What I Would Tell My 18 Year Old Self | Modern Wisdom Podcast 131

1. 0:00 – 1:01

   Rapid-fire: What we’d tell our younger selves (and why it’s hard to hear)

   1. CWChris Williamson0:00

      Seth, what were you 10 years ago?

   2. YUYusef0:02

      Religious. Spent a lot of time in the mosque, was celibate, didn't drink.

   3. CWChris Williamson0:05

      Would you tell 19-year-old Johnny to, um, not dye his hair? This is the question that the internet has tuned in to hear.

   4. JOJonny0:12

      Buy Bitcoin, buy Facebook, buy Netflix-

   5. YUYusef0:15

      Ugh.

   6. JOJonny0:15

      Buy Amazon. And don't bother with uni.

   7. CWChris Williamson0:17

      You need to stop drinking and focus on personal development. You need to focus on yourself first and not on other people. You don't know as much as you think you do. Stop getting into relationships with girls that are bad for you. No, I really mean it, stop getting into relationships with girls that are bad for you.

   8. JOJonny0:30

      You think you know it all, don't you, when you're 19? You think you've got it figured out. You haven't got a (censored) clue-

   9. CWChris Williamson0:35

      (laughs)

   10. JOJonny0:35

       ... until you're, like, at least 28. And I would say probably 39-year-old me-

   11. CWChris Williamson0:40

       Exactly.

   12. JOJonny0:40

       ... would be saying the same thing.

   13. CWChris Williamson0:42

       I can tell you the equivalent of, "Mate, you're going to get hit by a car in 10 years time," and you won't believe it until you get hit by the car.

   14. JOJonny0:48

       Wherever you are giving people the most advice is probably where you need the advice the most. All this stuff that we've just said is all advice that we all need right now.

2. 1:01 – 2:11

   Setting the premise: “Advice we’d give ourselves 10 years ago”

   1. CWChris Williamson1:01

      Podcast time. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back.

   2. JOJonny1:04

      (laughs)

   3. CWChris Williamson1:04

      I'm joined by Johnny and Yousaf from propanefitness.com.

   4. JOJonny1:07

      Johnny and Yousaf.

   5. CWChris Williamson1:08

      Yousaf from Johnny.

   6. YUYusef1:10

      And Johnny.

   7. CWChris Williamson1:10

      And Johnny from Yousaf.

   8. JOJonny1:12

      From Yousaf.

   9. CWChris Williamson1:12

      Uh, Yousaf's got rid of mustache. He's back now with a beard.

   10. YUYusef1:15

       (sighs)

   11. CWChris Williamson1:16

       It's better, though.

   12. YUYusef1:16

       Thank goodness.

   13. CWChris Williamson1:16

       It is better.

   14. YUYusef1:17

       So much better.

   15. CWChris Williamson1:17

       Less pedo-y. What?

   16. JOJonny1:19

       Just you didn't mention that in the last one.

   17. CWChris Williamson1:21

       Doesn't matter.

   18. YUYusef1:22

       Ah, yeah, we'll have to play the, the podcast game-

   19. JOJonny1:24

       (humming)

   20. YUYusef1:25

       ... of time.

   21. CWChris Williamson1:25

       Yeah. Anyway.

   22. JOJonny1:26

       (humming)

   23. CWChris Williamson1:27

       Today we are talking about advice that we would give ourselves 10 years ago. Pretty good opportunity for us to just unload all of the shit that we've learned over the last 10 years. But we're going to try and keep it to within an hour, so hopefully be nice and condensed. Maybe you can take some wisdom away that we've gleaned, hard-earned wisdom over the last few years through blood and sweat and tears and feces.

   24. JOJonny1:51

       "Our loss is your gain."

   25. CWChris Williamson1:53

       That's a really good tagline for a product.

   26. YUYusef1:55

       Hmm.

   27. CWChris Williamson1:56

       Of some kind.

   28. JOJonny1:57

       Like a hair loss product or something?

   29. CWChris Williamson1:59

       (laughs)

   30. YUYusef1:59

       (laughs)
3. 2:11 – 6:38

   Jonny at 19: reinvention, uni, confidence, and realizing you don’t know much

   1. CWChris Williamson2:11

      So, let's, let's do some framing. Johnny, what sort of a person were you? How old were you and what sort of a person were you 10 years ago?

   2. JOJonny2:18

      I was ... maths time. I was 19.

   3. CWChris Williamson2:21

      Mm-hmm.

   4. JOJonny2:22

      Um ...

