because you don't trust yourself. You feel like you need the legitimacy of somebody else to tell you that what you're thinking about doing is okay or not okay. So it's a lack of self-assurance. It's a need to be legitimized by other people to outsource a sense of decision-making, and it's common. It... This is not something that you should be ashamed of. I think lots of people have an intuition that they just need to bounce it off, need it to, to bounce it off somebody else. My last business, when I was running nightclubs before, so much of what mine and my business partner's role was to just be a sounding board so that when we say the thing that we think we should be doing, they go, "Yeah, of course." "Hey, man, I'm, I'm thinking about w- this is a, a new piece of copy that I'm thinking of doing. Is this... Am I being a dickhead or is this good?" "Oh, no, of course it's good. Yeah, yeah, that's great." "Oh, yeah, I, I knew it was. Thank you." And then you go about the thing, and then vice versa. Sometimes he would come to me and be, "Ah, dude, I... We've got this problem with the pricing and we need to make this amendment on the, on the accounts. What do you think about if we change the way that the early bird structure..." "Uh, actually, I don't think, I don't think that's gonna work." "I-- yeah, I fucking knew it." It's so much of it is just needing to hear somebody else give us a, the, an alter perspective, an ulterior perspective on the thought that we're having. And a lot of the time, it gives us permission to confirm the thing that we felt already. But ultimately, your decisions are gonna come into contact with the real world. I don't think that you should feel too much guilt for asking a trusted part of the real world for some feedback before you commit to doing whatever that is. Very rarely I get the sense we would have been making deci- decisions in isolation. Like you weren't going to leave your tribe thirty thousand years ago just off on a whim. You would go with a huge group of fifteen or thirty other people from one pod and leave the hundred and fifty Dunbar number tribe. But you would ask a lot of other people before you did that. "You all right? Okay, I'm gonna make this de- I'm gonna leave and be a, a fucking solo saxophone player on the other, in the other valley." It's not gonna happen, so be gentle with yourself. Um, I think if you can try and make small decisions without asking for other people's advice, that's a nice way to do a bit of exposure therapy. And yeah, that would be, that would be a, a way to get yourself more used to using your gut as opposed to your

12. 27:40 – 28:33

    Will the Shadow Force Episode Drop?

    1. CWChris Williamson27:40

       head. Paintitred84, "Quis, where is my Shadow Force episode?" [chuckles] Uh, okay. So for the people that don't watch Shorts, I've been putting out these clips with a guy called Doug Baldwin, who plays Night Wolf Hawk as his character, who is a part of Shadow Force, this imaginary American, but looks Japanese secret spy, super spy agency. And we filmed a couple of months ago, and we've been bleeding these clips, which are in the studio on the podcast. There is a full episode, but it was... Shadow Force stepped in and said that it needed to be redacted, so we've been forced to only put it out in short clips, and I apologize, but I'm not going head to head with Shadow Force, and if you're brave enough to try and publish the full video on the internet, you're a better man than me.

13. 28:33 – 32:00

    How to Navigate Conflicting Advice

    1. CWChris Williamson28:33

       RBA0115, "Congratulations on the continued success. Your podcast is incredibly valuable and important. Hope to continue seeing you enjoying the work you do." Thank you. "Question for you. I've heard that the bar is so low that all you have to do now is take care of yourself, have a job, and you'll be a catch, and also heard men are expected to have it all together, be extremely emotionally intelligent, make a high income, be a provider, and as per the research, be tall. So which do you think it is? When navigating the world, there is so much conflicting information out there, it feels like even if you do some things well, it's not enough. I appreciate everything you do." Yeah. I get the sense that this is the real world versus what you hear on the internet. Do women want a man who has it all together, is emotionally intelligent, makes an income or enough of an income to be a provider, and is not super short? Yes. On average, all of these things, true. That being said, you have to remember the average American adult is obese, divorced, and has less than one K in the bank. So the bar can be low and the internet can tell you that it's insanely high. If you go out and spend any appreciable amount of time with women, I don't think that they're going to have this list of insane laundry list items. And if that woman does have it, that is a massive mark that she's not the sort of person that you want to be dating in any case. So I get the sense the bar is incredibly low when you reach the real world. When you're taking the top one percent filtering of who are the biggest influencers on Instagram and Twitter and YouTube, yes, it may seem like the odds are stacked against you, but Really, the competition is incredibly, incredibly flimsy and that's not a reason... It's not like look at how shit everybody else is, you can just mail it in too. But if you're doing a lot of the work that you think you're supposed to, given the fact that you're, what, half an hour into a Q&A on this podcast, uh, something tells me that you're quite diligent in thinking about yourself in a, a careful way and trying to improve and tell the truth and, you know. That you are in such a fucking rarefied strata. Everybody that is working on themselves, trying to tap into their emotions, trying to be honest and virtuous and improve themselves and the world around them, like that is so rare. It is so rarefied to have people that do that. And then you look at there's this huge list of things that everybody needs and I'm worried that I don't have them without realizing that if people were to look at you, you would be one of the people they would consider as being in that bucket. So yes, the bar is low. Also, the internet has some deranged ideas about just how high the bar can be. Also, the sort of people who have those internet beliefs and take them into the real world are kind of doomed to be forever miserable. So if you do meet somebody and you as a person who has a lot of it together feels like, "I don't feel like I'm enough with this person despite I think I am enough," you don't wanna be in a relationship with them anyway. Like just because someone's got insanely high standards doesn't mean that they're a catch. Sometimes it can just mean that they don't understand their own value and they're trying to sell a shit sandwich for the price of a McLaren. I think you'll be fine. Just spend as much time in the real world, especially when it comes to dating, as possible and most of the insanity kind of just dissolves.

14. 32:00 – 36:04

    What It’s Like to Become a Man of Feelings

    1. CWChris Williamson32:01

       Intimi... Fuck me. Intimitana Revenue. Intimitana Revenue. Fuck. Your transformation from super cool macho grinding hustler into a man who has feelings and tries to live as a human being is great to watch. Thank you. What is the best thing you gain from it? What is the worst, hardest, most painful one? My name is Charlie Greenberg to make it easy for you to read my name. Thanks for bearing that at the bottom, Charlie. Thanks for your work and showing up every week. Okay. What is the best thing that you gain from becoming a man who has feelings and what are the worst, hardest and most painful ones? Well, the best thing that you gain from it is that you're actually connected to your life. You feel when things happen. Successes feel real to you and that's beautiful as opposed to always looking over the shoulder of whatever you've just succeeded in accomplishing, waiting to see what comes next. It's no surprise that a lot of the guys and girls that pray at the altar of fuck your feelings just work harder also are surprised when they achieve but they don't feel. You're seeing cause and effect happen there. You're denying yourself connection with your emotions and then when emotions are supposed to come along and they don't, you complain about it or you feel insufficient because of it. The best thing is that you're connected to your successes. The worst thing is that there's nowhere to run from your failures because when something goes wrong it re- it actually hurts. You, you're unable to detach in a way that sometimes might actually be healthy and a lot of the time I think people that are the most successful have become successful because they've learned to detach themselves from pain and that detachment from pain means that they can continue to push themselves. It also means that they don't get to celebrate when they win and it's kind of a, it's a question that you can ask yourself, is it worth not feeling my successes if I don't feel my pains? And maybe if you were being very transactional you could say, "Well, it depends on how many failures and how many successes you're gonna have in your life." In a life where you've got more failures than successes maybe you should be detached and in a life where you've got more successes than failures maybe you should be connected. But yeah, Chris Bumstead a couple of years ago when I had him on the show has this line about you have to feel the bad and the good, you don't just get to pick one and I think that that's true with this too. Um, super cool macho grinding hustler, definitely an archetype that I aspired to for a long time and I still do but I wanna be able to turn it on and I'm still so fucking sure that this is the way to do things. I'm-- I might look back and regret opening up the like chasm below my neck so that I can feel stuff. It's definitely made so many things harder. Like when I was away on meditation retreat it would have been significantly easier if I'd just turned up and done the transactional thing as opposed to like having all of this stuff come up as you're sat silently with your thoughts for six or eight hours a day. But it also really makes you feel alive and I think a lot of the time people walk through life existing but not feeling like they're actually living. That sounds trite but I think you know what I mean which is you sort of float through your day. You're like a ghost inside of your own life. Stuff happens and maybe it's good or maybe it's bad but it doesn't, it doesn't feel like it's in three dimensions and it doesn't come into contact with you and I really do not want that to be the way that I live my life for better or for worse. So yeah, you feel your successes and it's beautiful and you feel your failures and your pains and it's agonizing and it's cool. It's different. It's what, it's what feeling alive is supposed to feel like I think so I'm gonna keep going.

