1.75M Q&A - Growing Pains, Social Anxiety & Dating Problems

What's happening, people? Welcome back to the show. It is a 1.75 million subscriber Q&A episode, and I'm here in the first episode from the brand new studio. This is the same room as we were in before, but it is new camera, new lens, new lighting, new art direction, new backdrop, new setup, new everything. So, let me know what you think. I really love this. I think it is a significant improvement on what we had before, and I'm very, very happy. Massive thanks to Dean and Bennett and all the rest of the guys that helped build this out. They did it while shooting a ton of other huge episodes. So, muy bueno. And, uh, yeah, there may be some technical problems over the next couple of weeks, but so far, so good. I haven't broken it yet. Uh, today, I'm gonna go through as many questions as I can. I asked for questions on Twitter and on Instagram and on YouTube Community. Let's get into them. All right. AJ55779: "What was your first job? Why?" My first job was as a room service boy at Tall Trees in Yarm, which was a hotel with a nightclub attached to it, and I used to give the drug dealers their breakfast delivery on a morning, and have to move bags of pills out of the way so they could put their tray down. And I was 16, 17, and they used to tip me, uh, £3. I think my wage was £4.50 an hour and they used to give me, you know, like, £2 or £3 tip. And that, for me, was insane. And I did that every Friday night, Saturday night, and Sunday morning for two years while I was in college because I was skint, and then I wanted money to buy stuff and, like, be more independent. So, yeah, that was a baptism of fire into the world of work. Anisa Feringa4965: "Love the show." Thank you. "You talked about why you moved to Austin and things you enjoy about the US. Aside from family and friends, what do you miss most about the UK?" There are some cultural artifacts that you have when you live in the place that everyone else has grown up with the same culture and upbringing that you have. If I want to make a joke about Greggs, or about Blackadder, or about The Inbetweeners, or about Prince William or something, tho- those are all accessible to me while I'm in the UK because everybody else knows what I'm talking about. Over here, I can't do that. And if I do do that, I then need to explain it, which kind of makes it pointless using it as a reference at all. So, what I do instead is I have to kind of think of, okay, what, what is something that I can... that I know about America that I can explain to the people I'm talking to that is the closest version to what I mean? And that sounds so small and silly, maybe, but it is kind of a big deal because it's the... it's how you position yourself. It's the way markers of how you navigate and, and put yourself within the culture. Uh, and it does feel kind of displacing in a way, uh, but it is more than worth it, which is why I'm still here. Daza15686: "Where did you get your teeth done?" Uh, so these teeth are all mine, as you might be able to tell, because the bottom ones are pretty fucked. But, uh, I have a composite veneer on this one because it got damaged playing cricket, like a true British gentleman, uh, when I was 14. And that's got a composite veneer on it. So, if you do want to get your teeth done, uh, David Breton, my friend in Newcastle at the Cosmetic Dental Clinic, I think he's still there, uh, he's the guy to go to. He's literally one of the best. He's been awarded a ton of, uh, awards and I haven't been to see him in ages. Sorry, David, I know I need to come for a checkup. But, uh, you should go and get your teeth done from him. Matteo Tatz: "Any comments on James Smith's recent video about the state of modern podcasts?" Yes, this caused quite a stir. So, for the people who didn't see it, James Smith, who is my business partner in Newtonic, released a video criticizing, um, controversy farming and inaccurate guest information that happens on podcasts. And his main point was about bringing on guests who don't agree with each other. And then, after you run out of guests, just trying to piss people off as a way to generate plays and views and stuff. I am glad that that wasn't directed at me and that I think he uses the show, at least in part, as a good example of someone who isn't doing that. I regularly text him and say, "Is such and such a person a bullshit artist?" And if he says yes, I often don't bring that person on. Or I don't think I've ever brought on someone that James has said isn't legit in the world of health and fitness, which is useful because I have James on speed dial, so that means I can do it whenever. That being said, people being drip-fed bullshit, it's not good. It, it is not going to make the world of information sense-making any easier. And if you are trying to optimize for plays aggressively, yes, that can lead to some pretty squirrelly outcomes. I- I've said it before, Russell Brand's podcast. Like, Russell Brand's channel is the patient zero for limbic hijack. Like, it doesn't matter, I- I've enjoyed some... me some Russell Brand videos too, but no one can look at the way that those videos are framed, or the intros, and say that that's a delicate, gentle, balanced way to put this information across. And then Coffeezilla responded and he released a video. I got a little feature in that. His issue was, uh, content creators getting out over their skis and talking about things that they don't have expertise in. I've mentioned this for at least three years, that just because you're an expert in fucking astrophysics doesn't mean that I should listen to you about virology or about the Middle East or about what we should do in the Ukraine. Yes, people should understand the boundaries of their competence. But that being said, if you're only ever going to speak about something that you are formally qualified in, I think he brought up the fact that Eric Weinstein is a mathematician and someone that was at Thiel Capital and he does physics or something, what is he doing talking about what modern women are attracted to?That kind of means that everyone is only ever allowed to talk about their expertise. And Coffeezilla's got a chemical engineering degree and has then gone on to do investigative journalism. His degree wasn't in criminology or statistics or in journalism or in writing or in video creation or in media, or in any of those things. It wasn't in crypto or coding. And he's managed to make a career out of doing something that he worked at quite hard, and I've enjoyed some of his videos, but I think he's wrong. I think he's wrong about saying this person is only qualified at this one thing, therefore that's all that they can talk about. The example was Eric Weinstein talking about, uh, what modern women want, but the problem with that clip is that it's me talking about what modern women want. It's Eric asking me the question, but the video stops after 10 seconds, and you don't see that it's Eric's statement to me that I respond to, as opposed to me asking Eric about his expert opinion. Another criticism that podcasts are getting at the moment is that it's more of a business than it is about communicating accurate information and (sigh) all of this other stuff. And (sigh) I gotta be honest, like there is this sense at the moment, at least to me, that this like ambient skepticism, and again, I haven't been the subject of direct criticism or take-downs. None of these videos, none of these like really, (laughs) like embarrassingly funny, scary, compelling to watch videos that are often done about podcasts that are critical, none of them have been done about me (thumping sound) yet. But it's not, like the felt sense of me as some bloke that has just done this thing for six years and now is in maybe the cross hairs or the blast radius of other huge big shows and people that have been on TV and all this other stuff, like it's- it's pretty disconcerting. Like I try and be honest, as honest as I can, that like I- I find myself now on podcasts neutering and nerfing some of the things that I say, or at the very least, getting nervous about talking and- and saying things because I'm scared that some guy, some fucking super funny faceless guy with a- a YouTube channel somewhere is gonna, uh, bring up a clip and then that's gonna be the beginning of everybody taking the piss or doing whatever. I mean like, guy who desperately wants the world to like him is scared of the world not liking him, like fucking shock horror. Or dude that was a bit unpopular in school is scared about being an outcast or whatever. Like perhaps and surprising, I need to go to therapy more evidently. But it's- it's like it's- it's pretty uncomfortable in- in some ways, like I am precisely the same in terms of my capacity to deal with criticism as you. I am some normal bloke that just did a podcast thing, and now... I haven't had any media training. There was at no point along this journey from six years ago doing a podcast on my couch with a couple of friends that no one listened to for three and a half years, to now having two million, nearly two million subs. And or, you know, all of these eyes and being in this- the- the- the realm of lots of other people and some of them have got good- good intentions and some of them have got bad ones, and some of them have got dodgy histories and you can't check all the time. I- it's- it's scary. It's- it's scary and it's disconcerting and I don't like that side of the culture. I don't like the fact that there is this ambient vigilance and skepticism and cynicism, and you see it in comments sections and it seems, I don't know... To try and give you as a listener of podcasts a piece of advice, if you want the podcasts that you listen to to keep going the way that they do, you need to learn to stand up for them if you think that they're in the right. Because a lot of the time I see these criticisms go out, and because people love to call out someone that maybe they've got a little bit of a grievance in with or whatever, that's fine. The people that have got a problem with any show are more than welcome to word their criticisms publicly, but if the people who support the show don't stand up and back that creator up, I can see, I can begin to see myself the inclination of how creators say, "Fuck them. I don't give a shit. They're just a bunch of poors or they're just a bunch of idiots." Or and- and completely blow off all audience feedback. I- I'm not at that stage, which is great. Like I like being able to take onboard constructive ideas about where I might have holes in my game or in the way that we're picking up guests or in the way that we're communicating stuff or in the ca- all of that stuff. Like I'm really, I- I love the fact that there is this unreasonably re- reasonable group of people that watch this show. But it's getting harder and harder because criticism grows more quickly than praise does. And because you remember the insults but not the compliments, any increase in platform size doesn't feel like an increase in support. It just feels like an increase in hate. And this very particular anti-podcast sentiment that's going on at the moment, from a felt sense, like it- it- it's kind of- it's kind of uncomfortable and, uh, it sucks and it makes me vigilant and kind of a bit scared to sometimes open up fully on the show because I'm like, "Oh my God, like what- what's this gonna be said? Like, um, poor podcaster complains about things being hard or guy thinks that em- he's full of himself because he talks about this most recent holiday." Like and maybe the argument is, well, what are you doing listening to people on the internet or you shouldn't read the comments or you shouldn't care or whatever it is, but by hook or by crook, like I do care and- and I don't want to compromise the things that I do. I don't want to get into the rhythm of hating or- or having