   5. YUYusef2:23

      Very blond.

   6. JOJonny2:24

      Yeah, dyed my hair blond at the time.

   7. CWChris Williamson2:26

      Was it highlights or was it fully dyed?

   8. JOJonny2:28

      Full head-o, head-o, head-o blond.

   9. YUYusef2:29

      I think it's the only Facebook status I remember you posting as just as, like, a, a status. It was quoting your dad.

   10. JOJonny2:36

       Oh yeah. He said that, uh, I mean ...

   11. CWChris Williamson2:40

       (laughs)

   12. JOJonny2:40

       I'm not gonna do it.

   13. CWChris Williamson2:41

       Say it. (laughs)

   14. JOJonny2:41

       No, no, because ... No.

   15. YUYusef2:43

       You'll have to start the podcast again if-

   16. JOJonny2:44

       Oh. Yeah, okay.

   17. YUYusef2:45

       (laughs) But it was, it was a derogatory-

   18. JOJonny2:47

       About my hair.

   19. YUYusef2:47

       ... remark made about Johnny's hair.

   20. JOJonny2:49

       I was probably quite ... So I think the thing that I would tell 19-year-old Johnny and probably 20-year-old, 21-year-old, 22, probably up to, like-

   21. CWChris Williamson2:58

       Are we getting into it already?

   22. JOJonny2:59

       ... 27. But it's just, because this is the theme, like, you think you know it all, don't you, when you're 19? You think you've got it figured out. You're like, "Yeah, I've been through my teens now. I know the crack, I know the score, I know the scene." You haven't got a fucking clue-

   23. CWChris Williamson3:14

       (laughs)

   24. JOJonny3:14

       ... until you're, like, at least 28, 27. And I would say probably 39-year-old me-

   25. CWChris Williamson3:22

       Is gonna think exactly the same.

   26. JOJonny3:22

       ... would be saying the same thing. And that probably, like, yeah, I just think your entire 20s are just this one big realization that nothing's unbelievable if you don't know what you're doing.

   27. CWChris Williamson3:34

       Don't know what you're doing. You're just fumbling around in a dark room.

   28. JOJonny3:36

       Yeah, picking things up.

   29. CWChris Williamson3:37

       Trying, trying to find the light switch.

   30. JOJonny3:38

       Looking, like, "Uh, what's that? Uh, can't use that. What's this?"
4. 6:38 – 9:29

   Yusef at ~18–19: extreme bulking, strict religion, and early training mistakes

   1. CWChris Williamson6:38

      Seth, what were you 10 years ago?

   2. JOJonny6:40

      So-

   3. YUYusef6:40

      I'm looking forward to this. (laughs) Yeah, there's a lot of differences there, I think. (laughs)

   4. JOJonny6:44

      (laughs)

   5. YUYusef6:45

      Um, so I, I think just going back one year more, so-

   6. JOJonny6:49

      Yep.

   7. YUYusef6:50

      ... just before 18th birthday was 59 kilos. Uh-

   8. JOJonny6:55

      What do you weigh now?

   9. YUYusef6:56

      Went up, so over three months, I gained 30 kilos.

   10. CWChris Williamson6:59

       (laughs)

   11. YUYusef7:01

       Went up to 90, thinking it was all muscle.

   12. JOJonny7:03

       Over three months?

   13. YUYusef7:05

       It was th- three, uh, probably three to six months. I, it was when I was doing like pie-

   14. JOJonny7:09

       DOMA.

   15. YUYusef7:09

       Pint of double cream before bed, shots of olive oil throughout the day. Um, Mutant Mass, had consumed eight kilos of that-

   16. JOJonny7:16

       Rich Piana.

   17. YUYusef7:17

       ... which is a, a 1,000 calorie drink that you have ... well, it's a 2,000 calorie drink that you have twice a day. Um, just like plowed the food. (clears throat) Otherwise, was very religious. Um-

   18. CWChris Williamson7:33

       How did that manifest?

   19. YUYusef7:34

       Spent a lot of time in the mosque, was celibate, didn't drink. Um, all of the kind of-

   20. JOJonny7:40

       I, I have a memory of Youssef from this period of time, one of the only memories I have. We were on an art trip. It would've been like 18, 17.

   21. YUYusef7:47

       Oh, Ramadan.

   22. JOJonny7:48

       Yeah.

   23. YUYusef7:48

       Yeah.