15. 36:04 – 41:17

    Why It’s Painful When the World Can’t Keep Up

    1. CWChris Williamson36:05

       Ella Lindsay nine seven two. Advice for the period when you've done so much inner work but your outer world has yet to catch up. The mismatch is painful. Yeah, uh, this kind of lonely chapter stuff, the monk mode latent leverage thing where you can imagine sort of pulling back on a slingshot, pulling back and pulling back and pulling back and pulling back and eventually when it gets let go it's got enough momentum to catapult you forward. The reason that it's painful is that you're constantly looking to the outer world for reassurance that the work you're doing is worth it, 'cause the work is hard, and you want the outer world to go, "Yes, good job. Keep going." You know, pat on the back. There's some encouragement. You're moving in the right direction. If the outer world feels indifferent to your inner work, you go, "Well, maybe this is fucking stupid. Maybe I'm making myself worse," 'cause things are harder than they were in the past. I used to be in congruence. I used to be aligned previously, even if now I feel like I'm better at what I do, I'm a more virtuous person, I'm a more capable person, but I've got all these doubts in my mind because I've had to change myself from what I was to who I am, and in that change, you lose your congruence, right? When you think about what you think, feel, and do, right? What your mind, your heart, and your reality kind of come into confluence with, uh, if those things are aligned, regardless of whether you're a good person or a bad person, everybody in the world seems to love you, right? Uh, Donald Trump, Andrew Tate, doesn't matter what you think about those guys, they are high congruence people. There is no bit of fucking doubt, right? Their actions, their thoughts, everything is in alignment. And as you start to make change, inevitably you are changing, which means that you're uncertain, which means you have no idea if this is going to work. Uh, advice for the period when you're doing it, for want of a better term, I think you need faith. It's great if you can find a way to make external some of the stuff that you're doing internally. So let's say that you're doing a sobriety stint and you're not gonna drink for six months because you... That's gonna be the foundation that's gonna allow you to have a bunch of other, uh, good habits. If you hit that six-month mark, you should celebrate it. You should go out with friends and have a dinner, probably not get super pissed. But that would be a good way to have the outer world catch up to some of the inner work. Uh, same thing goes for accomplishing milestones professionally or, uh, in some art form that you're pursuing. You finally recorded a song or published your first Substack post. I don't think... If we think that celebration is gratitude in action, having other people around you that you can celebrate with is a really great way to try and make inner stuff feel more real in the outer world. Uh, the mismatch is painful, I understand, and I'm sorry that you're going through it. But to be honest, this is the reason that it's glorious. If there wasn't uncertainty and self-doubt and challenge, why would it be that grand of an accomplishment in any case? This is precisely one of the reasons why people stop doing the work because they go, "Oh, well, it, it just seems to... No one cares in any case. It's not made my life a better place in any case, so I might as well just quit." And you could say it's survivorship bias. I'm more inclined to say that it's just the entry price that you need to pay to go from where you are to where you want to be. And eventually, when you get there, you get to look back on this amazing journey full of all of the self-doubt and the uncertainty and this little whisper in the back of your mind that kept on saying, "No, I, I think that this is right. I think I'm moving in the right direction, and I'm gonna say fuck you to all of the things that keep on making me feel uncertain about it." Yeah. I'm sorry that achieving your dreams wasn't quick, easy, and stress-free. Alex Hormozi. This episode is brought to you by Gymshark. If you're going to spend an hour in the gym, you might as well look hot and feel comfortable while you're doing it. Gymshark makes the best men's and women's training gear on the planet. And here is something I realized a few years into training. When you actually like what you're wearing in the gym, you show up differently. You train harder, you stay longer, you get way more high fives. Their hybrid shorts are unreal. They're the perfect length, they're super lightweight, they're easy to wash and dry, and their sleeveless T-shirts are basically what I've trained in every day for a year now. They're the ideal fit, they're breathable, and they hold their shape perfectly, so no more looking like Adam Sandler's your stylist. Basically, everything they sell is unbelievable, well-designed, high quality, and you get 30-day free returns globally with global shipping, plus a 10% discount sitewide. Right now, you can get 10% off everything by going to the link in the description below or heading to gym.sh/modernwisdom and using the code MODERNWISDOM10 at checkout. That's gym.sh/modernwisdom and MODERNWISDOM10 at checkout.

16. 41:17 – 42:30

    What is Chris’ Favourite Animal?

    1. CWChris Williamson41:17

       Ouroboros9218: "Hi, Chris. What is your favorite animal? Mine is an otter because they are so cute and are good swimmers." Fuck it, that is the question of... That's the question of the day. Unbelievable by Ouroboros. "What is your favorite animal? Mine is the otter because they are so cute and are good swimmers." That is the most adorable question that I've read all week. And what is my favorite animal? I mean, otters are pretty cool. I'll take your otter and raise you a platypus because platypuses are like freak alien otters. Also cute, but have weird venom. I'm pretty sure they're halfway between a mammal and, like, a bird als- or a, or a reptile. They also lay eggs, but they're kind of mammaly as well. Uh, I'm gonna do, I'm gonna do an entire breakdown about what platypuses are. Today it's platypus, but realistically it's a golden retriever, which by the way is not a dog. That's a different... Golden retrievers are their own animal. There are dogs and there are golden retrievers, and a golden retriever is not a dog. They're separate. Uh, in the same way as an otter is kind of like a platypus but not, golden retriever is kind of like a dog but also not. So if I could breed a platypus with a golden retriever, that would be, whatever that freak animal is, that's what it would be.

17. 42:30 – 48:13

    How to Actually Do the Thing

    1. CWChris Williamson42:31

       Griff Anne: "How do you get over constantly thinking about starting things but never actually doing them? Sheer willpower never seems to work, and I feel when I think about starting something new, project, hobby, business, et cetera, I get the satisfaction about doing it by just thinking about how life would be and the benefits from it rather than actually taking action, which usually leads to never starting." Yeah Talking about the thing and doing the thing vie for the same resources. Allocate yours appropriately. It is very, very perilous because you, neurologically, you literally get the same little kicks. You get a titrated version, a, a, a tuned down version of the dopamine and the reward that you would get from doing the thing by talking about it and thinking it and planning it. It's that big fucking list of, like, talking about the thing is not doing the thing, making time to do the thing isn't doing the thing, writing a banger tweet about how you're going to do the thing. Think about all of the adoration, fantasizing isn't doing the thing. The reason that that essay hits home is that it's all of the obstacles that people put in the way of themselves just sinking in and doing the work. It is significantly easier and safer, safer existentially because you don't have to face failure. There's no such thing as failure in planning, but there is. If you plan for so long that you never get around to doing it, you fail by default. So you've inoculated yourself from failure publicly by assuring your failure privately, but you're not gonna be judged for it. Uh, how do you get over constantly thinking about starting things but never actually doing them? There's a few. Uh, a commitment device would be one way to do this. So a group chat with a bunch of friends working out what small steps would be to starting something and every single day having a habit group. If you get a dollar or a p- it needs to be a note, so whatever the lowest denomination note in your country is, and if you tear up $1 and throw it in the bin for every day that you don't do the thing that you said that you were going to do, especially if you've got a, a habit group with other people and you're just ranking, "Okay, how many days out of this month did I do it versus them?" That reliably has... That... I mean, that's gotten people off cocaine. That $1 thing has got... So what's that? $30 a month has gotten people off of $1,000 per month cocaine addictions because the social shame is so high, and the fact that you can... The, uh, Uber Black XL version of this is to video yourself tearing up the dollar bill and throwing it in the trash. That is a good way to use supportive but social pressure to keep yourself going. Also, what is it that you're trying to do? Can you iterate on it a little bit? Like, I wanna become a writer. I wanna write a book. Okay, before writing the book, why don't we try and publish, uh, one Substack post or two Substack posts a week for four weeks? Let's see if we can do that. What's the smallest version of something you can do? Project, hobby, business you're talking about here. Like, you need someone... If it was me, I respond really well to social pressure. I would just get someone to do it with me. You wanna go to the gym. Okay, have a training partner. Training partner's free. It's literally free, but it is one of the best commitment devices you can ever have. Coworking with someone for whatever your new business or project is, they can sit next to you and you only need... You're already doing nothing, right? So the bar of doing something is zero. It is as low as it could be because you're never actually doing them. So there is no such thing as starting too small, and everybody has this, "Oh, fucking 30 pushups a day. What's that gonna do?" It's like, well, it's 30 more than you're doing now, dude. And by facing up to how small the first step is, a lot of the time you feel kind of shame. Oh, look at how feeble, look at how silly and weak I've become that this is to be considered an achievement. It's like you're in a situation where that should be considered an achievement if you're never actually doing anything. Sheer willpower can work. I mean, if you wanna Lone Ranger it, if you're like, "I've got no one around me," or, "What it is that I want to do, I can't find someone else to do it with me," you can do the habit group. You can usually get people involved. If for some reason that's unavailable, there's a pain-pleasure principle that you can use from Tony Robbins, which is really great. Think about what not doing this, not committing to these projects has cost you in the past, is costing you now, and will cost you in the future. How much life have you missed? How much progress have you missed? How much shame have you got around not doing it? How much wasted time do you spend every single day not continuing to do it? And how poor will your future be when you think about not starting anything, and how much less development and success and fulfillment and connection to your life you're going to have if you don't? And then think about the opposite. Think about past, present, and future pleasure. Just how proud of yourself would you be if you could do this? Just how much more connected to your life would you be? And try and bring that... You want to feel the pain as viscerally as possible, then you want to feel the pleasure as viscerally as possible. You can just write it down, like past, present, future, five minutes, 10 minutes, what's it cost you? And then the same for the pleasure thing. Uh, that has convinced me to make an awful lot of very difficult decisions, and rereading that every morning is a good way to do it. But my social pressure thing, I think, is, is number one.

