Life Hacks 208
Jonny (Propane Fitness) (guest), Yusef (Propane Fitness) (guest), Chris Williamson (host)
In this episode of Modern Wisdom, featuring Jonny (Propane Fitness) and Yusef (Propane Fitness), Life Hacks 208 explores supplements, systems, and sneaky tools for a smarter daily life This Life Hacks episode with Chris Williamson, Jonny, and Yusuf is a rapid-fire tour of practical tools, apps, and small behavioral tweaks to improve productivity, health, and daily efficiency. They cover habit formation via “reward” supplements, smarter use of phones and reading tools, digital note capture, journaling, meditation and mobility systems, plus travel and money heuristics. The discussion blends concrete recommendations (apps, websites, rules of thumb) with banter, skepticism, and reflections on how to turn good intentions into consistent habits. They end by swapping media recommendations and poking fun at gullibility, gaming addiction, and restaurant chaos.
Supplements, systems, and sneaky tools for a smarter daily life
This Life Hacks episode with Chris Williamson, Jonny, and Yusuf is a rapid-fire tour of practical tools, apps, and small behavioral tweaks to improve productivity, health, and daily efficiency. They cover habit formation via “reward” supplements, smarter use of phones and reading tools, digital note capture, journaling, meditation and mobility systems, plus travel and money heuristics. The discussion blends concrete recommendations (apps, websites, rules of thumb) with banter, skepticism, and reflections on how to turn good intentions into consistent habits. They end by swapping media recommendations and poking fun at gullibility, gaming addiction, and restaurant chaos.
Key Takeaways
Use a ‘sweet’ supplement as a habit anchor for your stack.
Taking one gummy-style supplement (e. ...
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Turn frequently used websites into ‘apps’ on your phone home screen.
On iPhone, using Share → Add to Home Screen for log-in portals, course platforms, or web apps effectively creates app-like shortcuts, keeps you logged in, and removes friction from repeated access.
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Capture and resurface what you read to avoid ‘vanishing books.’
Tools like Readwise sync Kindle/Apple Books highlights, email you daily resurfaced quotes, and can export to note systems. ...
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Dictate book highlights from physical books with Otter.
By leaving Otter recording while you read and speaking aloud sentences or thoughts you find important, you can later retrieve a searchable transcript of your highlights without interrupting your reading flow with manual note-taking.
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Pay invoices immediately to earn preferential treatment.
Settling invoices as soon as they arrive builds goodwill and trust with freelancers and vendors, making them far more likely to prioritize your work, help on tight deadlines, and go the extra mile in future collaborations.
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Use simple stock rules: ‘one is the new zero’ and buffer levels.
For recurring purchases (supplements, toiletries, etc. ...
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Systematize mobility and meditation with structured apps.
The Ready State app offers equipment-filtered, time-based mobility sessions with testing and streaks, while Brightmind turns Shinzen Young’s complex meditation system into a progressive, guided course. ...
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Notable Quotes
“The hack is have one supplement that you take per day that's a sweetie.”
— Jonny
“One is the new zero.”
— Jonny (phrase coined/echoed by Yusuf)
“Businesses often tend to manage their working capital by paying things as late as they can, but on a personal level, always pay invoices early.”
— Chris
“I think it solved the frustrating thing about reading—that it feels like you read a book and then it just vanishes.”
— Jonny (on using Readwise)
“Learn to roll… it’s a great way to improve your physical confidence and reduce the risk of injury.”
— Yusuf
Questions Answered in This Episode
How do you decide which habits are worth ‘rewarding’ with something like a gummy supplement, and which should stand on their own?
This Life Hacks episode with Chris Williamson, Jonny, and Yusuf is a rapid-fire tour of practical tools, apps, and small behavioral tweaks to improve productivity, health, and daily efficiency. ...
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At what point does using summary services and tools like Optimize.me or Readwise start to undermine deep reading instead of supporting it?
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How can someone choose between different meditation and journaling approaches (Headspace-style vs. Brightmind vs. Morning Pages) based on their personality and goals?
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Is there an ethical line when using tools like twelveft.io to bypass paywalls while still wanting to support quality journalism?
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What’s the minimum effective dose of mobility and physical ‘prehab’ that most office workers should aim for to avoid the kind of chronic injuries the hosts describe?
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Transcript Preview
It sounds like the workload of making that app must be huge.
So they, they modeled MobilityWOD on Pornhub, I think originally, because who better, who else has got lots of videos that need, like, tagging and filtering and categorizing. So the original mWOD website, when it first got launched was based on that. And it just got so-
You can choose, like, when, when you go stretching, you can say like Brazilian, BBW.
(laughs)
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. (wind blowing)
Jonny and Yusuf, welcome to the show.
This is a really exciting one.
Why?
'Cause it's the first time we've got proper setups. We're not just using a potato.
You're not beaning it as much as you used to. Yeah, this is HD hacks.
HD potato.
That's it, man. Uh, so-
It's a slightly better potato.
... if you're not used to life hacks, we go through tools, techniques and tactics for a productive and efficient life. And then the other two people tear it down or say that it's amazing, and immediately acclaim that person as the new victor. Uh, we'll get through whatever it is that we have a chance to do today, and then maybe time for some things that we've been watching, Netflix's stuff, at the end. And as is tradition, uh, Johann Sebastian, there's a hot potato for you.
Caught it.
What have you got?
I have caught it. So my life hacks today are as a result of having done a version of 75 Hard at the start of this year. So if people aren't familiar with that, it is a largely stupid idea where you do lots of training and drink lots of water and do lots of very difficult things for 75 days in a row. And if you skip a day, you have to go back to day one again. So as you can imagine, skipping a day is fairly bad news. Um, so one of our friends was gonna do it. He did the proper version. I did like a scaled back version, but I ended up having to do loads of habits very consistently that I've not, you know, without skipping a day. So lots of kind of efficiencies and hacks as it were.
Have you got the full list of the official 75 Hard?
I don't, but I, I, I'm worried that'll derail things.
Okay.
You know, I wanna get to the, to the meat.
To the meat. Right.
So one of the things that I did every day was, uh, just to take my supplements every day, which is something that we probably all do with like decent consistency. Something I found that made it really easy to do, and I'm not really sure how you two are gonna react to this. I ordered some apple cider vinegar and some collagen from MyProtein in the form of a ch- like a chewy gummy. (laughs)
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