   24. JOJonny7:48

       And I was walking-

   25. CWChris Williamson7:49

       Ramadan. (laughs)

   26. JOJonny7:50

       We were in, uh, Amble, Ambleside on an art trip. I went for a piss at like four in the morning. And there was, there was a light on, someone in a room. Put, put my head in, Youssef sat by himself eating a green pepper like an apple.

   27. YUYusef8:06

       So this is the difference between, like the, the flipping between extremes of, at the time, probably weighed, uh, weighed under 60 kilos. Um-

   28. JOJonny8:14

       Shreddy though.

   29. YUYusef8:15

       ... shreddy but-

   30. JOJonny8:15

       Shreddy breck.
5. 9:29 – 11:20

   Fitness as the common origin story (and how they all met)

   1. CWChris Williamson9:29

      It seems like sort of, so hearing some of the common themes between both of your guys' things, what you've brought come back which is fitness.

   2. JOJonny9:35

      Yeah.

   3. CWChris Williamson9:35

      So in one form or another, fitness was still a really big bit of your life when you-

   4. JOJonny9:39

      Well-

   5. CWChris Williamson9:39

      ... 10 years ago or sort of late teens.

   6. YUYusef9:41

      We were, we were pre-menopausal, so it was-

   7. JOJonny9:43

      I think probably both of us, pre-fitness were, um, probably, I don't, well I don't, maybe not for you. I was, I was fat, lacking in confidence, like 16, 17-year-old me. Like, no female attention, no like, didn't really think very much of myself.

   8. CWChris Williamson9:59

      Mm-hmm.

   9. JOJonny10:00

      And then fitness was my like access into gaining self-belief, I think.

   10. CWChris Williamson10:05

       Mm-hmm.

   11. JOJonny10:06

       Was that the same for you, or less so?

   12. YUYusef10:09

       It was something that I just kind of ... I, I, yeah, I've, I don't think I've got as, um, as much of like a, a kind of-

   13. JOJonny10:17

       Rocky story.

   14. YUYusef10:18

       ... story, yeah, rocky kind of story for that. But, um, yeah, there was the, it was the, it's definitely the common thread that like went between extremes of just trying mental stuff and then (laughs) ten, twenty years later-

   15. CWChris Williamson10:33

       Which, which I mean, you know, 10 years later going, joining a cult, um, f- forced submersion for two hours a day, getting banned from Jesmond Pool.

   16. JOJonny10:41

       Mm-hmm.

   17. YUYusef10:42

       Uh, yeah. Um-

   18. CWChris Williamson10:44

       E- but reminders to set yourself to just eat a big bowl of spinach. Like, nothing's changed.

   19. YUYusef10:48

       The ... It's a-

   20. JOJonny10:50

       (laughs)

   21. YUYusef10:50

       That, that is a, that is good for a few years ago and now it's, now it's very much just on maintenance mode. Like it's, I think having shaken all that stuff out, cleared out the pipes.

   22. CWChris Williamson10:59

       Mm-hmm.

   23. YUYusef10:59

       It's, it's just on background.

   24. CWChris Williamson11:01

       The mechanism has been-

   25. JOJonny11:02

       It, it's how we all met though, isn't it, fitness, in one way or another.

   26. YUYusef11:04

       (coughs) That's true.

   27. JOJonny11:05

       So we met 'cause of, in the school gym. We met Chris because of Propane Fitness. We met Ben because of Harrison.

   28. YUYusef11:13

       Yeah, so all, all four of us-

   29. CWChris Williamson11:14

       Lifton.

   30. JOJonny11:15

       Yeah, Lifton.
6. 11:20 – 16:10

   Chris at 21: club promotion, partying identity, and social validation loops

   1. CWChris Williamson11:20

      So I would've been 21. So-

   2. JOJonny11:21

      So you were in the central reservation in Spain. (laughs)

   3. CWChris Williamson11:24

      Central re- no, that was '25.

   4. JOJonny11:26

      Right.

   5. CWChris Williamson11:26

      It was a little while before I went on TV.

   6. JOJonny11:27

      So you'd have been finishing uni?

   7. CWChris Williamson11:29

      No, so I did a placement year, um-

   8. JOJonny11:31

      Okay.

   9. CWChris Williamson11:31

      ... and then also did a master's, so I was at uni five years.

   10. JOJonny11:36

       Right. So you were on-

   11. CWChris Williamson11:37

       So I only left uni at 23.

   12. JOJonny11:39

       We meet, we'd have met you-

   13. CWChris Williamson11:41

       25, the year it's c- so one year, no sorry, '24. Um-

   14. JOJonny11:45

       Right.