18. 48:13 – 54:57

    Coming to Term With Health Struggles

    1. CWChris Williamson48:14

       Lifting, food, fun. How have you come to terms with having health struggles so young despite living well? [sighs] Yeah. Yeah, it feels, uh... It feels karmically very unfair. It feels like some cosmic kick in the nuts by the universe, but the, the, the nut kick was meant for someone else. Like, I, I, I don't feel like I deserve it, and I'm sure that everybody feels this way. Like, even a serial killer that gets fucking cancer probably feels this way. But not smoking, not partying for over a decade basically spending an awful lot of time like really trying to be a good person and make the world a better place and, and commit to projects that I think are like really valuable and that I'm proud of, and looking after my health and training and, you know, regular sleep and wake times. Just tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. Meanwhile, there's some bloke in fucking Wyoming, sixty-five, smoked every single day of his life in perfect health, just totally fine, oblivious to the fact that mold and Lyme disease are even a thing. And trying to construct some bigger narrative about whether I'm... whether this is justified karmically or I'm worthy of it, or this is part of some grand story thing, uh, can kinda drive you a bit insane. And in my experience, having tried to do it a lot, can also reduce agency. It can make you feel like, well, if these unfair things keep happening to me, what's the point in trying in future? It's actually quite a apathetic, uh, like an apathy-inducing nihilistic worldview. If you go, "If it's outside of my control, then that means that the fixes are also outside of my control." And even if there is nothing that you can do to speed it up, which there almost always is, the belief that there is something that you can do is more useful than the impact of doing the thing. Like just believing that you have some agency and that you're happening to life as opposed to life is happening to you. But regardless of whether it's I'm happening to life or life's happening to me, life happens through me is not something that I've been able to feel for a while, which fucking sucks. Like if you think about... If you think about being ill or, or anything going wrong in life, right? Financial catastrophe, breakup is like you going against the grain. You're on a surfboard, but you're swimming out. You're trying to... You're just getting smashed in the face over and over by waves, and you're trying to swim out. And then you happening to life is you being able to do that swimming effectively and then sit on your board where you want. But life happening through you is you actually being able to surf the waves, and you move, you flow, you don't actually end up thinking all that much. Stuff just seems to happen. Maybe this sounds way too esoteric. Maybe this is because I've spent too long at a gay meditation retreat with a bunch of people from San Francisco, which was fantastic by the way. Uh, I did look at a dude's butt. And it seems to be true. Whether it is true or it's not, everybody has an understanding of what I'm talking about. There are times when it feels like you're dancing in rhythm with the music of life, and there are times where it feels like, what the fuck beat is this? Like why... I've got two left feet and it's a, a three over four beat that I just fucking can't catch a break on, and when it's been that way for a while, it, it really sucks. So one thing that it's done, and one thing that I was told by Daniel Schmachtenberger actually, this beautiful long voice note that he gave me was, there's no one that I know of who has become a truly humble and empathetic person without going through a period in their life where they literally didn't know if they could get any better. And this is the difference between just going through a hard time and genuinely having your entire worldview changed. Everybody's going to go through difficulties. Everybody is going to face some time where stuff is hard. But not knowing if you're ever going to be able to get out of it, if it's ever going to improve, kind of changes you on a fundamental cellular level emotionally. And I felt that. I'm so much less judgmental. I'm so much less castigating and dismissive and callous about other people going through things. Like other people can really fucking suffer, and from the outside it looks like nothing, and from the inside it feels like their world's falling apart. And we don't want to indulge martyrs or victimhood culture, but people can really eat shit and tell no one about it. And giving as much care just generally to the fucking world is something that I didn't realize I wasn't doing enough of. And the last two years or so have really... they've really brought me back down to earth with that. And it's a part of me that feels really connected. It's a part of me that feels like it was, it was eroded out of me. I think it is for a lot of us, that if you fully take on board just how much suffering there is that other people, other areas of the world, the, the, the, those that are close to you, um, people that you don't know, like just how much lots of people struggle and how hard it is, uh, it's overwhelming. Like it's really, really difficult, and going through it yourself makes it impossible to ignore. It's absolutely impossible to ignore just how fucking hard life can be if it's been hard for you too, and you need to be a, a flippant and dismissive asshole to not take that and realize, okay, I should probably treat other people with way more fucking care than I am. So that's a long-winded way to say it fucking sucks, but at some point in future, I'm going to look back on this and feel more proud of myself than I ever have for continuing to do the project, for not stopping, for not giving up, for things being hard, but just keeping going. And if that's a story that I get to tell with genuine stripes on my uniform of, oh, I, I did it. I was in the trenches and I came out the other side. Fuck. Like it's a beautiful opportunity, and that's what I'm trying to hold on to.

19. 54:57 – 59:27

    How Has Modern Wisdom Evolved?