distaste for the audience or discounting stuff. But I can see how that trend comes across, that people have just for so long...... seen criticism on the internet that they go, "All right, fuck you, I'm out. I'm not listening to you anymore." This is now an adversarial relationship, and I really don't want this to happen. So I'm trying to work hard at ignoring or taking w- in as good faith as possible stuff that is, like, hardcore criticisms, and then I'm also, uh, actively trying to be... Like, literally to just do this as well as I can, and to bring on a balance of people. There was also a couple of other criticisms that I had that have kind of come off the back of James. I brought Eric Weinstein back on again for the second time in seven months, I think, and had a great conversation with him that lasted for three hours. And there was a bunch of people that said something like, "Oh, looks like the beginning of the downfall of podcasts is here, like scraping the bottom of the barrel again. Coffeezilla or James must be right." I'm like, "Bro, go fuck yourself." I bring on more unknown creators or academics or intellectuals than probably any other podcast at this level. I think last year we had at least 20% of the podcasts, 20% of Modern Wisdom episodes were with people who'd never done a podcast before. So to say, "Oh, it's just the same circle of people, it's the same cycle of people going through," I don't think that that's true. I don't think that that's a fair criticism. I don't think that that's the way that I try and chase plays. I would be interested to know if there is another podcast at this level who brings on as many unknown people as I do. I don't think that there is, and I'm trying to work hard to find interesting, new, different people. But anyway, that's my, that's my rant, and usually I blast through these Q&As, uh, really quickly, but this is something that's on my mind, uh, quite a lot, and maybe I just need to stop watching these fucking channels online that are, like, keeping abreast... It's like the weather report for podcasting (laughs) . Uh, but yeah, like, my advice would be, and this isn't just for me, this is for anyone, like any channel that you like, if you like a channel, support it, uh, because it's fucking rough and no one teaches you how to deal with criticism. There's no training course f- m- media training course for, "Oh, and this is what happens when you get to this size." No one bestows on you the ability to not deal with vigilance and criticism and, and, and, like, harsh, cutting comments from faceless or nameless people on the internet. So, that's my two pence. Ryanpani7018, "Congrats on all your well-deserved success, Chris." Thank you. "You've mentioned it enough times where I go to ask, what is your Pickleball rating? Any plans for tournament play?" I don't know how you get your Pickleball rating. Is this on Whoop? Can I get this on Whoop or something? Uh, I play at the park there, and I play a couple of friends' courts, and I usually lose, so probably very low, but tell me how I get it. Emanuel Duceacuic7726, "Congratulations." Thank you. "This is the result of the work that you've put in, not the result of luck." Thank you again. "How do I manage the dichotomy between being grateful for how far I've come and wanting to become more? The dichotomy between working for my future and being present in the moment? I feel like there's always a tug of war between the two sides." Dude, this is the question. I mean, fuck if I know. I (laughs) ... This is, this is the challenge that I have every single day. I want to maximize what I can, I want to be the best that I can be, I want to do things well, and I don't wanna leave stuff on the table. But I don't want to be chasing the end goal so much that I never actually enjoy the process of getting there, because ultimately that's really all that matters. 'Cause you're gonna look back at any destination and realize that it was 99.9% journey, and only, you know, w- one day of celebrating achieving the thing. So I don't know. Uh, what I can tell you is that this... You are not alone in this challenge. It was probably the most common question that we got at the live show that I did, and, um, the few things that I know that you can do, one of the most practical ways to do it is to put Post-It notes around the house, and when you see the Post-It notes, write on it whatever you want, uh, just take 30 seconds to find a way to be thankful or grateful for something that's happening right now. Even if it's the functioning of your body or the fact that you used to have an injury and now you're pain-free, or it's good weather today, or you just had a great conversation with a friend, or you're gonna go out for dinner later on, or you just really had this success, or you, you really nailed that phone call. Whatever, however big or small it is, if you can string together a couple of moments like that of genuine mind rests where feet are thing, that seems to work for me, but it's rough. The, the... I, I need to work out what the solution is, and as of yet, I, I, I haven't. Axis1393, "I've been improving and pushing myself to do better, but sometimes my grit and determination feels like it's out of spite to people who put me down or anger at myself that I'm not good enough. What's a positive place you draw strength from when life is difficult? In a mental, psychological sense, we all know you can tank physical stress, ha." Wow, okay. The reason I'm laughing, I'm not laughing at the fact that you've got, uh, a feeling that you're not good enough. It's that these que... (laughs) Like I have an audience of people that are me that are... (laughs) Little bits of my pathologies, uh, so I'm... At least I'm, um... Uh, people like me are gravitating to this show. I'm accumulating an audience of people who have the same problems that I do, uh, which is maybe why all of the, the podcasts, uh, distaste or whatever, everyone's busy trying to not spite the people that put them down previously. They're not busy enough to be able to watch podcast takedowns on the internet. What's a positive place that I draw strength from when life is difficult as opposed to the anger and spite that you're not good enough? Look, this is a very... (laughs) I just gave the same answer again. It's a very difficult challenge. The reason it's a difficult challenge is that I am still dealing with this myself. I don't have the chip on my shoulder anymore. I got past that by, to be honest, just achieving so much more than I thought that I was going to that I already knew that I'd sort of blown past. Like the chip on my shoulder was... It wasn't enough fuel. It was like useless fuel. It had been spent.... anger at yourself that you're not good enough is something that I'm very familiar with. If I hit snooze on a morning, if I break my diet, if I don't train. Even tiny, tiny little things like doing a workout in the gym and this final rep, and pussying out of the final rep. It's not that I didn't just finish a final rep. That's some sort... I take that a lot of the time as a comment on me and my self-worth as a person. So if this is you, we are the same, brother. Um, also, I am in therapy at the moment, and you may have noticed this on the show that it's fucking creeping in everywhere, and I can't stop seeing patterns in myself, and it's made me a lot more introspective and kind of less confident in a way because I'm... All of the stuff that you hide, you can no longer hide because it keeps rising to the surface, which may also be one of the reasons why I'm not feeling as, uh, aggressive in my response to people that are critical online. Obviously, as well, I just did Rogan, so thank you to everyone that watched that episode. Uh, but that, if you don't want a ton of attention, going on the biggest podcast in the world is probably a bad idea. And I loved that episode and I loved all of the conversations and stuff like that, but even in that, as I'm saying a sentence and I realize that I meant to say that particular word and I didn't, I misspoke, or I meant to tell a story in this way and I didn't and I forgot something, I'll castigate myself during the moment that I'm not good enough, and that is exactly what you've just quoted. A positive place that you draw mental strength from when life is difficult has to be, "I just want to be better and I'm trying my best." That's all that there is. Getting wrecked by psychological strain, by you being your own tormentor is not worth it, and I have tried. I have tried an awful lot. You want to be better. That is something to be proud of. You want to leave it all on the field of play, you want to make yourself as good as you can, you want to make the world a better place, you want to have an impact. All of these things are just all positives. Fuck, I don't... I... Dude, I'm... This is me. I am completely battling with this same thing myself, so the best thing that I can say is remember that the affliction that you have is one that you should be very thankful for, even though you don't feel it at the time. MrPaul3D, "Congrats. Love Nutonic, by the way." Thank you. "Especially the lack of high carbonation. What are your plans for that brand? Will you leave it at a drink? Future flavors? Looking forward to future guests. This podcast has changed my life." Brother, thank you very much. Um, right now, we just need to have some stock, uh, because America didn't have stock. It may be restocked today when this episode goes out. I hope that it is, and we have finally got new production factory, new production, uh, supply, which is great. Um, organizing the supply chain for something like this when it's very, very high levels. Uh, we've methylated cobalamine. It's the methylcobalamin B12 which is more absorbable, and Rhodiola rosea and Panax ginseng. Rhodiola rosea is an endangered species, and we've got natural caffeine and we've... It... To source this, it takes ages, so we need to sort out supply chain. That should be done. Right now, I just want to get the drink in people's hands because we haven't had it in America for three months. Once we've got that, we'll look on to other things. But yes, for now, that's it. Thank you for not asking a question about some weird mental pathology I've got as well. Lilydizz8013, "Great podcast. How is your exponential success impacting your personal life and relationship?" Fuck's sake, um, okay. I am very much enjoying talking to more people that are... that like the things that I like. One of the coolest things about doing a podcast where I talk to people I'm genuinely interested in because I'm following my instincts, which also means I'm gonna make mistakes, but it means that I create an audience of people like me. At the live shows that we did across the UK and Ireland and Dubai and the United States and Canada, all of the people that came up, I would happily go for a coffee with because they were all like me because they've been selected for me. That bit's cool. Exponential success from the personal life side is what I said before. It's this... You're just being e-... I'm being watched by half a billion people a year and it's fucking terrifying, and I don't know what to do, and I don't know how to, uh, uh, w- deal with it, and there's only a very small number of people who can even understand this. And if you try and talk about it on the internet like I'm doing right now, it sounds like a champagne problem, "Oh, poor YouTuber boy who's dealing with this. Do you not know that people are starving? Do you not know that people are dealing with poverty and all the rest of it?" It's like, "Yep, I do, and yet I still am concerned about this sort of ambient vigilance thing." It's a mixed bag. I'm really, really happy with the show, I love the conversations I'm having. This new quality of production that we're doing and all of the things that it's opened up is awesome, but personally, it's a high