   15. CWChris Williamson11:45

       So 21 I would've been still running Carnage, which is a big bar crawl in Newcastle.

   16. JOJonny11:51

       You are still saved in my phone as Chris Carnage.

   17. CWChris Williamson11:52

       Chris Carnage Williamson.

   18. YUYusef11:54

       (laughs)

   19. JOJonny11:54

       Wow.

   20. CWChris Williamson11:54

       I can tell the people that know me from that era because they just call me Carnage, and it's the most bizarre thing to hear someone say that now. The same as people that don't know that I used to have a massive afro, the same as people that don't know that I was on Take Me Out or Love Island. Like, you have these epochs of your life-

   21. JOJonny12:10

       Yeah, yeah, phases.

   22. CWChris Williamson12:11

       ... and people are right in it. And especially if you do kind of what we've done and you're in the world of online-... marketing, or-

   23. JOJonny12:18

       (laughs)

   24. CWChris Williamson12:18

       ... you know, like content creation or whatever. There's, there are people that inevitably come back. There'll be people that you will have listened to 10 years ago that you don't listen to now.

   25. JOJonny12:26

       Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

   26. CWChris Williamson12:26

       You know, like, the guys from like, um, T Nation or whatever.

   27. JOJonny12:29

       (laughs)

   28. CWChris Williamson12:29

       Like, you'll be able to quote their stuff inside out.

   29. YUYusef12:31

       So is AFRO like a line in the sand for you? That like-

   30. CWChris Williamson12:33

       Y-
7. 16:10 – 24:21

   The 30-second phone call challenge: headline advice in one burst

   1. CWChris Williamson16:10

      a second, but you've got 30 seconds. You can phone yourself 10 years ago from now and you've got 30 seconds-

   2. YUYusef16:16

      (laughs) Oh, like that?

   3. CWChris Williamson16:17

      ... to speak to them and I'm gonna time it on here. Um, so you can-

   4. JOJonny16:21

      Oh.

   5. CWChris Williamson16:22

      ... have, you can have a minute to prep. Um, I actually got asked this, um ... Oh no, it was in, it's in the Six Minute Diary. It's in the Six Minute Diary and it's like, "You've got 30 seconds." So I just wrote it out. Um, so I think I can probably afford to go first if you want. Okay. Right.

   6. JOJonny16:39

      Do you want me to time you?

   7. CWChris Williamson16:40

      It's, I can watch it on here. I can see it.

   8. JOJonny16:42

      All right.

   9. CWChris Williamson16:42

      Okay, so ring-ring, ring-ring.

   10. JOJonny16:46

       Hello?

   11. CWChris Williamson16:47

       Hi, mate. It's Chris. Don't ask.

   12. JOJonny16:48

       (laughs)

   13. YUYusef16:48

       (laughs)

   14. CWChris Williamson16:48

       Right. Um, you need to stop drinking and focus on personal development. You need to learn to, um, eh, focus on yourself first and not on other people. Confidence comes from within. You don't know as much as you think you do. Stop getting into relationships with girls that are bad for you. No, I really mean it. Stop getting into relationships with girls that are bad for you. Um, you need to spend time around other people. You need to travel more, and you need to let go of the feeling that you are not good enough. (fist slaps) There you go.

   15. JOJonny17:17

       Nice.

   16. CWChris Williamson17:17

       That's 20 seconds.

   17. JOJonny17:19

       Oh, but I- I ... Mm.

   18. CWChris Williamson17:22

       Cut the hair.

   19. JOJonny17:22

       (laughs)

   20. CWChris Williamson17:23

       Cut that hair.

   21. YUYusef17:24

       If, if you got that phone call, you'd just be like ... (fist slaps)

   22. JOJonny17:28

       Be like Kelly Serhat in the plane.

   23. YUYusef17:30

       Yeah.

   24. CWChris Williamson17:30

       So the big thing, the big things for me or like the, the big things to take out of that headline were, um, I kept on getting in and out of relationships with girls. And the longer term reason for that was, because I hadn't had a lot of relationships when I was younger, I, I had a difficulty saying, "No, this isn't right." Because I, deep down, I don't think I felt like I was worthy. So it's like, who am I to say to this girl that like I'm not suppos- like I shouldn't hurt her? And I think that that stemmed from me being like, "Well, I'm not supposed to have relationships. That wasn't what I've grown up with."

   25. JOJonny18:00

       Mm-hmm.