    1. CWChris Williamson54:58

       Joel Greaves four nine five: "Hey, Chris. Going from recording videos on the sofa to having a full team in different sets is a big change. How has your focus and time shifted as the pod grows? Are you still reading just as many books and researching for the next guest? Or Have these tasks been delegated to employees? Long time listener of the pod. Can't wait to see you in Manchester. Keep it up. Thank you, Joel. I will see you in Manchester too. Yeah, I mean, it is a big difference, but keeping myself in touch with coming up with ideas, choosing the guests, and working out what I want to talk to the guests about, that really is the core of what I do. And reliably, when I've seen other creators take their eye off the ball and not be in touch with that, which ultimately is what the show is, right? Who's on? What are you talking about? And what are the ideas that you have in your mind that you think are important? That's-- That is what the podcast is. That is what content is. And sure, maybe you can get people in who are amazing writers or researchers or resurfacers of, of, of content and information, but that can't replace your taste. And the times when I have tried to play about with being fed more information from even aggregate news websites and stuff like that, it feels like someone's put their hand inside of my arse and are, like, marionetting me. Oh, that's not... That's puppeting, I suppose, or marionetting me from above. I don't-- I, I've never liked that. Um, things have changed an awful lot, uh, but those areas, the prepping for the guest, the reading. I mean, uh, my s- reading time has been squeezed an awful lot, but that's just a discipline thing. It's the same as saying that my time in the gym has been squeezed. When I get up on time and I'm disciplined, uh, I've got enough time to read. You don't need to read that much to come up with really great ideas. I read four pages of that Sasha Chapin article ear-earlier on today, and I had, like, three things that I can't wait to talk about on the show from, from four, four pages. I mean, it was a very, very good article. But yeah, reading time's been squeezed, but outsourcing stuff like that is basically the beginning of the end for most shows, in, in my opinion. Unless the guest... Sorry, unless the host, uh, sucked from a taste perspective and a discernment perspective. But, uh, I enjoy coming up with ideas. I enjoy choosing the people that are coming on the show. I just now get to have other people make that stuff happen. I wanna bring this person on. Okay, let's see if we can speak to his management. Let's try and find a date for him. As opposed to it being me, right? I booked the first seven hundred guests myself. No asse- 800 guests I booked, no assistance, on the show. Outreach, time, scheduling, calendar, send over the link, send over the address. Like it was n- [chuckles] It wasn't done by anybody else. And so I've, I've served my time and, and if I can just choose who I want to come on, that gives me more time to focus on taste. But there is always shiny object syndrome. There is always something that I can do that's gonna distract me, that's gonna be sexy or cool or something. And as opportunities become more attractive and more seductive, saying no becomes a more difficult task 'cause I'm, like, hypertrophying my no muscle as much as I can. I've learned from over 1,000 podcast episodes that the easier you make your health routine, the more consistent you'll be. It's like golf, right? You want to keep it simple and not mix a bunch of pills. You want the eye of the tiger, not the DUI of the tiger. That's why I'm such a huge fan of AG1. One scoop contains seventy-five vitamins, minerals, probiotics, and whole food source ingredients in a single daily drink. And now they've taken it a step further with AG1 Next Gen, backed by four clinical trials. And in those trials, it was shown to fill common nutrient gaps, improve key nutrient levels in just three months, and increase healthy gut bacteria by 10 times, even in people who already eat well. Gone are the days of needing to buy a load of pills in the gym parking lot from some juice bro in a Cybertruck. But if you're unsure about it, AG1's got a ninety-day money-back guarantee, so you can try it every single day for three months, and if you do not like it, they will give you your money back. Right now, you can get a free AG1 welcome kit that includes a bottle of D3K2, an AG1 flavor sampler, and that ninety-day money-back guarantee by going to the link in the description below or heading to drinkag1.com/modernwisdom.

20. 59:27 – 1:02:01

    Filming After the UK Tour

    1. CWChris Williamson59:27

       Hazdao, "Will you be doing UK podcasts when you're here on tour?" Yes, I fucking will, Hazdao. I am gonna do a huge run at the end of tour. So if you look at the tour schedule, chriswilliamson.live, you'll see we've got four days back to back, which is heavy. But we've got four days back to back, which include going from Edinburgh, which is the middle of Scotland, to the most southerly show that we do in England. So we've got a tour bus. That's the only way. There's gonna be an overnight sleeper tour bus, and then we've got two more. Um, and then we have a little break, and everybody was like, "Hey, we've got these six days off. Uh, it's... Why don't we-- we can either fit some Germany shows in or you can, you can, you... Let's do a cinema run." I was like, "Dude, I've just done four fucking shows in four days. The last thing I want to do is get up and go, 'All right, it's time to prep for Alain de Botton.' Alain, tell me about..." Um, while my head's still up my arse from the last four nights. So this is my genius plan. Genius plan is get out to the UK a little bit early, so I'm as prepared as possible to get butt-fucked by four and four. Do the entire run. We finish in Dublin or Belfast, one of the two, and then we have one day off in London, and then I'm going to do a full run for probably seven or ten days in London after tour. No rush, nothing coming up at some point in future, and, um, I'm gonna rip the arse out of that. Definitely Finn and Horatio again. Definitely Alain. Definitely Bugsy Malone round two. Um, Brian Cox, I want him. Uh, Mary Harrington will probably come back on. I might try and do a round table with Freya India and her. Who knows? Bonnie Blue round two. We'll see. Uh, who the fuck else is on that list? There's a bunch of people. There's a lot of people. Prob- almost certainly another Rory Sutherland, maybe David Deutsch, guy that wrote The Beginning of Infinity. Fuck You know, I used to-- back in the day, I used to always be very... I was so tentative. I wouldn't ever say who I had that was coming on the show because I was terrified of some other podcaster realizing what my upcoming guest list was or, or me wanting to, like, keep it secret from you guy- I think it was mostly me wanting to, like, st- jump scare you with exciting guests. But now I think it's just cooler to go, "Fuck! Like, he's gonna have Brian Cox on. That's gonna be amazing." So that's my, that's my genius plan. Get face-fucked by the show and then get face-fucked by the cinema production, and in the middle of that is Halloween. So if you've got some advice for a good Halloween party on Saturday 31st of October in London, we're gonna be there. Mm. I will dress up like Spider-Man. Come and see me.

21. 1:02:01 – 1:05:55

    Chris’ Biggest Improvement

    1. CWChris Williamson1:02:01

       Ma- Mindfox, Mindfox: "What do you notice you have improved most on when looking back at old episodes? Been watching since 200k subs." That is fucking insane. 200k would have been the start of 2022. Would have been the start of 2022, 'cause Peterson in the Alamo, the day that I moved to America was mid-February, and that was 250. So you have been here a long time. That is, in the grand scheme of the show of eight years, not an insane amount of time, but 50%, early 50%, crazy. Isn't that also mad that we're at, whatever, four-point-something million subs and 50% of the duration of the show was 200k? Like [chuckles] it's just... For anyone that's like, "Oh, man, I'm doing this thing and it doesn't seem to be growing that quickly," you go, "Okay, half of the time of this podcast got me to 200k subs, and the other half got us, like, 4.1 million." So yeah, it just never fails to be a law in that way. What do you notice you've improved on most when looking back at old episodes? Oh, man, so much. I... Probably my confidence sitting down with a guest. I did a, a screen test with, uh... There's a production going on, and they wanted me to test for a scripted role. And as I was doing it, I realized just how nervous I was, despite the fact that there was no one watching. No one will ever see this except for some nameless, faceless fucking casting director somewhere. And I was so fucking nervous, and I realized it's because I have no experience doing this. I don't know what I'm doing. And just the reps of sitting down in a room. I'm speaking to Elon at the moment. I'm back on Rogan at some point soon. And sure, that'll-- those will give... I call Rogan my, the final boss of my social anxiety. That will give my heart rate a tickle. But fuck me, it is so different to the first time that I ever spoke to Jordan Peterson. I remember I was doing breathwork, like walking around near where I lived in Newcastle, like trying to fucking get my heart rate under control before I sat down to speak to him in 2021. And now i- the third episode, fourth episode that I did with him, I was like bored, waiting. I think he was a bit late. And I was like, "Hey, fucking Jordan, come on. What's going on?" I- it's... That's really cool because that level of comfort socially was something that I definitely didn't have. And the other thing is, uh, ability to sit with silence. A lot of the time people ask what sort of makes a great conversationalist, at least one that's recorded, and just being able to give people room. You're scared because it doesn't sound like you're adding value. But if you're having a conversation, even if you're having a conversation on stage, some fireside chat with your CEO or, or some partner, or you're listening to someone, you're listening to your girlfriend or your boyfriend talk to you, like just being able to sit in the silence and give them some room, it is almost like there is a third participant, even if there's no audience. There's always a third participant when you're doing the show because it's you, the guest, and then the people that are listening. They need time to think as well. But there's almost a third participant one-on-one, which is like their brain. They're saying things, just going through the motion, ga, ga, ga, ga, ga, ga, ga, ga, ga, ga, ga, ga, ga, ga. Like that little pause, if you don't interject and feel like you need to say something, reliably people will have something. They, they-- It's very appreciated. Silence is really appreciated. So patience, comfort with patience is one of them, and confidence socially would be the two, two of the biggest ones. That, and if you go back and listen to the first ever episode, I didn't understand that you could nod silently, and I thought that every time that I nodded, I had to go, "Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm. Mm-hmm." Fucking infuriating. Thankfully, that's gone as well.

22. 1:05:55 – 1:08:02

    What Makes a ‘Good Man’?