price. Like, it is a high price that I pay, and that's my fault, and it's my mental pathology to deal with, and it's my set of challenges to overcome, and hopefully, when I do that, I will have a shit ton of really good insights and all of the questions (laughs) that you guys are asking, which are the same ones that I'm dealing with, maybe I'm just a couple of steps ahead, maybe I'll have some answers. So I'm seeing it as an opportunity to prove to myself and also to kind of go out scouting for solutions to some of the biggest problems that, that I think a lot of us are dealing with, and they're very normal problems. This isn't how to deal with the death of a loved one. This isn't, you know, huge, huge things. It's everyday challenges about, how do I maximize my potential and not leave things on the table? Wh- How do I balance my desire to be better with my, uh, bitterness from being criticized in the past? How do I deal with success without letting it get to my head or without letting it make me become too anxious? All of these things are...... one step at a time. It is an interesting journey at the moment. That's as far as I'll go. George Mack, "Let's fucking go." Thank you, brother. Uh, "What are the biggest midwit meme, (laughs) big midwit meme moments over the last five years?" Probably the biggest one would be something like, on the left, the guy on the left would say, "I just, I just follow my instincts." The guy in the middle says, "I will reverse engineer all of my principles and daily values into a optimized matrix to make my decision framework through." And the guy on the right would say, "I just follow my instincts." Like, ultimately, following your instincts is the best route, and it cuts out so much psychological pain from having to go through the guy in the middle of the midwit meme. Uh, "If you had to summarize the last 12 months into a sentence, (laughs) what would it be?" Rapid change is good and bad. Kam, "What's one area in your life you're looking to improve upon the most this year?" Ev- what is happening with these questions? I mean, they're great and stuff, but they're really de- and they're all about me. Anyway, "What's one area in your life you're looking to improve upon the most this year?" Fearing less, I think. This whole, uh, vigilance ambient anxiety thing, um, it's not gonna get less. The show's gonna keep growing and I need to deal with it. Uh, so that would be, that would be one. Uh, another one, uh, I mentioned that I'm doing therapy, which is fascinating and really, really rough. Like, really, really hard, to be honest. Um, dealing with that more, learning to kinda connect with my emotions would be something that's great, as opposed to this, like, (laughs) performative autism thing, which I've managed to create as some defense mechanism. That would be great. Uh, I'm back in training consistently, which is awesome, and I feel great. And I'm gaining a ton of muscle, and that's great. So, I guess those three areas. Deal with the byproduct of the show growing, uh, feel feelings (laughs) and, uh, uh, continue to get massive. That's really all there is. Marissa Allen, "If you could send one message out into the great expanse of space, and if there is life in- anywhere in it, they will receive it, what do you send? It can be anything in any format." I'd ask them, "What's your morning routine?" That's it. Dougie_House93, "What is up with all of the ads?" Lots of question marks. Yep, that's another one. Um, so look, these big shoots that we do, I've spent $35,000 in a single day on them for some of these shoots. And for the multi-day shoots, it's more. And I need to fly Dean over from the UK, and we need to have this huge amount of insurance for all of the kit, and we need to rent the kit, we need to rent the space, and we need to build a team, and we have... It's expensive. The only way that I can do these big shoots are by selling ad spots. I care and believe in the advertisers that I use. And if you don't like them, it's quite easy to skip forward. I... This is one of the things where I'm like, "Hey, go fully fuck yourself," because it takes so much effort behind the scenes to do it, to get this stuff to happen. So many, like, like, weeks and weeks of preparation, and then we all fly. We sit on fucking planes. Dean sits on a plane for, like, 18 hours to get over to Vegas or LA or whatever. And then we spend a full day prepping, and then we go in and we record. And I've done all of my research and, and we sit down with a guest, and then there's this huge edit on the back end and all of this stuff to create content that you get to watch for fucking free. And then the internet has a problem with three minutes of podcast on it. Like, the entitlement that people have. Do you know how much it costs to run a podcast? Like, (laughs) it's, it's insane. So, what is up with all of the ads? They're gonna stay. I want to continue making the most beautiful podcasts on the planet. That costs money. I can't bankroll it myself. I have to use advertisers. The only ones that I use are the ones that I work with. Uh, we turned down a huge deal, a life-changing amount of money deal. We just turned it down a couple of weeks ago from a very well-known advertiser because I don't agree with them and because I don't think that they're a valid product. The amount of sacrifices (laughs) that we make behind the scenes and the amount of revenue we leave on the table because of not wanting to play this limbic hijack game, because of not wanting to, like, use the, "They are coming for your kids. You won't believe what they're doing next," that on the titling and the thumbnailing, all of that stuff. So, the ads are staying, and if you don't like it, go fuck yourself. Mike O'Connor, "If you only had 10 (laughs) exercises for the rest of time, it's all you have in your library to stay as muscular as possible, what are they? It's y- it's time you weigh in, homie." Okay, Mike. So, I've asked this question of p- ten guests maybe, including Chris Bumstead, uh, greatest Olympia physique champion of all time, and Phil Heath, one of the greatest Olympia champions of all time. If I only had 10 exercises. Okay. So, uh, incline chest press, because it's the best chest exercise on the planet. Uh, pull-ups because... Overhand pull-ups. Shoulder press with laterals because I think that shoulders get... Uh, no, we don't need shoulder press. Just lateral raises. Incline press, pull-ups, lateral raises, leg press because I have a bad back. Fuck, this is hard. I've done this to so many people and I've been looking at them like, "Why are you taking all of this time?" Uh, standing supinated bicep curls, overhead tricep extension, quad extension, hamstring curl. What did I miss? I'm missing back. Missing... Uh, single-arm row.What am I missing? What am I missing? Another chest exercise? Another chest exercise? Cable flies. I think this probably explains why I have the physique that I do. That- that's the best that I can do. Christian von Uffe: "What's an example of a counterintuitive life lesson that's improved your life?" Uh, the more that you pay attention, the better things get. But the more that you're able to let go, the more enjoyable they are. Uh, I guess that's more like a contradictory life lesson than counterintuitive one, but that's what you're getting. That paying attention has been the single greatest competitive advantage that I've had, because I pay attention to things and I- I'm, I try to be precise and I care. I genuinely care, which is also a fucking problem. (laughs) Uh, but also, the more that you're able to let go and not fear about stuff, the more enjoyable you'll find it. So the thing that is making you better is the thing which is making you feel pain. And this is a perennial balance. Dylan Taylor: "If your 80-year-old self looked back at your life now, what will he say you're doing too much of and too little of?" (sighs) Too much time on screens, too much time on email and admin and busy work. And too little time just having fun and walking in nature and, and chilling out with my friends and shooting bows or playing pickleball or, or traveling. Uh, I work an awful lot because I obsess and I like doing the show and it's, it's gr- fun to me. But it's very hard. Because it's so rewarding, it's very hard to work out, is this the absolute best thing that I could be doing at all times? Am I doing it too much? Could I be doing it a little bit less and still get most of the gains from it? (inhales deeply) I don't know. Uh, but I think 80-year-old self looking back at me now, I'm not doing bad. I'm really, really not doing bad. I've got the top five deathbed regrets of the dying written on a whiteboard next to the, the desk where I work, and, uh, I look at that pretty regularly. So I'm trying my best to front load that. ASG: "What's the biggest podcasting lesson you've learned since your first episode?" Podcasting lesson. Lesson about podcasting or lesson from podcasts? Let's say lesson about podcasting. Silence. Silence is... The best podcasters have things to say, and the absolute elite podcasters know when to shut up. If you're able to sit with silence and just allow that to breathe a little bit. Now, even comedians do this. Comedians do it in a different way. They're not doing it to think or to... Mm-mm, they're doing it to think? (laughs) Comedians don't think. They're doing it for comedic timing as opposed to because they're grappling with some, like, super complex idea. But just allowing the room to breathe. Theo Von did this with Sean Strickland, right? Sean's crying, he's- he's, uh, struggling with this sort of traumatic memory thing. And Theo just let this silence sit. Lex asks Elon Musk, "When are we gonna get to Mars?" And it's a 30-something second break. Also awesome. Really cool. So best podcasting lesson is shut up, actually. Morten Kaasik: "Are you cognizant of the risks of becoming a meme of yourself?" Yes, I am. Heavily, heavily aware of the risk of becoming a meme of myself. And I try very hard to not lean into the same sorts of conversations all the time. It's one of the advantages of having such a broad selection of guests to choose from, that it's not always bro philosophy with Alex Hormozi or gym rat stuff with Mike Israetel, or social psychology insights with Rob Henderson, or evolutionary psychology with William Costello. You know, we've always got this broad range of things. But ultimately, you are you, and unless you continue to change you, you will have patterns and say things in certain ways. The way I say years, which Michael Malice told the entire internet about. Years and years. That's kind of a funny thing. So that, the fact that I've got this particularly prominent brow, uh, that's not going anywhere. Like, this sort of Klingon shelf thing that I have here, that this light really strikes perfectly. Let me see if I can... See? You see that? Yep. Someone actually said that (laughs) me and Mike Israetel on the episode looked like two different alien head races meeting each other. Like, two different species of aliens with different shaped heads meeting each other. Like, I was Predator and he was Alien. Really quite accurate and funny, which is why I couldn't get mad. Uh, but yeah, I'm cognizant of becoming a meme of myself and I really, really, really don't want it to happen, uh, because I wanna keep doing this thing and because I don't like the idea of a joke being made at my expense (sighs) that, when I'm trying my best. 