   26. CWChris Williamson18:00

       "This is all new to me. This is a blessing that I should be like really happy for," or whatever, whatever. Um, and then other things were I was focusing very much so on what other people thought of me. I was bothered about like how I was regarded by everybody else as opposed to indulging in my own...... like, genuinely in my own interests, which is what I do now with this podcast. It's like, I get to speak to whoever I want and if people like it, great, and if they don't, then fantastic also.

   27. YUYusef18:26

       Mm-hmm.

   28. CWChris Williamson18:27

       Like, I'm just bothered about what I do. Pursuing all the passions that I do now, again, is ex- mostly the same. I'm, like, beholden to very few people and I, I don't care. Um, so that was, that was headlines for me. So, who, who wants to go up next? Johnny, Yusuf?

   29. JOJonny18:41

       Yeah, I'll go.

   30. CWChris Williamson18:42

       Okay, right. Ring-ring, ring-ring.
8. 24:21 – 29:07

   From jokes to principles: why advice doesn’t stick without context

   1. CWChris Williamson24:21

      You know what, you know what all of us should've done which would've fixed all of these?

   2. JOJonny24:24

      ... buy Bitcoin if we'd all just said-

   3. CWChris Williamson24:27

      Oh.

   4. YUYusef24:27

      Ah.

   5. JOJonny24:27

      ... "Buy Bitcoin."

   6. CWChris Williamson24:28

      God, God.

   7. YUYusef24:29

      I had a mate who was like, "Mate, I'm thinking of buying this, it's called Bitcoin." And I was like, "Nah, it sounds stupid, like don't-"

   8. JOJonny24:35

      Well, okay, so buy Bitcoin, buy Facebook, 'cause it just-

   9. CWChris Williamson24:37

      Buy Amazon.

   10. JOJonny24:38

       Buy, uh, Netflix.

   11. YUYusef24:40

       (groans)

   12. JOJonny24:40

       Buy Amazon. And then just-

   13. CWChris Williamson24:42

       That's your life.

   14. JOJonny24:43

       And then don't bother with human. There's no point.

   15. YUYusef24:44

       Because those actually would be better than... 'Cause all the advice we're saying now would a- yes, it would've got you to a better stage, but actually, we wouldn't have had any of the insight that would've generated-

   16. JOJonny24:55

       Mm-hmm.

   17. YUYusef24:55

       ... the reflection of power.

   18. CWChris Williamson24:56

       So, this is the problem. This is one source-

   19. JOJonny24:58

       Has to sort out your future financially for you, you know?

   20. YUYusef24:59

       Yeah, yeah, yeah.

   21. CWChris Williamson25:00

       And then you can double, just work on everything else.

   22. YUYusef25:01

       Short oil. (laughs)

   23. JOJonny25:03

       (laughs)

   24. YUYusef25:04

       (laughs)

   25. CWChris Williamson25:04

       (laughs)

   26. JOJonny25:04

       I still remember the conversation that we had where-

   27. YUYusef25:07

       (sighs)

   28. JOJonny25:07

       ... it was after the oil, when oil, like, tanked and we had, like, I don't know, maybe, like, 10 grand or something-

   29. YUYusef25:12

       Oil was on a runner.

   30. JOJonny25:13

       ... in the business.
9. 29:07 – 35:12

   Training deep dive: 5/3/1, progressive overload, and playing the long game

   1. CWChris Williamson29:07

      Um, but let's try and take some of the stuff, we've had this 30, uh, you know, 90 seconds combined time.

   2. JOJonny29:13

      Mm-hmm.

   3. CWChris Williamson29:14

      What are some of the things that we've tried to look at? We've said, uh, with regards to training, the principle is find a program which forces progressive overload and stick to it and do not f- do not change.

   4. JOJonny29:26

      So, uh, it, to, for me, it's encapsulated by, I think it's just Youssef's quote, which is, "The bad news is there's no way to accelerate the process. The good news is there's no way to accelerate the process."

   5. YUYusef29:36

      I, ironically, in, in us trying so desperately to accelerate the process-

   6. JOJonny29:40

      You knacked it.

   7. YUYusef29:40

      We, yeah.

   8. JOJonny29:41

      Yeah.

   9. YUYusef29:41

      Like, we, and we were vacillating with all kinds of little, um-

   10. JOJonny29:46

       'Cause that's it, like-

   11. YUYusef29:47

       ... tweaks and attempts at optimizing stuff-

   12. JOJonny29:49

       Yeah.

   13. YUYusef29:50

       ... to the point where we actually lost sight of the bigger picture.