    1. CWChris Williamson1:05:57

       Zsebster526: "Hey, Chris. Love the show. It's almost the only podcast I listen to regularly. What advice would you give to boys aging from 18 to 24 who wants to become a man? What makes a good man? Much thanks in advance." Thank you very much. Uh, what advice would I give to boys aging 18 to 24 who want to become a man? I don't think you need to speedrun becoming a man, dude. I think we spend most of our childhood unable to wait to become a grown-up and most of our adult years trying to become a child again. And I don't think you need to rush this. Like, it's a beautiful period. Eighteen to twenty-four is a fucking sick time. Ask anybody in their 30s or 40s like, "Ah, man, like it was so fun. I had no responsibilities. I was just able to explore." If you spend all of your life wanting to be somewhere or something that you're not, you will miss your life. You will permanently spend your days floating through the things that you're doing, thinking about the thing that is going to come after it or wishing that you were a thing that has come before. I don't think that you need to hurry up becoming a man. The manhood thing will come along for the ride. And what makes a good man? [sighs] The best definition that I've heard is a guy who knows where he's going, is having fun while he's going there, and is comfortable in his own skin Like those three things, I think reliably make the sort of man that other people want to be around. Filter it through some wisdom, make sure that the thing that you want to do, the comfort that you have in getting there isn't getting there to fuck over a bunch of people in business or to be exploitative or manipulative or a liar or something. But for the most part, comfortable in his own skin, knows where he's going, having fun while he goes there. Like, it's a pretty good start.

23. 1:08:02 – 1:10:59

    Transitioning Out of the Lonely Chapter

    1. CWChris Williamson1:08:03

       Dangitdave, "Three pieces of advice for someone transitioning out of the lonely chapter?" Well, if you're coming out of it, presumably that means that you've started to feel some reintegration with people that are like the person you're becoming or you have become. I would be gentle with yourself if you're a bit socially inept because you've basically been in monk mode isolation for, you know, m- maybe a moderate amount of time, maybe a very long amount of time. I would also say don't judge too quickly people that don't seem to be like the person that you're like now. If you could imagine that you had a, a more refined palate, right? If you were a, a foodie or a food reviewer, expert chef or something, it would be likely that there may be fewer restaurants that you could go to that you would enjoy because your discernment, your ability to work out what's going on and your standards have raised to a degree. The same thing kind of happens when it comes to development, and that's not to say that someone who's done more meditation or more breathwork, more journaling, more emotional work is like better or more worthy than someone else. But it does mean that there are going to be fewer and fewer people like them, and that means that like a person who has a refined palate trying to find somewhere to eat, there's gonna be fewer restaurants socially that you're gonna be able to go to. So be gentle with yourself if you seem to be cycling through people, despite the fact that you feel like you've arrived, at least at this chapter of the lonely chapter or this pause point, this full stop in the lonely chapter, it's still gonna take time to work out, "I, I thought this person was like me, but they're not. They're not like me. They're not like me at all. Maybe that means I've done something wrong. Maybe that means I'm still... I need... I should go back." It's like, no, no, no, no, just go steady with it. So be gentle with yourself if you're socially inept. Uh, don't hurry when trying to find people that you want to hang around with. Don't use... Don't have the, uh, discordance of you connecting with them as a indicator that you need to go back or that you've done something wrong. [sighs] And celebrate, dude. That would be the third one. Like going through that, "Fuck, I need to make a change. I'm gonna have to leave things behind," patterns, ways of operating, friend groups, uh, uh, the weekly routine, and now you've got to a new stage. Like this is... Coming out on the other side is one of the best things that you can do, and not, not fully indulging in that will be a waste because at some point soon, if you keep growing, you're gonna have to do it again, and you're gonna wish, "Fuck, like, I just wanna be there." And now you're there. Like you've done it. You've made it. Just enjoy that. Enjoy the, [sighs] "I've arrived. I can take a bit of a breath."

24. 1:10:59 – 1:12:55

    The Long-Time Listeners

    1. CWChris Williamson1:10:59

       MsHollyBerry, "I've been listening before 100K, just want to say thanks. You're one of the reasons I changed jobs." Well, thank you. Uh, I hope you changed to a job that you enjoy. It sounds like that. And before 100K is even more fucking insane. That is the start of 2021 because me and Dean got balloons for 100K and invited my ex-girlfriend round. She thought she was coming round so that we could hang out. I needed to hold the camera. I needed to hold Dean's camera and take a photo of us [chuckles] and put the photo up. Uh, so that is s- five years. That's five years that you've been here, so I appreciate that I haven't either turned you British or made you go insane since then. Jared, you ever considered that you might have a drinking problem? I don't consider a lot, Chris. Well, you drank an entire case of Athletic Brewing Co. last night. But they're non-alcoholic. And that's not a problem? Sorry, man, I, I just kept chugging, waiting for the regret to creep in. Never happened. See, most people, like Jared, don't want to change what they drink. They just don't want the next day to be a complete write-off, and that is why I'm such a huge fan of Athletic Brewing Co. They make the best NA brews on the planet. [burps] You can find Athletic Brewing Co.'s best-selling lineup at grocery or liquor stores near you, or best option, get a full variety pack of four flavors shipped direct to your door right now. Get 15% off your first online order by going to the link in the description below or heading to athleticbrewing.com/modernwisdom and using the code MODERNWISDOM at checkout. That's athleticbrewing.com/modernwisdom and MODERNWISDOM at checkout. Near beer. Terms and conditions apply. Athletic Brewing Company. Fit for all times. Bottoms up. [laughs]

25. 1:12:55 – 1:20:03

    The Biggest Takeaways of a Meditation Retreat

    1. CWChris Williamson1:12:56

       Zyi Nutritionist, "How was the meditation retreat? Takeaways, downloads, highlights, and biggest challenge?" Fuck. All right. Um, I haven't really talked about this much, I guess. So I did a meditation retreat called Journei, with an H. It's a jhana meditation practice. Jhana is very different to mindfulness because classic mindfulness Vipassana, to me, feels a little bit more cognitive, and it's a bit more aggressive I mean, a fucking aggressive meditation technique really goes to show just how gentle they can become. But you're pushing away thoughts to a degree. A thought arises, you notice it, you release it. Like in the releasing of it, there is a degree of pushing. And then, you know, you come back to the breath, you come back to your counting, you come back to waiting for, uh, CCE if you're using Shinzen Young's way, it's a concentration, clarity, equanimity thing. Um, J-Jhana is significantly different in that you are inviting these emotions in. So something arises, there's a thought. Um, for instance, a thought might be, "I'm distracted," and then a judgment around the thought of being distracted. "I was thinking about work, and now I'm judging myself for being the sort of person that thinks about work because I should be focused on the meditation." In Vipassana, you probably wouldn't investigate that too deeply. You would... There's a thought and a, and a re-related thought, and you would sort of release it. With Jhana, what was beautiful was you say, "Oh, here's a part of me that's thinking about work." Like, invite it into you and go, "I'm so fu- I'm, I'm really happy that there's a bit of me that's so diligent and cares about what it is that he does. How am-- Like I, I'm really grateful for that bit of me that works so hard. Come here. Come on, come into..." Some people have a sauna, some people have a hot tub, some people have a be-out of bed. Like inviting that part of you in so that it feels like it's valid. And then, "Oh, I've got this shame. I've got this shame around the fact that I'm being distracted because I want to do the meditation right. Wow, look at this bit of me that just... He always wants to, he always wants to do things well. Like he's got such high standards. That's so fu-" You're like, "Hey, come, you come here too. You come and chill out in the bed as well." And that, it really feels like a cohesive way to work. So anyway, that's the, the Jhana thing. It's in Northern California. It was also the, uh, global reset week for OpenAI, which meant that there were shit tons of AI programmers going straight from like the most autistic, like locked, super-duper locked in m-making the future of the world stuff to, "And now think about the breath, and now relax, and sit with your thoughts," no screens, and silence for seven days. So some takeaways. I actually put a bunch in a newsletter a couple of weeks ago. "For many of us, goals are contracts to self-criticize until we succeed. Like running away from a monster that never gets tired, this contract makes permanent success necessary to avoid being swallowed by misery." That to me, goals are contracts to s- to self-criticize until we succeed just was so palpable when you're trying to speed run through something that just takes time. You're just sitting on the cushion waiting for stuff to occur, and the judgment of whether you're doing right or not, the desire to r- to hurry it up, all of that is just criticism that is making you miserable, and the appetite that that monster has is endless. Uh, another one, "Forgiveness is choosing to no longer suffer the things that you cannot change. Forgiveness is choosing to no longer suffer the things that you cannot change. It is simply to give up on the hope of changing the past. It's awfully useless to cling to the idea of altering history. You forgive to lighten yourself." So one of the big practices we did was on forgiveness, and that includes forgiving yourself, and that includes forgiving your-- forgiving yourself for not forgiving yourself yet. And this like endless... You can maybe tell how compassionate, like deeply, deeply compassionate and understanding this practice was, which for a lot of people, compassion, especially self-compassion, especially self-compassion for not having enough self-compassion, is fucking alien. Like lots of people that were in there were trying to find their, the, the foothold or the handhold where they can use some part of underperformance or not enoughness to propel them forward. How can I get to the next thing? Um, that, that forgiveness piece was really interesting to me. Uh, what else was in there? "Your best decision-making does not come from your head. For most of the important decisions in life, your heart decides and then your head makes it happen, not the other way around." And m- a lot of the bad decisions that we make, I think, come from when we have too much head, especially for people that listen to shows like this one. When we have too much head and not enough heart. Sure, there's a lot of people out there that are rash and that make, uh, impulsive decisions. I'm gonna guess that that's not you. Uh, you can talk yourself out of pretty much anything, especially if you're clever, and if you're not careful, you can talk yourself out of something that your heart and your gut knows is true. And then this is the final one I'll give you. "Suppression is not the same thing as strength. People who say you should have gotten over your wounds by now assume that development comes with age, not work, and that we don't keep accumulating wounds." There is this sort of assumption that by adulthood, you should no longer be having to deal with the same sort of challenges that you did in the past, that this thing, this slight, this problem, this pattern, why is it that this is still driving you? Why is it that you're still struggling with this? And if you have spent a lot of time grinding, uh, uh, focused outwardly, uh, being responsible for other people in your life, providing, working on yourself but not necessarily reflecting on yourself, like yeah, there's gonna be a huge fucking gap there, and you need to spend a lot of time just gently thinking and allowing that to come up. So yeah, the judgment of you should have sorted out your wounds by now is, it is assuming that the main development comes from just aging as opposed to actually working on yourself. Uh, biggest challenge was Dude, just fucking like long sits, one and a half, two-hour plus sits per day, multiple times per day. It, it's a really unique kind of effort because you're not doing anything. You're sat in a cushion cross-legged, right? Noticing thoughts arise, bringing them in, doing a bunch of other stuff that's part of the jhana practice. It is like really, really fucking effortful. Really effortful. But there's some things I highly recommend Journey. I think they, they rule and if you're the sort of person that wants to work on self-compassion, it's, it's