'Cause that sucks. So hopefully it doesn't happen. Greg: "What is your goal/mission with this podcast?" I just wanna keep talking to people that I'm interested in, bro. I just want to bring on people that I'm interested in and just find out what they've got to, to teach me. I wanna understand myself and the world around me. And that's been the goal for six years now, and that will continue to be the goal. And I'm not going to change that. I have no obligation at all to anybody except for my own instincts, and that's it. My own in- curiosity. And as long as I follow that, I think that that's the way to go. So goal and mission is keep on learning about myself and the world around me, and people can come along for the ride. Calum Malkin: "Alex says you don't become confident by shouting affirmations in the mirror, but by having a stack of undeniable proof that you are who you say you are. How did you get the evidence for yourself? And do you think that the evidence is unlimited and you will never have enough?" How did I get the evidence? So I got the evidence quite largely through doing the show, because for a long time, I'd done pursuits where I could always excuse any success...... successful outcome as it being due to something else that wasn't me. So my imposter syndrome was so great that even if we had a good event at one of the club nights, oh, that would be because, you know, E-E-Everywhere else in town wasn't busy, or, you know, we really fluked it, or that's because of one of the boys, or that's because of the market conditions, or that's because of the way that we priced it. Not because of me. It wasn't because of my input. And then I started to do the podcast, which was much more of a one-to-one input to outcome ratio, the same as being a powerlifter, right? Like, you work hard and the numbers go up, and if the numbers go up and you pick up the bar, you know it's exclusively because of you and what you did. That's very difficult to hide. Lots of other pursuits, especially things that are part of a team or stuff where there just isn't as tight of a feedback loop between what you put in and what you get out, that is very, very easy to kid yourself into thinking that you aren't doing as well or that your successes aren't yours to own. That'd be the best way to say it. Mm. "Do you think that the evidence is unlimited and you will never have enough?" I think that you can always have more evidence, but I've managed to get myself to the stage where I am confident in my abilities, uh, and that I- I would have just- I just didn't have confidence in myself. I had... I was able to pretend like I had confidence. I had the simulacrum of confidence. Now, if you put me on stage in front of 500 people and said I need to speak for an hour, I'll do it. I'll be a little bit nervous before, but as soon as I get moving, I'll do it. That was something I couldn't even do six months ago. So I'm like, "Wow, like, I concentrated." So the solution to that is do 17 shows in 28 days across three continents. That's- that's a solution. It's crushing amounts of volume, crushing amounts of evidence, and after a while, it's- it's essentially impossible for that lack of confidence to stick about. So I promise you, if you just keep going, keep on building that mountain in layers of paint, it'll be fine. Martin, "How do you deal with having to spend a seemingly inordinate amount of time in front of a screen? For me, it can lead to isolation and a skew- skewed perception on reality. Do you ever think you're missing out on other things by choosing the path you have?" Absolutely, man. I think all of us are spending too much time on screens. I don't know anybody, even my mum, even my mum and dad, don't have a good relationship with screens. So with difficulty, I suppose, um, a- a few things that I've done practically, again, because I can just give you all of these, like, fluffy platitudes and trite little quotes and stuff, but really practically, what can you do? I live near a park. Living near a park is a good idea, I think, because you're right next to nature and the friction between you being in front of a screen and you being in the middle of nature is really small. So if you can, live near a park. That seems to work for me. Uh, it can lead to isolation and a skew- skewed perception of reality, 100% it can. I think that that's what a lot of the, uh, communities of people that have bound together over mutual hatreds of out groups are doing because that is reality to them. Reality is what they see on the internet. It's not what's happening out there, it's what's happening in the group chat or in the comment thread or whatever. Uh, do I ever think I'm missing out on other things by choosing the path you have? Well, yes, but by choosing other things, I would be missing out on this thing. So it's a case of picking what things are you prepared to miss out on. Right now, I want to do the podcast, I want to learn from people, I want to talk to them, I want to find out stuff and have cool conversations. That means that I'm not gonna get to travel and go on holiday as much as I want or learn about other cultures. That means that I don't get to spend as much time with my friends as I'd like. That means that I don't get to go out partying if I wanted to do that, because I need to stick to a routine and a schedule so that my brain doesn't fall apart. Anything that you do will come with an op- an opportunity cost of the things that you're not doing. Pick the things that you are prepared to not do, and then if they align with the thing that you want to do, i- your path is now clear. Chris Peterson, "Did Love Island help you with your confidence on camera, or did you have to get more comfortable as you did more podcasts? Hard to believe you never seem nervous when talking to very imposing figures on topics you aren't an expert in." Well, apparently that's the whole problem. Uh, yes, I wasn't aided really at all by Love Island. Love Island, it's so interesting that (laughs) if you ever go through multiple versions of you in life and then people in the future find out about things that you did in the past, each time it's a revelation. But to you, it's like, "Dude, I- I'd even forgotten that I'd done that." Love Island was now eight years ago, I think for me, maybe more. And then it gets resurfaced, like, "Did you know that Chris was on Love Island?" Or, "Oh my God, do you know this guy was on Love Island?" It's like, yeah, I- I... Of course I did. Of course I r- because I was there. Did I get more comfortable as I did more podcasts? Yes, absolutely. Like, doing podcasting and especially doing YouTube, doing this, staring into that thing, and anyone that's ever tried to do a b- video (laughs) birthday video for a friend where you're just looking at this black lens and you have no idea what to say and it's just like a hole staring at you and there's no one coming to save you, no one's going to come and help you, no one's going to say the words for you, and if you mess up over and over again, you're gonna feel like you can't speak and you're completely useless and your brain- you're brain dead. This is the best baptism of fire for learning how to communicate that you can have because no one is going to come and save you. No one's gonna drag you out when you get things wrong or when you get stuck or when you don't have anything to say. This is why I said it on the first episode with Rogan, sit down for 30 minutes once a week and have a fake podcast with a friend. Put your phone on record, all other phones out of the room, put it in the middle of the table and just talk to each other about (clears throat) an idea, and you will be able to listen back to the way that you communicate and realize, "Oh my God, I didn't even know that I had that verbal tick." And after, I promise you, after... If you did that for six months, your communication would be so insanely different. And obviously the extreme version of this is to actually then publish it on the internet and make it into a podcast, but that-... can be a big deal for people. Sitting down for half an hour, that's not. Uh, I do feel nervous, especially before sitting down with Rogan, I had to train really, really hard. Here's the solution, train hard as hell, and then you can't really feel feelings anymore. Uh, and then the nerves adjust. You've got doms and you've got nerves, and that, uh, th- the nerves die because the doms take over. So, that was my solution there. Captain Reece, "Will the podcast grow in the same direction as your life? If we see you having kids, will you do more dad-centric content?" 100%. I am very much looking forward to learning about bringing up kids and, uh, family life and k- ... I could become a prepper in five years' time. And again, this is the whole follow your instincts thing. Who knows, I might get r- real deep into AI or into '80s jazz or something. And guess what? There's gonna be a ton of episodes about '80s jazz and AI. And for the people that that's for, that's great, and if not, that's- that's not. But yes, I think there's no way that I'm not going to be changed by s- something like becoming a dad, getting married, having a family, uh, e- dealing with the passing of f- friends and- and- and family members and all that stuff. And the show is an outgrowth of me, you know? For better or for worse, it's- it's- it's me and where I'm at in life. It's not, you know, I- I- I don't know what's going on in Coffeezilla's life. I don't know if he's got kids. I think he's married, but I don't know what's happening. Like, his content is always about that out there, but it's not really about his instinct of what's going on with him related to his content. For me, that's not the same. Uh, I keep my private life pretty private, but I'm also following whatever interests I've got. So yes, dad-centric content, aging gracefully as a man, dealing with drops in testosterone, dealing with losing family members and people growing older and getting a dog or whatever it is that's gonna happen, all of that's in the post. Lewis Stroud, "Why are nine-to-fives looked down on within the self-improvement space, and how to get past it if your purpose is aligned within a nine-to-five career?" Y- I have noticed this. I- um, I don't think I've ever personally actually been disparaging of someone that has a nine-to-five, because I have been someone that's had a nine-to-five, albeit not for long. I did it for six months. But every single person that I knew growing up had a nine-to-five or bigger, and my dad certainly did, and then coming from a working class, a super working class background, I've- ... I've always felt a little bit uncomfortable with the way that nine-to-fives are disparaged. I don't think that the only way that you can enjoy your life is if you pivot and do something yourself. I think it's a very reliable route to do it, and I encourage as many people to do it as possible, but I- I try not to look down on people that are doing that, because it's the lion's share of most people. How to get past it if your purpose is aligned within a nine-to-five career? Fuck 'em. It doesn't matter. Like, I've made huge, huge, huge developments while I was staying up until 4:00 in the morning, 5:00 in the morning running a nightlife business. You can make huge developments in your personal growth journey while you're doing a nine-to-five. And if your purpose is aligned within a nine-to-five career, it doesn't matter. Like, that's your thing. Just lean into it, enjoy that, and all of the guys that don't know when they're supposed to start or when they're supposed to stop, or they've gotta be the task master, or they don't know what they're supposed to today, and they don't get holidays, and they don't get ... All of that, you don't have to worry about any of that. There are tons of advantages of having a nine-to-five, and if you're enjoying it and your purpose is aligned with it, nail the self-development on an evening time, make sure that you lock into a hard routine, and you are going to, you're gonna have a great time. So, I'm, uh, genuinely, genuinely, genuinely envious of people that have great nine-to-fives where their purpose is aligned to it, especially if they've got a lot of, um, oversight and structure, because it takes all of the pain ... I did a video ages ago, uh, you might be- even be