   14. CWChris Williamson29:53

       Can you describe in 30 seconds-

   15. YUYusef29:55

       And the same with business as well.

   16. CWChris Williamson29:55

       ... what five, what five-three-one is for people who don't know?

   17. JOJonny29:57

       (clears throat) So it's non-linear periodization, which just means there is a light week, medium week, heavy week, deload, and it focuses on core lifts, big, big lifts, and it's, it's built in progressive overload that can last a very long time. So if you just go to the gym and just try and lift more weight, you'll hit a roadblock pretty quickly. If you try and hit more reps then more weight, you'll last a little bit longer, but again, hit a roadblock pretty quickly. If you just stick with five-three-one, you start off so light. There's so much longevity built into the way it's programmed, and it's so simple.

   18. CWChris Williamson30:27

       Mm-hmm.

   19. JOJonny30:28

       You, you also learn, the nice thing about it is, so many people spend all this time in the gym, they don't really know what it's like to, to approach a barbell and be a bit worried about it. Or even-

   20. CWChris Williamson30:39

       But that forces you into it.

   21. JOJonny30:39

       ... absolutely terrified about it.

   22. CWChris Williamson30:40

       With 5-3-1?

   23. JOJonny30:41

       Yeah.

   24. CWChris Williamson30:41

       It forces you into it.

   25. JOJonny30:42

       It forces you into a level of, of progression that you wouldn't access through, like, chest and back.

   26. YUYusef30:46

       The, the problem is, it's very butterfly effect, because if had Johnny and I just (clears throat) done 5-3-1 from the age of 17 and not really thought about it and just let fitness blend into the background, and then five years later, both be very, um, in very good shape-

   27. CWChris Williamson31:03

       Uninjured.

   28. YUYusef31:03

       ... competitive lifters, uninjured, we wouldn't, we wouldn't have generated the insight to create a fitness website or-

   29. JOJonny31:10

       Yeah.

   30. YUYusef31:11

       ... a fitness pa- with loads of content and loads, and richness of experience to be able to create content with and-
10. 35:12 – 38:01

    Relationships & sunk cost: stop staying in losing situations

    1. CWChris Williamson35:12

       Splitting up with girlfriends. Fucking hell, man.

    2. YUYusef35:14

       Yeah.

    3. CWChris Williamson35:14

       I mean, this wasn't one for you, but Jesus Christ.

    4. YUYusef35:16

       It was one for me.

    5. CWChris Williamson35:17

       Oh, fuck. It was?

    6. YUYusef35:18

       That, uh, yeah. That was, that was-

    7. JOJonny35:19

       It wasn't one, it wasn't one for me.

    8. CWChris Williamson35:20

       Wasn't one for you?

    9. JOJonny35:21

       Yeah.

    10. CWChris Williamson35:21

        Was that 'cause you were single?

    11. JOJonny35:23

        Uh ...

    12. CWChris Williamson35:23

        Or did you like your girlfriend?

    13. JOJonny35:24

        I'd just broken up with a girlfriend at the time.

    14. CWChris Williamson35:27

        Job done.

    15. JOJonny35:27

        Um, but I, I did definitely spend too long in relationships that I should have been out of sooner.

    16. CWChris Williamson35:32

        Mm-hmm. Why did you stay in it?

    17. JOJonny35:33

        I, I, I just needed somebody to sit down and explain box A, box B to me.

    18. CWChris Williamson35:37

        (laughs)

    19. JOJonny35:38

        If someone had done that, I think it would've been like the clouds parted and I'd be like, "Right, right, okay, I get it."

    20. CWChris Williamson35:43

        I can't open-

    21. JOJonny35:44

        I get it.

    22. CWChris Williamson35:45

        You can't open that loop without closing it, but it's a complex thing. Can you-

    23. JOJonny35:48

        Just ... So just don't, don't stay in a situation that's bad and expect it to get better.

    24. CWChris Williamson35:53

        Some cost.

    25. JOJonny35:54

        Yeah. So, that's the s- I did that with my job. I did that with relationships. I did that with some friendships. I did that with injuries and training programs. Like, so many things you think, like, "This is a problem. I'm experiencing discomfort from this, but it's all right."

    26. CWChris Williamson36:07

        It'll get better.

    27. JOJonny36:07

        "It'll be better next week."

    28. CWChris Williamson36:08

        It'll fix itself.

    29. YUYusef36:09

        I mean, it, it's kind of obvious, it's a bit glib to say this, but all of our 30-second calls are, "Here's three things to stop. Here's three things to start."