26. 1:20:03 – 1:21:10

    Will There Be More Round Table Episodes?

    1. CWChris Williamson1:20:03

       about as good as you can get. Josh C Mitchell, Please do more Round the Table episodes with friends. You fucking jump scared me with the 'the.' Round the, Round the Table. Uh, dude, I love them. They're my favorites. I, I have so much fun. We have got... [laughs] It might be, it, it might be coming out very soon after this, but I've got one of the maddest Round Table setups coming soon. I find them so enjoyable. I think they're a great way to like sneak personal development in while it sounds like you're just listening to a bunch of the boys chat shit. So expect more multi-guest episodes. If you've got any suggestions for people that you want me to bring on, that's great. I have to say the Huberman, McCusker, Segura Mostly Wise episode we did I thought was like just chef's kiss fucking perfect. One of the best things that I've ever done and like totally unmagnificent in every way possible. We started off talking about whether every man should take erectile dysfunction medication and then like rinsed Huberman for having six girlfriends. Uh, it just, it, it does not get better than that. For me, that's all I wanna do at 2:00 p.m. on a Wednesday afternoon. So yeah, expect more.

27. 1:21:10 – 1:22:44

    Imaginary Guesting When Recording Solo

    1. CWChris Williamson1:21:11

       Kerber i- Kerberit- Kerber English classes. Naval said that when he plays Podcast Naval in his head you are on the other side. Who is on the other side when you record the episodes alone? For the first thousand episodes it was a bedroom window with curtains in front of it or a wall or an Airbnb. Um, I think you're talking figuratively. To be honest, man, no one. Anyone that's ever tried to look down the pipe of a camera recording solo and just felt this like, [gasps] I'm looking into the void, it's black nothing, it is fucking terrifying. It never, it never goes away just how absurd it is that there's this weird sort of black circle and you're just spewing things into it. Uh, when I imagine myself guesting... I mean, to be honest, the show that I've guested on the most in my life is Rogan. Like, I've done episode five recording in, in August. I don't think I've done any other show. Done Steven's show twice and maybe some of my friends' shows like Propine Fitness back in the day. So probably Rogan, to be honest. But when I'm here it was for a long time it was a bedroom wall or an Airbnb or a hotel window or like a toilet wherever, whatever, wherever room in, spare room in a house I was recording in. That was what it was. Uh, and now it's Jared. Jared, Jared sits there si- silently and giggles every so often when I say something fucking remotely interesting.

28. 1:22:44 – 1:24:09

    How Chris Treated His SIBO

    1. CWChris Williamson1:22:44

       John Mo- Mojda. What was your treatment for SIBO? About to do the breath test. I did my breath test yesterday, so enjoy that four hours, five hours of your life breathing into a fucking tube. Uh, SIBO for the people that don't know, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. It's one of the most common like gut maladies. H. pylori and candida probably the other two. Uh, I, I think pretty much any guy that's ever tried to be a bro lifter has got SIBO just because the turnover and the fermentation of food in your stomach kind of, it, it can get a bit gnarly. Uh, my SIBO was just I think the classic antibiotic protocol. I've done so many fucking protocols over the last couple of years it's hard to remember. But you'll get your breath test back. It'll tell you whether it's whatever it is, fucking hydrogen based or ethanol based or whatever and then just go through the standard process. SIBO is relatively easy to treat. I think it's kinda linear. H. pylori and candida significantly more gnarly to treat. So if you need to go and do a GI map of some kind or a total tox test or something like, you know, stool sampling things, very sexy to... This is what happens. You get an hour and a half into a Q&A episode and we start talking about poop. Um, the breath test is painless and easy, it's just fucking annoying, but follow the doctor's advice, do the antibiotics and then see how you are on the other side of

29. 1:24:09 – 1:26:45

    Should Limitless Ambition Be Tamed?

    1. CWChris Williamson1:24:09

       it. Sage Russell. What's the secret to taming my limitless ambition? Lately it's difficult to enjoy little moments. [sighs] Honestly, dude, I don't think you need to fucking tame it. It's gonna go away. In five years or 10 years' time you're gonna look back at this period where you were completely obsessed and driven and riven by your desire to achieve things and go, "Oh, fuck." Working at that same work rate now is so much harder than it was back then. I wish I'd embraced it more. So let it climb inside of you and wear you like a fucking parasite, like a skin suit. Just what if you didn't have to push back against it? Lately it's been difficult to enjoy little moments. I get it. That's hard. You're always looking for what's coming next. You're comparing who you are to who you want to be. There's always gonna be a gap between them. What if you just let it ride itself out? What if it was more like a, what if it was more like a fever than an Achilles rupture? That there's nothing you can do to speed it up. You can just sit in it and try and enjoy the ride as much as you can and eventually it's gonna calm down. As opposed to, "I need to g- I need to be in conflict with this thing. I must be in tension because I am not enough." In 10 years' time when this level of ambition is maybe dissolved a little bit or evaporated, you're gonna think you're not enough because you're not ambitious enough We're permanently living in this gap between who we are and who we think that we should be. And what's interesting is those things can flip. You can have the exact opposite problem in the exact same dynamic facing in different directions in not that long of a... I'm traveling so much. All I'm doing is traveling. I'm not spending any time in my routine. And within a month you go, "Do you know what it is? Life's boring. I haven't been anywhere. I mean, I, you know, I traveled last month, but what have, what have I done this month?" You're like, hey, dude, [chuckles] you've literally got this problem pointing in opposite directions about the same issue within a short space of time. I think let it fucking ride itself out, dude. Like, let it weigh you, take advantage of it. It's the freest discipline and motivation that you're ever gonna get, and just enjoy that. Yes, the enjoyment of the little moments may be difficult, but what's more difficult is you thinking that you have to enjoy the little moments and then beating yourself up for it, and the shame and the r- the frustration at the fact that you've got shame, and the resentment, your frustration about the fact that you've got shame, and your boredom at your resentment about your frustration at the sha... That's where most of the pain comes from. Just try for 30 days for me, give it a crack, Sage Russell, of just fucking letting it happen and not trying to stop it, because it's not gonna be there forever.