able to find it, uh, I can't remember what it was called. Something like, uh, r- "Ten Reasons to Not Start Your Own Business," or something like that. And it was about precisely this, that it's not all it's cracked up to be to go and work for yourself. So, uh, the disparaging of nine-to-fives, I'm- I'm not on board with that. MrMeldrew693, "Who do you think would win in a fight, eight mildly irritated squirrels or a drowsy beaver? Please provide working (...) : kind regards" (laughs) . Uh, eight mildly irritated squirrels or a drowsy beaver? That beaver's fucked, dude. Eight? Four versus one? That would be, I'd be interested to see that. But even a- even a normal squirrel, let alone mildly irritated, would, I think would be, uh, a handful at the very least. That beaver's wrecked. So, squirrels struggle to coordinate, but they just rush the beaver, uh, running around it on all sides, little scratching, biting, squeaking things. And that drowsy beaver's ... he's- he's wrecked. Unless someone comes in and gives him a- a Lucozade or a NuTonic. If he had NuTonic, actually, if we made beaver tonic, uh, he would be fine. But unfortunately, not happening. Uh, J- jelch, jelch28, "How to be free from others' opinions?" Uh, I don't know, here's the guy that's worried about the entire internet, uh, being critical of the industry that he's in. I don't know. I don't- I don't know what that solution is. See, here's the problem with doing therapy, that it keeps on coming up whenever you're trying to have a conversation, whenever you're trying to hide whatever your concerns are. Um, some of the ways that I've been able to find to do that are that most people don't like themselves, so caring about someone else's opinion of you is kind of pointless. Like, you wouldn't respect someone's insights on strength if they didn't know strength and weren't strong.If these people don't like themselves and don't know you, their opinion of you means absolutely diddly-squat. Also, most of the people who have critical opinions of you probably have critical opinions of almost everything, and it's not really about you. It's probably about them, or it's about the way that they see the world. So, others' opinions that are negative a lot of the time are actually just projections of what they hate about themselves, or they're the way that they see the world at large, and it literally isn't about you. So, both of those things, I- I really try hard to remind myself that, uh, it's probably not about you. Other people's opinions of you are more about them than they are about you. Techie8036, "Explain your back issues. Did visiting Dr. Stuart McGill fix it? What about your stem cell treatment in South America? Please share your back-fixing story and the current state of your back health. Cheers." Okay, so quick recap. Back... The Chris Williamson back odyssey. I had a bunch of bulging discs when I started doing CrossFit, because it's CrossFit, and because I was excited, and because I was lifting heavy and I'd never lifted that heavy before with moderately poor form at a very high intensity. Um, L3, L4, and L5, S1. Two bulging discs. MRI's not good. Tried to work on it, kept on having those sort of spasmy back attacks that anyone who's got a bulging disc or herniated disc will be familiar with. Went to go and visit Stu McGill. Stu did a full assessment on me. I flew to Canada and then drove to Gravenhurst on my own for the first time, driving on the other side of the road. This is five... Four or five years ago now. And, um, yes, he made a huge impact. I did hundreds of hours, maybe, maybe thousands of hours of his big three, uh, which you can Google online quite easily. If you have a back problem, I highly recommend doing the big three every single day. First thing in the morning when you wake up. If you've got really bad back, do them twice, once in the morning and then once in the mid-afternoon. Uh, and I've done that hundreds of hours. I've done it on a paddle board in Lake Norman. I've done it in Dubai. I've done it in my house in Newcastle. I've done it in gyms all over the UK. I've done it in Austin. Uh, and yes, it's made a big difference. Stem cell treatment in South America that I did last year, I went to BioXcellerator, and I got 200 thou- 200 million stem cells over the space of a week, including intradiscal and every lumbar facet joint. So literally into the disc of my spine. I was asleep. Um, that was interesting because it forces you to have a big deload for around about three months. It's really hard for me to work out how much of this was stem cell and how much of this was deload, because I'd never taken a three-month deload off anything, and I looked skinny and fat and slow and awful, but my back didn't hurt and my knees didn't hurt. My knees had been hurting before as well. I highly recommend a combination of heavy deload and Stu McGill's big three. Current state of my back is I haven't had a, uh, back spasm attack in nearly two years now, which is very good. That's muy bueno to me because it was pretty consistent, you know, every couple of months to every six months or so. Um, that being said, I'm working around it. I don't deadlift, I don't squat, I don't do anything that involve... I don't do good mornings, I don't do bent-over rows. I don't do anything that causes that shearing, what's referred to as a shearing force, going through my spine, bending over. Um, so I work around it. I do a lot of lunges, heavy, uh, uh, suitcase carry lunges. Uh, I do a lot of box step-ups. I do a lot of leg press. You know, I've worked around this. I've adapted my training so that my back isn't, uh, injured. But if you are someone that has a back problem, buy Back Mechanic, the book by Dr. Stu McGill. It's very accessible, very practical. Do the big three once or twice a day, take a deload from whatever you're doing, and learn to do proper back hygiene, as it's called, spinal hygiene, which involves keeping a very neutral, good spine. I always get... Uh, James always makes jokes about me that, uh, I stand up really straight, like this, that I've got such a good posture. But I don't think I did have a good posture until about five years ago, and then I just hurt my back so much that I became hypersensitive and hyper-aware of my posture, and now I do stand up straight. It's a shame that I didn't do that 10 years ago. Anyway. Parkas696, "What have you done in your life that you are the most proud of? Conversely, what have you done that you're the most ashamed or disappointed?" Jesus. Um, what have I done that I'm the most proud of? Moving to America, I think. I'm very proud of that. It was super hard to do. Administratively, it's a nightmare. It takes ages. We submitted this three-inch-thick, 700-page portfolio, and then the first day that I arrived in Austin, I was waiting to get picked up by the Uber outside of this block of flats that I lived in, and I was just so thankful. Looked up at the sky, and it was something that I'd made, right? I'd moved my life from this place where I was, where I was... Things were good but not great, to a place that I was excited about and I felt like I was exploring and adventuring and being a pioneer. And it was all because of me. No one else had done it. No one else had made it happen, no one else had... Uh, it was all me. And that, that made me feel very proud. Uh, what have I done that I'm the most ashamed or disappointed about? I was a bit of a dick to, uh, girlfriends when I was younger. Like, I- I wasn't super faithful and I- I lied and did stuff li- like that, and I really hated that version of myself. You know, I was an outgrowth of the club promotion industry, but it was on me that I wasn't the boyfriend that I should have been, and I don't like hurting anybody, especially not people that have done nothing wrong, and that's a person that I don't wanna be. So, that's something... I don't know whether it's the thing that I'm the most ashamed or disappointed about myself for, but it's certainly something that I- I- I keep in the back of my mind. Like, don't treat people that haven't done anything wrong badly. And, uh, I'm- I'm doing really well. Uh, that- that was a big change. That's probably one of the biggest changes that I've done that I don't talk about much. Uh, Alicia Melnyk..."For me personally, I'd love to know more about you being a successful person integrate joy with your purpose and drive. Life is all about finding the right balance for the season you're in, but I've been getting really excited about trying new things and wanting to balance that with what I'm driving at. What brings you joy? And do you have a metric for when you need to rethink or engage with that area in order to fuel your drive?" This is something that I've been playing about a good bit, which is trying to have more fun. Like, I... literally, the question that I have for this year is, is it possible to be world-class whilst having fun? That was, that's the question for me this year. It may be that in order to be world-class, fun has to go out the window. Mm. If that's the case, it'll be... it'll make me sad, but it's whatever. Like, that's a price that you perhaps need to pay. But I'm really, really trying to do this. So, uh, what brings me joy? Hanging out with my friends, uh, being outdoors, doing new things, visiting new places, going for good food, especially in diff-... like adventure and novelty for me are, uh, very invigorating. It's also a great way to make, uh, time slow down. When people say, um, "I can't believe how quickly this year has gone," what they mean is, "I don't remember the days that have gone so far in this year." One of the best ways that you can slow this down is to add more memory units, and memory units are highly derived from how much novelty there's been. If you drive the same route to work every day for three years, that's basically a thousand journeys that's condensed down into one memory. Unless there's one day in particular where it was rainy and you skidded, or you were involved in a car crash, or someone gave you a phone call and told you that you got a raise or whatever. Like, you'll remember those. But because it's always the same thing, it just gets condensed down into one, essentially one memory. So, trying to vary and add as much novelty in as possible is very good. That's something that I try and do. I try and adventure as much as I can. I try and do new things with new people, meet people, go out for different, different dinners and travel and do all of that stuff. Uh, "Do I have a metric for when you need to rethink or engage with that area more in order to fuel my, my drive?" Yeah. When I can't bear to sit down and do any more work, and I'm like, "Right, I think I need a break," and that's when it works. WeezyTF2: "You've mentioned how you adopted a train-like-an-athlete mindset in pursuit of podcasting. Any info as to what that regimen entailed?" (sighs) Yeah. So, I... this was something that I came across about four years ago, uh, three and a half years ago, in the middle of COVID. I just really, really wanted to become better at doing the show, and that meant that I had to cover all of the different bases. So, for me, in pursuit of podcasting, I took a bunch of different, uh, content creation courses, like, uh, 30 Days to a Better YouTube Channel from Video Creators, Ali Abdaal's Part-Time YouTuber Academy. Uh, I learned thumbnailing and title design. I learned, uh, channel strategy for YouTube. I got a voice coach. Uh, I started prioritizing sleep and hydration, and I played about with nutrition to work out what makes me, uh, sharper when I'm on an episode, and it turns out that it is just basically no carbs or fully fasted. Uh, I started playing about with nootropics, which is what Nootonic kind of was born out of, I suppose, even four years ago. Um, what else did I do? Started obsessively watching content creators that communicated in a way that I