    30. JOJonny36:17

        Yeah. (laughs)
11. 38:01 – 44:50

    Focus and elimination: “Everything is up for sale” (double down or quit)

    1. CWChris Williamson38:01

       I was talking to Chris Sparks, uh, yesterday, productivity expert, po- poker guy, and he lives on risk, right? Top 20 poker players on the planet, he li- he lives risk for a living.

    2. JOJonny38:10

       Mm-hmm.

    3. CWChris Williamson38:10

       That's his job to work out how much risk he's in.

    4. NANarrator38:12

       Manages it.

    5. CWChris Williamson38:13

       And he does ... And what he said was, um, at his end of year review, everything is up for sale. And I was like, "What do you mean by that?" And he said, "Nothing gets grandfathered in from year to year. Nothing that I do."

    6. NANarrator38:25

       That is cool.

    7. JOJonny38:25

       Yeah, that's ... So everything has to earn its right into the net.

    8. CWChris Williamson38:28

       Yeah, and he says he has two choices with everything that's in his life. Are you writing it down?

    9. NANarrator38:32

       Yeah.

    10. (laughs)

    11. CWChris Williamson38:33

        I recorded the call. I'll just send you the call.

    12. NANarrator38:35

        Oh, Chris.

    13. JOJonny38:36

        Yeah.

    14. CWChris Williamson38:36

        Um, sorry, Chris, if you're listening, mate. I didn't ask your permission. I'm sure you'll be fine with it. Um, so what he says is, as he ends the year, and this is such a clever heuristic, man, oh my God. As he ends each year, he has ... Looks at all of the different things that he's doing with his life. Relationships, friendships, business, hobbies, passions, et cetera. And he has two choices. One of them is double the amount of time that he's invested on it.

    15. JOJonny39:03

        (gasps)

    16. CWChris Williamson39:03

        And the other one is get rid.

    17. JOJonny39:07

        So practically, you have to cut, don't you?

    18. CWChris Williamson39:10

        You have to cut 50% of everything you're doing.

    19. JOJonny39:11

        Mm-hmm. Right.

    20. CWChris Williamson39:13

        Well, actually no, sorry, you don't have to cut 50% of everything that you're doing because you could get rid of a load of little things.

    21. JOJonny39:19

        Right. Okay.

    22. CWChris Williamson39:21

        You could actually cut 90% of the stuff that you're doing and it'd still only be 50% of your time.

    23. JOJonny39:24

        But what I suppose what you're saying is-

    24. CWChris Williamson39:25

        Or you could cut 10% of the stuff that you're doing and it'd be 90% of your time.

    25. NANarrator39:28

        Depending on how good things are.

    26. JOJonny39:29

        Yeah.

    27. CWChris Williamson39:29

        Yes.

    28. JOJonny39:29

        Yeah.

    29. CWChris Williamson39:29

        Yes.

    30. JOJonny39:29

        But it, it's the, the idea of always be, always be questioning everything that you're doing, always be removing things.
12. 44:50 – 1:00:37

    Durable business skills: email as the “hub,” search content as the long-term engine

    1. YUYusef44:50

       'Cause I asked our coach, um, like, "Should I, do you think I should learn to code?"

    2. JOJonny44:56

       Mm-hmm.

    3. YUYusef44:57

       Because that's something I'm not doing at all now, and potentially-

    4. CWChris Williamson44:59

       (laughs) Yeah, yeah, yeah.

    5. JOJonny45:01

       (laughs)

    6. YUYusef45:01

       And, uh, he said, "No, probably not, because it's not... It, it's not a good y- Like, it's such a big learning curve, and it's not a good use of your existing skill set."

    7. JOJonny45:09

       Mm-hmm.

    8. YUYusef45:09

       "Just pay someone to code and do the things that you do best."

    9. CWChris Williamson45:12

       One of the things that's interesting, I guess, as you get older is that the groove that you have greased is increasingly difficult to get out of.

    10. JOJonny45:21

        Mm-hmm.

    11. CWChris Williamson45:21

        It's like, "Okay, I have this amount of time, and the-"

    12. JOJonny45:24

        Sorry.

    13. CWChris Williamson45:24

        "... opportunity cost of spinning back around-"

    14. JOJonny45:27

        Starting from zero.

    15. CWChris Williamson45:28

        "... to go and go like, 'Okay, I'll code. I'll start coding now.'" It's like, well, hang on, you have all of these skills, all this experience, all this renown, all of this platform, what- whatever it might be that you have, and you're going to choose to no longer leverage any of that.