30. 1:26:45 – 1:29:38

    Originality is Undetected Plagiarism

    1. CWChris Williamson1:26:46

       Mr. Benson 25, M Benson 25, sorry M Benson, "You've talked to so many people. Are any of your thoughts or frames even your own?" I don't think that pretty much any idea that anyone has is their own, regardless of how many people they've spoken to. Like originality is just undetected plagiarism because everybody is inspired by their experiences. The way that you saw some guy walk down the street toward this bus and you thought, "Huh, he seems really nervous. Isn't it strange that people get nervous when they've got nothing to be nervous about just walking for a bus? Oh, well, that's a, that, that makes me think about what happened when I was..." And before you know it, this new fucking idea's come out. Okay, so is it, it, was the genesis the guy walking? Is, does he own that idea? Um, but look, as an aggregator, curator of many people and I guess this, this central hub thing for the Wisdom Versi insights over the last eight years, it's definitely allowed me to sort of be a attractor, like a gravitational well for all of these thoughts and frames and insights. But you filter them through what you think is important, right? Like it's not necessarily about is this idea completely from start generated by you? Like if you read James Clear's Atomic Habits and you take his habit process to improve your life, does that mean that all of the thoughts and frames that were developed off the back of his habit structure aren't yours, they're because of his? We're all influenced by the people that came before us. It's a great question and I, I, I don't think that I'm necessarily a, like a fucking saint. I certainly like using aphorisms and pithy short sentences because they're like idea handles that allow me to grab onto something and pick it up and remember it, so I don't forget shit that's important to me. But originality is just undetected plagiarism. Anybody that thinks that they've had an... Basically, no one's had a fucking original thought because you're speaking in a language that wasn't created by you, so even that is constrained. You only know the words that you've learned by reading or hearing other people say things, unless you're creating your own language, which fair play. I don't feel shame or insufficiency because I've taken the best of what other people have already figured out. I think that's one of the coolest things that we can do, and it's certainly one of the quickest ways that you can make development. It's that line, "Any idiot can learn through mistakes. I prefer to learn through the mistakes of others." So I used somebody else's idea to rebut your idea. How about that?

31. 1:29:38 – 1:32:20

    Distinguishing Between Genuine Ambition From Insecurity

    1. CWChris Williamson1:29:38

       Joe PCDB, "How do you distinguish between genuine ambition and insecurity disguised as ambition, as they can produce exactly the same behaviors, working hard, money, et cetera? Looking back, what were the signs you were building the life you actually wanted rather than the one you felt you had to earn?" [sighs] Honestly, dude, I, I think that the genuine ambition piece and the insecurity dis-disguised as ambition, the outcome is really what matters here. Sure, the fuel that you're using can be more or less toxic. You want to be using genuine ambition, "I just love this work," as opposed to, "I'm running away from not being enough. I, I, I have to forge myself into something so that the world will love me. Please, please just see that I'm valuable." I get it. It doesn't feel the same from the inside, but so many people have more pain than they do pleasure, especially in early life. And I think that a lot of what we're doing is like alchemizing all of this bad stuff into good stuff until we get to the point where we go, "All right. I've tried the external validation to fill an internal void thing. I've realized it doesn't work. [sniffs] Now I can turn and face what's, what's happening inside." Facing and hap... Looking at what's happening inside before doing that, I think is so much tougher because you still feel worthless in the eyes of the world, and it's way easier to have the world tell you you're worth something and you not feel it than go and go, "Okay, they've done it. They've said it to me. I still don't feel it. I need to work on myself," as opposed to, "The world still hasn't told me this thing that's a fear. I'm gonna somehow like gymnastic flip my way out of this without any evidence to the contrary." So looking back signs when I was building a life that I wanted rather than one that I felt like I had to earn, a lot of it is am I celebrating my successes or am I feeling relief at a lack of failure? Like, is it joy or simply the abatement of fear when things go well? That's a big one because that basically tells you when you succeed, am I coming into this from a place of negative framing or positive framing? Am I happy that it went well, or am I happy that it didn't go badly? And that I think is what are you running away from versus what are you running to? That was the biggest indication for me. But honestly, man, like if you're ambitious, if you're achieving things in the real world, after a long enough time, if you're introspective, you just run out of that fuel. So I think like with your man that had the ambition tearing him up inside, I think just keep going. Keep going and that fuel will run out and then like a rocket ship taking off, the fucking booster rockets fall off on the side and a new fuel source takes over.

32. 1:32:20 – 1:33:42

    Advice You Give Out But Never Take

    1. CWChris Williamson1:32:20

       Jay66, "What's some advice you give to others but never take yourself?" [sighs] Fucking hell. This feels like being asked how long do you last in bed. Um, incredibly personal. Some advice that I give to others, but I never take myself. Fuck. I mean, fear less is one of the ones that I, I almost say it to other people, first off because I think that it's an important lesson to be reminded of, but more so because every time I tell it to somebody else, I want to be reminded of it myself. Like, shit is probably not going to go anywhere near as wrong as you think it is, and worrying is a horribly useless way to spend your mental energy, and no amount of anxiety is going to make any difference to anything that happens. So I keep on telling other people, but that what if something goes wrong? How can I fix this? What are the ways that this could be an error? That sense, that fear-based framing is very prevalent. It's been very prevalent for me, and I'm getting better at it. I've gotten better at it, but, uh, it's not something I never t-take myself, uh, but I probably need people to say it to me more. That might be a good start, and in saying it to other people, it bounces back to me.

33. 1:33:42 – 1:36:47

    What Does the Next 5 Years Look Like?

    1. CWChris Williamson1:33:42

       Toz wrote this: "How do you think your role will change in the next five years?" [sighs] Well, Big Golden keeps on trying to psyop me into buying a dog. I stepped out this morning, morning walk, four Goldens within the first five minutes, so they're really turning on the taps now. For those of you that don't know, I believe that I'm in "The Truman Show," but it's an entire industry of people trying to get me to buy a golden retriever. I wanna become a dad. I can't wait to become a dad. Like, I've got full on preparatory dad brain and a lot of what I've done up to now has been building this person, life, business, inner and outer cathedral of good things and bullshit. I think I've done a pretty good job of kind of becoming ready to be a dad. But I, I... that's... Dude, if I look back in five years' time and what I've got is a couple of golden retrievers and three kids, it'd be like, that was a huge win. But what else is there? What else is there now? Uh, other things, you know, the more sexy answers, Neutonic. I, I think that can be an insanely huge company, and I don't really care about the money. It'll be fun or whatever when we get the big exit. We've already turned down one, so I'm way more proud of the fact that we turned down an offer to buy us like 18 months after we were launched from some company that would have come in and, and, you know, made us honorary fucking members of our own baby. Um, I'm way more proud of that than I will be of the fact that we get it to the size that it's gonna become. That'll be cool. The pod having more exposing, deep, sincere, earnest conversations, doing things, bring people together so that they can just have a laugh and fucking relax and let you guys feel the weight of the world relieved from your shoulders a little bit. I think that's... there's not much else that I can do with my time that isn't gonna be that, that useful. But to me, all of that is secondary to golden life and dad life. And you better be ready, by the way, because when I become a father, it is ju-- when I become a f- a dog father and a real father, it is just gonna be fucking farmer's dog and, uh, toxin-free, uh, baby grows and fucking flame retardant, but c-completely healthy paint for the nursery. Uh, it is ju-unrelenting father content. You're gonna be disgusted, and I can't wait, and everyone's gonna get pissed off, and it's gonna be awesome. So two Goldens, three kids, more pod, more Neutonic. Uh, hopefully fucking fix my health. That's the next five years.

34. 1:36:47 – 1:38:33

    Is Chris in the Manosphere?