wanted to be like. A lot of that was Alain de Botton from The School of Life, bit of Peterson, good bit of Rogan. Um, and just looked at what they did and, and deconstructed the way that they spoke and, and the way that they communicated, and then tried to fold that into who I am. So, I didn't just become some, you know, shadow version of them, but I was like, "Okay, I really love the way that pauses were used there, or that he asked a question with a statement," or whatever it might be. Folded that in and then worked on it quite diligently. There was a period the show got worse through... during 2020 and 2021, because I was being so deliberate with everything that I said and really trying to bring in all of this learning that the show's flow actually got worse. But I needed to do that in order to then build that skill up and then come out the other side. Or maybe it's still getting worse. Who knows? Allen1779: "What were you doing in Utah?" I was giving a keynote at... It's the first-ever keynote that I've given, which is pretty fun. Um, and I did that for a, a convention, uh, thing for a group of people that are part of a huge mastermind, 500 people. That was cool. Uh, and then the guys said, "What are you doing at 5:30 AM?" And I said, "Sleeping." And they said, "Let's go skiing." And I've never skied before. So, I got to go halfway up, like, I got to go to the top of the start of a m- of a hill. I got to go to the top of the start of a hill, uh, before the actual (laughs) hill begins, and I got to, uh, play about skiing. And that was, that was pretty cool. Um, it's like fun to do something... to feel like you're in a place for a really short space of time and you got loads done. Utah was beautiful though, especially being in Austin, which is just flat as a fart everywhere. There's just, there's no hills. The entire place is super flat. Uh, and then to be in Salt Lake City, for the people that have never been, imagine a huge mountain range in a U-shape and then a lake, and someone looked at the gap in between the horseshoe of the mountains and the lake and said, "Let's make a city there." And that's Utah, or at least that's Salt Lake City. Simonday1714: "Huge geez." Thank you. "My question is how/when you decide to push back on ideas of your guest, or if that is something you consider?" Great question, man. So, I've, I've mentioned this before. My... therapy speak again. My people-pleasing nature is so strong. I don't want to upset people. I don't want to make people feel uncomfortable, and my cringe meter is like toe-curlingly hyper-attuned. It's something that I'm actively working harder at. And I totally get it that if you're Ben Shapiro or, or Destinee or HasanAbi or, you know, Jeremy Paxman or Douglas Murray or whatever, to them, it just seems effortless for them to find some criticism or to sit in the discomfort of saying something that makes the other person feel really uncomfortable or, or, or difficult and to just sit in it.... like I was talking about with that silence, say the thing and just leave it there. Um, that is such a huge, it's a genuinely difficult challenge for me. And, uh, for other people, it may come easily in the same way as for me staying fit may come easily, and for somebody else going to the gym might be an absolute nightmare. Um, that's something I'm genuinely, genuinely actively working on. I tried hard with the Eric Weinstein episode. There was a bit where he brought up something that I really don't agree with to do with, uh, sex and gender classification. And, uh, one step at a time. But that's- that probably should've been the what you're looking to work on this year. Uh, like my disagreeability, my skepticism, and my scrutiny within the episodes, and also in my- in my personal life, of just being able to say what I mean and say what I think without worrying about how it's going to make the other person feel. Like it's not being impolite, it's being honest. And that is- that's a big... Uh, if I can get that, and I- I'm confident that I can, but when I get that, uh, I think that'll be a- a really big change. But you're like observing me go through quite a big, um, transformation I suppose at the moment going from wherever I was to whatever it's going to be for probably the next couple of years. It was pretty well set up until about a year ago or so, and then the last year has been tons of change, and then especially the last six months there's been so much change. And coming out the other side I'm hoping that it's gonna be a little bit less change 'cause the... Yeah, things like growing as much as they have is- is odd, and this is something I have to develop, something I have to get better at. And I'm trying, and I really hope that you guys have faith in me and- and believe that I am doing it. Faboulline7039, "Congrats on 1.75 mil." Thank you very much. "By the time you've seen it, it's probably close to about two mil." Yes, it is. Uh, "Have you ever thought about interviewing more musicians? I think someone like John Mayer would make for a fascinating conversation." Never spoken to John Mayer, never seen him, uh, but yes, I would love to. I tried to get Sleep Token, uh, I know that's a bit of a difficult ask given that they're pseudonymous and also don't talk, but then Two, the drummer, I think it's Two or Three, did a, uh, drum, uh, thing on YouTube. That was pretty cool. Uh, so yeah, I'd love to. I, uh, Eric Prydz is someone that I'd be interested to talk to. Uh, I know that, uh, Oliver Tree, I think he's called, uh, I know that he's floating around, uh, and he seems really, really interesting. Also Oliver Heldens, uh, I met in Guatemala about a year ago, uh, and he- he's a pretty interesting dude, totally sober, like interesting guy. So yeah, I'd love to. Uh, Fred again, I mean God, if I could get that guy on that would be amazing. But let me know, any suggestions .......................... Arr409, "When are you getting Jonathan Haidt on the podcast? His new book is coming out soon and his work aligns with a lot of the things you talk about in your podcast. Things like social media addiction, mental health amongst young people, and the increasing social ineptitude of young adults." He is booked on. I've got him on for his new book, which is called The Anxious Generation, I think. I really hope I've got that right. But, uh, everyone should check out, uh, Jon Haidt's work. It's really good, very incisive. Uh, and he'll be on within the next month or so. Uh, NaomiGX4RC, "How do you ensure each episode provides value to your audience?" I... As long as it provides value to me, I assume that some non-zero number of people in the audience will also find value from it. It's too hard, it genuinely is, and it doesn't work, and I've tried it a while ago and it really doesn't work, to think, "What do I need to do to make the audience happy?" Because I am not you guys, I am me, so the- the only thing that I can do is follow my curiosity and follow my instinct and be like, "Does this add value to me?" And just assume that I'm an avatar for you. And again, this is what I meant. I don't mean to come- keep coming back to it, but this is what I meant about not wanting to desensitize myself to seeing- seeing myself as part of- as an extension of the audience itself. As like just the guy at the tip of the spear and then everybody else being downstream from that, because I want to continue to just do things, to- to- to be as representative as possible. To like have, to be as open and as messy as I've been today. I'm usually much slicker than this, but I'm- I'm trying to work hard to be more honest and more open, uh, emotionally about what it is that's going on. And if I do that, I have to assume that some non-zero number of people in the audience are feeling the same thing. Even if their situation's different, they're not in Austin, they're not a podcaster, they're not British, they're not whatever, I have to assume that there is a good chunk of people that are like that. And that was what I- I always wanted. I always wanted someone that was a couple of steps ahead of my journey telling me about what the path ahead was like. "Here are some pitfalls. Here are some ways that you can expedite success. Here are some things I did that didn't work. Here are some things I did that did work." And if I just keep doing that, I have to. It's the only thing I know, and it's the most authentic and it's the most honest and it's the only way that I can do it. And if it provides value to me, hopefully it'll provide value to you guys too. So that's my totally unsophisticated strategy. Sandor Clegane, cool name, uh, "Outside of the US and the UK, where are some of the countries you've envoid visiting the- enjoyed visiting the most? What's on the top of your list of places you'd like to visit in future?" Great question. This is a simple one, isn't it? I don't need to speak to my therapist about this. Um, Bali was very good. That's the most quintessential white guy (laughs) thing that I could've said. Bali was really good. Thailand was-... okay. I very much enjoyed Pai up north, and I very much enjoyed Koh Samui. I think that Phuket is a shithole, and I think that Chiang Mai is a little bit of a shithole, and I think that Bangkok is a huge shithole. Uh, where else have I been that I've enjoyed? Guatemala was, uh, cool, although not super safe. Uh, Medellín in Colombia was awesome. Comuna 13 was super, super dope. Uh, Rome is my favorite city on the planet, and Athens was also phenomenal. I just love history. So those are great places. Uh, top of the list of places I would like to visit in future, um, I'd love to do Venice. I would, I've already done Florence, which was phenomenal. Um, anywhere that's got history. Egypt, I'd like to do. Um, Japan, I would like to do. There's a ton of places. I've still never even touched Australia. I've got this weird obsession with Antarctica as well, so I'd love to go there, see the wall. Um, there's a lot of places. Rohan Maghade, Maghade, "Can you tell us about your spiritual beliefs?" Uh, mi- minimal, I guess. I don't know what spiritual beliefs are. I have a bunch of friends. One of my good friends that works for us, uh, Ben, is Mormon, and he loves his faith, and I went to, uh, Ripon Cathedral with him and his wife and my mum on Christmas Eve this year, and that was beautiful. Um, but, uh, my spiritual tank is relatively low. Uh, Mum's a Reiki master, so she's spent a long time doing distant healing, and, and she does stuff with crystals, and she talks about the moon and stuff like that. And that's, I, I really enjoy that. But for me, uh, faith is a gift that I'm yet to be given, so I guess we'll wait and see if that changes. Amen, Austin. Dan Henson, "How do you get so many great guests on your podcast? How did you start?" Send DMs, bro. Honestly, the number of people that just respond to DMs, especially if it's, uh, brief, and if it is, um, respectful and it's easy to respond to, you'll be surprised how many people will just say yes. So just start throwing them out. Uh, and also networking. Like, once you get to, you know, the mid-level or above guests, it really only comes by referral, uh, unless they're a fan of what you do already and you've got a, a real sort of warm lead-in. But even now, if I wanna bring, like I, I wanted to bring Jocko Willink on the podcast, there's a lady who follows the show, that's a fan of the show, who'd like tagged me in a story and I'd reposted it, and then she'd heard me say I wanted Jocko, and she's like, "Oh, I did some writing with Jocko," and then she looped me in. So (laughs) like, I was the most tenuous of connections to get Jocko Willink on, and that was two years ago. So network hard, send DMs, that's, that's literally all I've done. Small Chief, "Congrats." Thank you. "How do you ensure that you continue to push content that you stand by, and not just for trends or views?" Again, it just, it