    16. JOJonny45:41

        Yeah.

    17. CWChris Williamson45:42

        So, there has to be this acceptance of like, "Look, where am I now? What is the position that I am in right now, and what are the skills that I have moving forward?" 'Cause I think all of the things that we've chosen that we've said there, like, um, already leverage on stuff that we do. So for me, it was like, "Look, stop thinking about what other people think." That would've made me a better club promoter. I already was a club promoter.

    18. JOJonny46:01

        Mm-hmm.

    19. CWChris Williamson46:01

        Um, focus on yourself and indulging in the things that you genuinely care about. That, that was something that I was massively lacking in, so that was getting rid of something I didn't need, and-

    20. YUYusef46:10

        So, what is an extra skill you can bolt on that won't just nullify all the previous experience that you've got?

    21. CWChris Williamson46:15

        Mm-hmm.

    22. YUYusef46:16

        So, in learning to code, I think if you have the skill of selling, and then you add learning to code on top of that, then you've got a combination that most salesmen or coders don't have the opposite of. And I think the people that do best at m- at the moment, like, at big tech companies, because they can sell and code, they can build something-

    23. JOJonny46:37

        And then market it.

    24. YUYusef46:38

        ... and match it to the market and sell it.

    25. CWChris Williamson46:40

        Mm-hmm.

    26. YUYusef46:40

        Whereas a lot of good coders don't think about front end or user experience or co- or, um, sales, and they're just focused on, like, the product and end up having this gap, or they create something that the ma- market doesn't need.

    27. CWChris Williamson46:54

        Mm-hmm.

    28. YUYusef46:54

        So actually ha- m- marrying those two skills would work really well. But-

    29. JOJonny46:59

        It's trying to find the...

    30. YUYusef47:00

        What's easier, teaching a salesman to code or a coder to sale?
13. 1:00:37 – 1:05:30

    Closing reflections: don’t take it too seriously, and first define what you want

    1. CWChris Williamson1:00:37

       We're coming to the end. Uh, uh, uh, what are some of the things that you've realized during this conversation, Johnny?

    2. JOJonny1:00:44

       Uh, that wherever you are giving people the most advice is probably where you need the advice the most. That's something I hear a lot at the moment.

    3. CWChris Williamson1:00:53

       How so?

    4. JOJonny1:00:54

       Like, I think the stuff that you-All this stuff that we've just said is all advice that we all need right now. And like, if you think about all the stuff you tell your friends, all the advice you're giving to people, like, look at that area of your life yourself-

    5. CWChris Williamson1:01:08

       Mm-hmm.

    6. JOJonny1:01:08

       ... 'cause it's probably the area that you talk loads about but you don't actually do much in.

    7. CWChris Williamson1:01:13

       Well, we're fantastic at f- talking a good game-

    8. JOJonny1:01:16

       Yeah.

    9. CWChris Williamson1:01:17

       ... and of giving people advice that we wholeheartedly require ourselves.

    10. JOJonny1:01:20

        Exactly.

    11. CWChris Williamson1:01:21

        What about you, Saf? Anything, any little gems come out of this one? Just short oil.

    12. JOJonny1:01:26

        Yeah, short oil.

    13. CWChris Williamson1:01:27

        That's right.

    14. YUYusef1:01:27

        (laughs)

    15. CWChris Williamson1:01:27

        Buy Bitcoin and short oil.

    16. YUYusef1:01:29

        Well, like, all, all of the things that are, like, we- we've gone general and specific, and actually all that advice does apply for the next 10 years too.

    17. JOJonny1:01:38

        Yeah.

    18. YUYusef1:01:38

        So if anything, it's such a useful exercise in life.

    19. JOJonny1:01:41

        It's the be- We've been, we've all been tricked, haven't we?

    20. YUYusef1:01:43

        Into-

    21. JOJonny1:01:43

        In giving ourselves-

    22. YUYusef1:01:44

        What is the advice we need now-

    23. CWChris Williamson1:01:45

        Yeah. (laughs)

    24. JOJonny1:01:46

        Yeah.

    25. YUYusef1:01:46

        ... for our 40-year-old selves, yeah?

    26. CWChris Williamson1:01:47

        "What would you give, what advice do you give yourself now?"

    27. JOJonny1:01:50

        (laughs)

    28. CWChris Williamson1:01:50

        Should've been the title of the podcast.

    29. JOJonny1:01:51

        Oh, that one there? There it is.

    30. CWChris Williamson1:01:52

        There it is.

Episode duration: 1:05:30