    1. CWChris Williamson1:36:48

       Ed Did-Diddy-Diddyong, "Are you more of the manosphere type guy? What do you have to say about the Andrew Tate situation?" Hey, if I'm being fucking roped in as Andrew Tate's defense here... I, I saw a, uh, video from, I think it's his lawyer at the moment, and there were a, a few... I know he's a fan of Trump. Um, I loved the press announcement thing. He sort of walked out, Justin Waller was with him, and he sort of stood in front and did this thing, and he pointed, he must have got some more people from different law firms to join the case or whatever. He says, "We've been joined by these guys, very esteemed guys, best guys, best guys, wonderful guys." And I was like, "You've watched too much Trump." You watched way [laughs] too much. I was like, "They're the best. They're the best." It's just like a little... He didn't do the accent, but there's just a little bit in there. Wonderful guys. Best guys. Uh, we got a great team. Best team. Uh, what do I have to say about the Andrew Tate situation? Uh, extradition to the UK is no fucking small thing, dude. Like, if he gets pulled out of the U- I mean, there are, there is a big case waiting for him in the UK. Um, I haven't watched that big party dude talking about, uh, did we get a whiteboard breaking down how the case is all of this bullshit and a billion dollars from Romania and all this stuff. I don't fucking know what's going on with any of that. Um, am I more of a manosphere type guy? I don't know, dude. Depends who you ask on the internet. I'm either the middle of the manosphere or a gateway drug to dangerous ideas or a blue-pilled cuck feminist, and it literally just depends on which algorithm on Twitter that you're looking at. Like, I, I'm all of those things. I'm, like, trisexual in that way.

35. 1:38:33 – 1:39:19

    The Secret to a Great Hairline

    1. CWChris Williamson1:38:34

       JLJ603, what is your hairline secret? Are you just young enough to not see the future yet, or are you like me, a fellow curly-haired northerner fighting the impending retreat of the follicles? I'm holding fast. I'm like fucking William Wallace, dude. It's just not, it's not going anywhere. I'm afraid, much to James Smith's chagrin, it's not going anywhere. Somebody asked, like, "What's, what's James Smith's hair..." Like, how does James Smith get his hair cut? And I was like, "Just genetically." It's just his gene, his genes cut his hair. So, you know, one of us, one of the people in Neutonic has to have a hairline, and he's got the racist accent, I've got the hairline. That's the way it works.

36. 1:39:19 – 1:40:53

    Does Chris Take Peptides?

    1. CWChris Williamson1:39:20

       LiamMackie9, do you take peptides? If so, which ones? Yes, I do. Have been for a long time, trying to fix health. I probably wouldn't if it wasn't, there's something to fix. I don't know. I like to use sort of therapeutics and stuff to fix problems as opposed to enhance things when it comes to, like, more medical style shit. I mean, look, is five mgs of Tadalafil daily okay? Yeah, probably. Halfway between pharmaceutical and supplement. Um, anyway, BPC-157, TB500, Thymosin Alpha, and SS31. So, um, recovery and gut. More recovery because I had a tooth extraction a little while ago, and I'm trying to regrow a bone in my face. Uh, immune support with the Thymosin Alpha, and then mitochondrial support with the SS31 'cause I'm tired all the time. Uh, last year I tried C-Max and C-Link. I tried, uh, fuck me, uh, Frag 23. Um, uh, God, so much. I even tried like PT-141. That was a interesting experience. Lots. I've tried lots of them. Um, I do know that TB500 and BPC helped a lot when I ruptured my Achilles. That was six years ago that I was taking it, but this is not medical advice. I've, uh, have liked some of the effects of them, but you need to make sure that what you're getting is actually what you're getting because so much bullshit, gray market horseshit is out there. So please be careful.

37. 1:40:53 – 1:41:31

    Top 5 Book Recommendations

    1. CWChris Williamson1:40:53

       Stan V. D. Bursla, classic one, top five book recommendations. Stan, I've got two fucking reading lists, my brother, and they've got five books at the top that are the most important ones from the list of 100, chriswillx.com/books and chriswillx.com/morebooks. So that's 200, and there's a top five in both. There's a top 10. Uh, today it's Red Rising. One that isn't in there is Dungeon Crawler Carl, and another one that everyone should read is The Precipice by Toby Ord. However, there's fucking 200 there, so chriswillx.com/books and chriswillx.com/morebooks, okay?

38. 1:41:31 – 1:42:14

    The Best Brands For Protein Shakes

    1. CWChris Williamson1:41:31

       CKumar073, do you drink protein shakes? If sho- if so, what protein do you use? If not, why not? Yes, I do, uh, Momentous. Their whey is money. Grass-fed, non-GMO, European cows, healthy, NSF certified. Like, Olympians can use it. Really great, really clean. Then RTDs, uh, I use, um, Pioneer Pastures. They... Imagine, uh, Core Power, but made from a2 milk. Super healthy, no gnarly shit, tastes amazing, 30 grams of protein. Pioneer Pastures fucking rules if you want a ready-to-drink, and if you need a powder, Momentous is the best.

39. 1:42:14 – 1:42:43

    When’s the Next Merch Drop?

    1. CWChris Williamson1:42:15

       Lane Furman, when's the new merch coming out? Dude, check it. What are you talking about? Huh? Uh, I think it's just finished yesterday. So it came out, it was out for six days, and now it's gone. So if you didn't buy this, unlucky. However, go to mwmerch.com and you can sign up for the next drop, and you'll get it before it's gone. Uh, okay, one more, one more. I'll do this final one.

40. 1:42:43 – 1:46:31

    Is This the Most Stressed Generation?

    1. CWChris Williamson1:42:43

       Skirt McGirt, several guests claim that modern life is more stressful than previous eras, and you've always asked, "How is that possible when we used to worry about Viking invasions and saber-toothed tigers?" I never feel like you get a good answer. What do you think? Fucking great question, and it's certainly something that I think about. You know, previous generations were fighting off wars and worried about whether or not the cold would kill them and their family, and today we're concerned about being kicked out of a group chat or about someone ghosting us over text. I think the problem is that we have a nervous system that was designed for bears and is now concerned with isolation socially, and it's, it's not updated. That ancient system is still working in a way. It's, like, adapted to the new ecology, and the new ecology is safer and more sedate, but that means that smaller concerns feel bigger We don't know what it's like to be chased down by a saber-toothed tiger. We don't know what it's like to maybe be killed by an invisible, tiny little microbe, which is germs and dirt that we didn't know that we were supposed to clean. We don't know what it's like to worry that the fucking crops will fail next autumn or that we're going to be killed by the cold this winter. That kind of doesn't matter to our nervous system because it's not aware of just, it's not taking a era-based lifetime, like generational perspective. It just knows what your life's like. And yeah, a nervous system that was built to run away from predators now feels like prey when we have to set a boundary with someone because that is what our life is. Our life is playing very different games. They're not games of survival. They're games of social acceptance. And unfortunately, we don't have many of the ballasts that would have kept us and the stabilizers that would have kept us in place. Families that aren't going to abandon us, people that love us regardless of how we can show up. We're in a meritocracy, which means that you're only as valuable as your ability to contribute to the world. So yeah, you feel shame at your small fears when you look across the expanse of time, but you can't deny how you feel when something bad happens, even if it's small and silly, like compared with your ancestors. And a lot of that shame of, fuck, I shouldn't feel like this. I'm silly for feeling like this. This is stupid. If I'd known, like, hey, okay, you haven't had the opportunity to be chased down by a saber-toothed tiger. You haven't had the opportunity to worry about a Viking invasion. And because of that, it means that there's nothing else. Here's the bottom line. You're allowed to feel the way that you feel. If you feel anxious about having to set a boundary with your partner, if you feel concerned about having to tell somebody a piece of news that they don't want to hear, if you are worried that a friend didn't text you back or have got this imagined concern about speeding through a red light earlier on today, and maybe the traffic camera is going to get you and then there'll be three points and I'll lose my car and I'll be able to get You're allowed to feel that way. And trying to dictate to yourself or judge yourself or shame yourself for your feelings is a very reliable way to make someone who's feeling bad and doesn't want to feel even worse. We have systems that were designed for times that we're not in, and they've updated themselves to be sensitized to the modern world. That's it. But don't try to shame yourself too much. All right. I love you all. chriswilliamson.live for tour tickets, UK and Ireland later this year in October. chriswillx.com slash stories if you want to submit your stories, including a voicemail that I can play to some of the guests and ask them questions. Everything else I've gone through. I love you all. Bye.

Episode duration: 1:46:32