has to be, am I interested in speaking to this person? And I'm not always sure, right? Because like there's sometimes people that you're not sure if they're going to be interesting and you're like, "Oh, that book sounds all right. Oh, that, that documentary sounds okay. Oh, I enjoyed that episode that they did there." And then you don't, the conversation can be of varying levels of, of interestingness, but I can always tell, because the morning that I wake up when I've got that episode later that day, if I am absolutely fired up and I just can't wait to get training out of the way and to leave it and to do all the rest of it, and sit down and have a conversation, and I'm prepping with 'em and then I have a conversation, I'm super excited, the excitement in advance 99.9% of the time is a great indicator that it's gonna be an amazing episode, and it's very rarely wrong. And then there's other times so I'm like, "I'm gonna be, you know, we'll see how this person goes." I'm blown away. And then very rarely, I have an episode and I'm like, "Hmm, that was okay." Like, but it, it wasn't, wasn't phenomenal. I just need to spend as much time as possible, the way that I push content that I stand by and not just for trends or views, the way that I do that is to just have as many of those days where I can't wait to speak to the person, because I'm not thinking while I'm (laughs) spending an entire day learning about this person and their ideas and, and, and doing whatever, I'm not thinking, "Oh my God, I can't wait to release this because it's jumping on a trend or it's gonna get us lots of views." Like I, I'm thinking, "I can't wait to learn from them. I can't wait to hear what they're gonna say to this. Oh my God. Like there's this new study that's just come out about this thing, I've gotta get their opinion on that." Like, just do that. Just follow my instinct. It's just instinct. And this is something that I need to keep reminding myself as well. So even if it sounds a little repetitive with some of the questions today, these are things that are important for me to remind myself, and saying it out loud isn't something that I do all that much. So this is useful, uh, technique for me to make sure that I'm remembering it. This is @username556, very clever, "Congrats on this step toward two million and beyond. In one of your talks with Alex Hormozi, you brought up the idea that you can't split test life. What do you think would be the best way to prepare yourself for/if you go all in on one of the splits and it fails?" Easiest thing, is it a reversible decision? You can go all in, but is this a reversible decision? Because if it is, it doesn't matter. That's how you prepare yourself. You prepare yourself by choosing things that are right. If it is not a reversible decision and you still decide to go all in on it... you'd better hope it works. Wo- witchcraftsboss79, uh, all of these usernames are so hard, "How do you see the fact that podcasts are more and more just profit-oriented and therefore invite people who claim having a lot of knowledge but-"... only are here for publicity or selling their product. There often is an interest, conflict, and contradictions, but oftentimes the podcasts claim them to be experts. But what is really true? I see this trend a lot, for example, in the Diary of a CEO podcast, would love to hear about that. Greetings from Germany." The final word, "Greetings from Germany," may explain why I had a little bit of trouble (laughs) in speaking that. Uh, thank you for the question. "Uh, do you see the fact that podcasts are more and more just profit oriented?" I don't know it's Stephen's profit oriented. I, I know that the team is very aggressively growth oriented, but I don't know if it's, if he treats it like a business more than that. We speak, last time we spoke was a few months ago, uh, briefly over WhatsApp. Um, I don't know if he treats it like a business. Uh, there is, uh, contradictions, yes, but there are contradictions in every podcast. There are contradictions in this. I had an episode with Brad Wilcox who was talking about Get Married, his new book, and it's a, perhaps unsurprisingly, it's pro-marriage. And then I've got James Sexton coming on who is a divorce attorney. It's your job as the audience to figure out how you sit within this world of people. If it's like, right, you had this guy on that's pro-veganism, therefore you can only have other people on that are pro-veganism, it, that's not the way that it works. But the problem that you have, and one of the things that I'm fortunate in this show that isn't as big of a deal for me, if you have things that are hard sciences, like, there are facts about diet. There are ways that the body works. There are studies that can be done and research that can be con- conducted that will give statistically significant, reliable, replicable results. Right? Those are hard facts. Me bringing on someone who is pro-marriage and marriage-skeptical, these two people have two different perspectives on the same thing because they are different people, because they have seen the world in different ways. There is no real such thing as seeing the gut in a different way or seeing stars in a different way. You can have different opinions about this stuff, but I understand why, especially when it's to do with your own health, when it's to do with this sort of anxiety. What, what people want with health and fitness, especially from a show like Stephen's, is reassurance. "I am doing the thing, oh, this is what I need to do." Right? That's the, "Finally, thank God for that. That was the thing that I need to do." And if someone then comes on and after they feel like they've got the answer, that answer is then thrown into question, quite rightly, that's gonna make them feel like, "Oh, my God, I thought I just had this thing and that's not, hey, hey, what, what's happening here?" With marriage, like if you're coming to a podcast for it to tell you whether or not you're supposed to get married, you are in the wrong place. You can find out perspectives and insights. I think that, yes, it is if there is a show which is prioritizing profit over communication, uh, and to the quality of the guests and all the rest of it, I think that that's a high-risk strategy. But there are a whole host, maybe most of the conversations and the topics that we talk about, that are on you to do your own sense-making about. Like, you can read a book and then read a different book that has an alternate point of view. It's not the job of the books to, uh, figure out between themselves who's correct. It's the job of you to do the sense-making to work out how this is. Now, yes, a show is curated by a single person, and should they be bringing in that other, uh, insight? "Well, I learned about this before, and what about that? Hang on a second." Yeah. Yeah, probably, but it's an amalgamation of choosing your podcasts carefully and of ensuring that you use your own mindset and your own sense-making abilities to take all of the information that you have with as big of a pinch of salt as you can, knowing what you know. Lot of conversations, lot of questions about this stuff, which I think means that my insight around this, like, weather report of, uh, skepticism around podcasts, I think that's accurate. Aaron Munt, "As a man about to enter his 30s newly single for the first time since 17..." Wow. "How do I navigate this new arena of dating? Apps were not even really a thing when I was last single." Yeah, wow, dude, I remember standing on the front door of LQ Nightclub in Newcastle swiping on Tinder. I got to the stage, because it was, Tinder was really new, I got to the stage where there was no more people in your area. It's like, holy shit, imagine that. Like, i- it would be basically impossible. I think you could probably swipe right for the rest of your life and not have no new people in your area in a big city. Uh, I would say (laughs) you're in for a hell of a ride, dude. Um, "How do I navigate this new arena of dating?" I don't, I, I actually think you might be at a bit of an advantage here. I think that a lot of people are overthinking dating, and obviously this is something that you're doing too, but I don't think that you need to. I think that if you're about to enter your 30s, you've been in a relationship for 13 years, you're probably pretty fucking good marriage material. You've evidently shown that you're able to commit to someone for a long time. You have, you're sufficiently reliable and, uh, uh, consistent that you make a great partner. If you're looking to get into another relationship, I don't think you're gonna have any problems. I think go slow, don't expect too much, be forgiving of yourself if you have a, um, a ba- a couple of bad dates, because maybe it is a bit of a new world. I, I, I haven't dated for a while. Uh, but yeah, uh, I think you'll be fine. I think that you're, you, you al- already sound like marriage material, so you won't have any problems.Candilaramota367. "Would you ever consider interviewing scientists studying near death, dead, and life after death? I became interested in that research over the last few months following my father's death, but I am somewhat skeptical. I admire your interviewing skills and would love to hear a conversation between you and any of those researchers like Bruce Greyson, Sam Parnia, et cetera. Best wishes from Guyana." Wow, Guyana. Thank you. Um, I had a conversation with a guy called Paul Evans who had a, uh, NDE, near-death experience, and he was really interesting. People can go back and listen to that one. Maybe it's in the hundreds, I think. Um, yeah, tha- that sounds pretty interesting. I'll do a little bit of research on those people, but, uh, I'm kinda skeptical. I'm pretty skeptical to be honest. But, um, yeah, we'll see. I'll do some research and come back to you. DarrenCollins850. "Congrats, Chris. Keep up the great work. My question is, do you think there are valuable lessons worth taking from people who present themselves as villainous?" Interesting. I wonder who presents themselves as villainous. People who seem villainous, perhaps. Well, yes. I think that there's valuable lessons taking from t- to be taken from anybody, and this is one of the problems, again, that exists in tribal parts of the internet, which are that if you're only going to learn things from people who you completely agree with, you're going to be defeated and outstripped and- and outgrown by people who don't have that level of tribal bias. So for instance, let's say that you were ardently pro-vaccine and there is someone that was anti-vaccine during COVID. You say, "That person was anti-vaccine, therefore moving forward, I am never- I'm never gonna listen to anything they've got to say. Whether it's about mindfulness or- or- or geopolitics or lifting or whatever it might be, I'm never gonna listen to them." Well, okay, but you are going to lose out, and it's kind of the same here. You know, I don't like villainous people. I don't know how many of them I've come across, but I don't wanna be around them. I don't like the idea of them. But no one owns the truth, and if someone says something that's accurate, like, the separating the message from the messenger and the artist from the art I think is very, very important. You will learn significantly quicker if you can teach yourself to discover insights both from people who you usually agree with and people who you usually disagree with because it basically quadruples the pool. There are way more people that you disagree with than agree with, and if you can learn to take insights from them as well, your ability to learn will- will increase an awful lot. So yes, I think it is worth doing it. Kiwireese05. "When is Nutonic coming to Australia?" Soon, man. I mean, unfortunately, your government doesn't like a bunch of the compounds we have in this. The UK government also doesn't like a bunch of the compounds that we've got in this. The US just doesn't really care and we could put fentanyl in it and it'd be fine. Uh, but UK, we had to get rid of some stuff, and now we were- we ended up with this. Uh, Australia is just unhappy with- with, like, they're very, very stringent. Their equivalent of the FDA or whatever, uh, is super stringent. And- and it's not like we've got anything, like, insane. It's just effective in here. Uh, so soon I hope, but I don't wanna do some half-assed product that isn't effective. So if we can't get replacements that are as well researched as the ones that we do, maybe not until Australia changes their laws. AmyRobinson4451. "Congrats, Chris. Absolutely fab stuff." Thank you. "What was the reasoning behind the Nutonic logo? And what's your favorite type of YouTube videos to watch?" Okay, so this is this sort of... This new camera's face tracking is gonna kill me here. Uh, so this is an eye. It's a big eye. It's generated by, uh, I think DALL-E, and the reason that we did that was we wanted something that you couldn't put down, and I think it's the most beautiful can that I've ever seen. It's really, really cool. Uh, and as soon as we saw it, we just fell in love. You can go and watch the launch video on my- on my page. The first time I ever saw it, I was like, "Oh, that is cool." And then we adapted it and adapted it. Uh, what's my favorite type of YouTube videos to watch? I watch all sorts of stuff. I'm really into World War II history documentaries at the moment, which I think Shane Gillis calls early onset Republican. Um, I'm enjoying that. I'm enjoying a lot of stuff around, uh, physics from David Kipping that does Cool Worlds. Uh, Melody Sheep, also more of the same. Uh, Lemmino, phenomenal, uh, YouTuber. Uh, a lot of documentaries basically. Um, those and, uh, some fitness stuff. Mike Israetel. I can't... I watch all of his stuff. It's great. RanjanKandel2924. "How do you pick momentum back up when you lose a bit of steam? Any reframes to change your mindset to feel like it's going downstream rather than upstream? Love the pod, Changing Lives." Thank you, and I feel you with this. It's a vicious cycle. When things are going well, it is easy to make them go better. When things are going badly, it is more difficult to even slow that down. So yeah, I feel you. When you lose a little bit of steam, I- it sounds so trite, and I know that you're going to th- 'cause I would think this. You're going to think, "That's fucking too obvious." And- and- and, "No, I wanted something that was more of a hack." Just start small and don't stop. Two great rules for this. Even the smallest amount of contribution to whatever the thing is that you're supposed to do cons- constitutes done, and never miss two days in a row. Going to the gym can consist of one- one exercise, four sets, 15 reps, and then you're like, "Okay, uh, didn't wanna go in. That sucked and it was really low," or whatever.... almost all of the energy, almost all of the activation energy when you've lost steam is spent on starting doing a thing, not keeping it going. It's all about starting. So you have to reduce the friction on the starting. That means environment design. Uh, read Atomic Habits by James Clear. You probably have done already, but read Atomic Habits by James Clear or reread it to remind yourself of it. Even when reading the book, "I can't be bothered to read your book," okay, re- read half a page, read one page, read a sentence. All of the energy is deployed in getting over the hump at the start, not in keeping going. So just realize that as so- th- beginning to get things to go downhill is, it starts as soon as you begin the thing. Second thing, never miss two days in a row. Never miss two days in a row, because if you miss two days in a row, that is no longer a mistake. It is the start of a new habit. Those are my two things. And I use this, I use this all the time. Blue Wave3417, "Chris, do you think the podcast explosion is a good thing? Are so many platforms really a net positive, or do you think there's too many voices out there?" I don't understand this question. I don't understand how it would be a net negative. There's too many voices out there, I don't know what that means. I do think that the podcast explosion is a good thing because it changed me an awful lot. It took me from being someone who didn't understand himself, who didn't know how the world worked or, or how to show up and behave in the world, or whether I was personally cursed by the way that I saw myself and people around me and the challenges that I had, and I started listening to people who had exactly the same issues and, and thought patterns and insights and fears and goals and dreams that I did. And the more opportunity that there is for individuals to be that avatar, to be that person who is like, "Oh, they're like, they're like me, but they just know a tiny bit more, and I can learn from them by being in their slipstream and I enjoy it," that's great. Uh, is there a risk of people being too confused? Yeah, but that's on them, that's not on the, that's not really on the creator. It's like if there's too many voices, that there's so many shows and you don't know which one to choose, like, that's not, that- that's not on the creator side of things. You have a multiplicity of options, continue to try them until you find someone that speaks to you. I think it's absolutely a net positive. Uh, I... 100%. (inhales deeply) Mull-anaic. Mul- mul- mul-an- Mullaniac. Mullaniac, "Do you have a process for balancing your own internal imposed high standards of execution, mental, physical, karmic, with grace, learning, opportunity to grow when you found yourself not meeting the very standards that if you were to expect the same from another person it would be seen as nitpicky and unattainable?" Dude, this is very similar to whatever it was, the first or second, second question, right at the top. This balance between high standards and, and grace and, and allowing yourself with becoming and being, it's the perennial question. Listen to what everybody is saying. It's the same challenge. You... This is not some personal curse. You are not malignant or- or broken. This is a feature, it's not a bug, of the way that life works, and it's something that I deal with as well. (inhales deeply) Do I have a process for balancing those high standards? I have faith that I tried my best. And that sounds so trite, and I wish that it didn't. It's like the Netflix and chill of the effort and personal development world (laughs) . But genuinely, if you tried your best, what more could you have done? And if you didn't try your best, what were the things that meant that you didn't try your best and how next time... Okay, it's the, uh, Conor McGregor's coach, what's he called? Conor McGregor's coach wrote a book that was Win or Learn. It's literally that. Like, and that means that you don't lose. You either succeed at the thing that you were doing, you meet your high standards of execution, or you don't, and you go, "Okay, let me have a little reflection on that. This isn't a comment on me as a person. I'm no less of a person for not being able to get this thing done. How do I take whatever I've just done, whatever failings I had, whatever pitfalls I encountered, change that, and then move forward and it won't happen again?" And again, that's what the never miss two days in a row thing comes from, that it's this very sort of, uh, uh, positively looking forward, uh, mentality. Ryan Utterback, "Congrats, Chris. Is it just me or do women seem far more anxious of men than ever before? As far as I know, statistically, male and female violence is the lowest it's been in history. Yet I feel like another hurdle I have to overcome in the dating market is being super sensitive to women's aggressive perceptions of men. I don't know if these women are ingesting too many crime documentaries podcasts." Wow, that would be an unseen... Who's calling out the crime podcasts? That's what I want to know. Crime Junkie. They're ruining... That's the pink pill problem. It's not... Uh, don't- don't be worried about the red pill, it's the pink pill coming downstream from Serial and fucking Crime Junkie. Uh, I... Personally, I don't think it's that. I don't th- I don't think it's bec-... I would guess it is a, uh, whiplash overreaction to Me Too. I think that, uh, a lot, especially of Gen Z are spending more time on their phones. Everyone has ambient anxiety. Also, everybody is observant of the way that others behave on the internet and they're scared of that scrutiny being turned on themselves, they're scared of being part of some... You know, all that you're hearing is the worst stories in the entire world 24 hours a day globally fed into your eyes and ears, you'd probably be pretty, uh, scared too. Like, this is one of the things that, um, a guy I was talking to over the weekend... Who the fuck was I talking to? Who was I talking to? I can't remember. I was talking to someone, and I remember, I remember this, uh, insight being really interesting, which was guys don't realize how much of a big role fear plays in the way that women show up in dating. And it seems like this is true as well. Uh...I think it's Me Too. I think that what that did was bring to the forefront... There's this idea of, I think it's called, uh, c- uh, collective sociality, um, which is what happens to other people is also my problem, uh, which means that if some other woman has been attacked and it's in the news, which is being more exposed than ever before because we have 24-hour news and ubiquitous access to the internet, that's all... That- that has an impact on my life. I'm part of this. It is part of this sort of communal socialization thing. And, uh, yeah, I- I- I think it's, I think it's difficult. But I think that also you can signal quite easily, quite quickly that you're not a creep, and, uh, once you've got past that and you've got into a zone of safety, I think that women should, at least in my experience, seem pretty warm. All right, I think that's it. Ladies and gentlemen, I really appreciate you. Uh, look, bit of a different one today, and maybe this reflects my... just where I'm at with the show. Like, I- I adore it and I'm not stopping, I promise. And I have no... I haven't even thought about stopping, and I don't want to, and I'm not going to. But I would be lying if I said that I wasn't in this weird transition period between this guy that just started a thing with his mate, Dean, and just wanted to talk to his friends, doing it once a week, and now it's three times a week and we spend 30 grand, 35 grand a day to fly to Arizona and record with Jordan Peterson. And there's advertisers, and there, there's this pressure to perform, and we don't do that, then we've 35 grand in the hole and that's not gonna be good. You know, all of this stuff, scrutiny online, all this shit. Um, I'm really hoping that I'm gonna come out the other side of whatever this version of transformation is and, like, really be appreciative that I went through this. Um, but yeah, I- I would genuinely appreciate a lot of support and stuff if you guys have got it in the tank, if you want to. Like, all of the nice comments and, and, and things and feedback. Maybe, you know, the Ryan Holiday Stoic in me shouldn't be as, uh, at the mercy of other people's opinions, and maybe at some point in the future I won't be, but I kind of don't like that. I don't... I... In a way, I don't like the idea of that. It's like I want to take compliments and, and all of the nice things that you guys say. I want to take that to heart. Uh, so anyway, I'm, I'm, uh, I'm gabbling and I will let you go, but I appreciate you very much, 1.75 million. I'll see you at two million. It'll be very soon. Some huge guests coming on over the next couple of months. I genuinely do appreciate you. Big love.