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 mu 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 going to go through as many questions as I can I ask for questions on Twitter and on Instagram and on YouTube Community let's get into them all right AJ 55779 what was your first job why my first job was as a room service B at tall trees in yam 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 I could put their tray down and I was 16 17 and they used to tip me3 I think my wage was £450 an hour and they used to give me you know like 2 p or 3 pound tip and that for me was insane and I did that every Friday night Saturday night and Sunday morning for 2 years while I was in college because I was skin and then I wanted money to buy stuff and like be more independent so yeah that was uh baptism of fire into the world of work and Nissa feringa 4965 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 Gregs or about Black Adder or about The Inbetweeners or about Prince William or something th 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 um but it is more than worth it which is why I'm still here dazer 15686 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 [ __ ] but uh I have a composite veneer on this one because it got damag 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 at David Breton my friend in Newcastle at the cosmetic dental clinic I think he's still there uh he's a 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 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 tats 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 and say is such and such a person a [ __ ] 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 dials that means I can do it whenever that being said people being drip fed [ __ ] 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 squirely outcomes I I've said it before Russell br's podcast like Russell br's channel is the patient zero for Olympic 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 have mentioned this for at least three years that just because you're an expert in [ __ ] 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 teal 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 Coffey Zilla has 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 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 statement to me that I respond to as opposed to me asking Eric about his expert opinion another criticism that podcast getting at the moment is that it's more of a business than it is about communicating accurate information and all of this other stuff and I got to 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 takedowns none of these videos none of these like really 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 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 crosshairs 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 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 [ __ ] super funny faceless guy with a a YouTube channel somewhere is going to bring up a clip and then that's going to be the beginning of everybody taking a 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 [ __ ] shock horror or dude that was a bit unpopular in school is scared about being an outcast or whatever like perhaps unsurprising 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 2 million subs and all you know all of these eyes and being in this 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 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 more than welcome to Words Their criticisms publicly but 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 [ __ ] them I don't give a [ __ ] they're just a bunch of pors or they're just a bunch of idiots or and and completely blow off all audience feedback I'm not at that stage which is great like I like being able to take on board constructive ideas about where I might have holes in my game or in the the way that we're picking up guests or in the way that we're communicating stuff or in the C 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'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 going to be said like um poor podcaster complains about things being hard or guy thinks that he's full of himself because he talks about this most recent holiday like and maybe the argument is well what 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 hooker 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 [ __ ] 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 with 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 s months I think and had a great conversation with him that last for three hours and there was a bunch of people that said something like oh it looks like the beginning of the downfall of podcast is here like scraping the bottom of the barrel again coffee Ziller or James must be right I'm like bro go [ __ ] 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 quite a lot and maybe I just need to stop watching these [ __ ] channels online that are like keeping a breast it's like the weather report for podcasting 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 your channel support it uh because it's [ __ ] rough and no one teaches you how to deal with criticism there's no training course 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 pens Ryan pany 7018 congrats on all your well-deserved success Chris thank you you've mentioned it enough times where I got to ask what is your pickle ball rating any plans for tournament play I don't know how you get your pickle ball 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 Emmanuel D du 7726 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 [ __ ] if I know I 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 want to leave stuff on the table but I don't want to be chasing the end goal so much that I never actually enjoyed the process of getting there because ultimately that's really all that matters you're going to look back at any destination realize that it was 99.9% journey and only you know 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 right on it whatever you want uh just take 30 seconds to find a way to be thankful or grateful for something that 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 painfree or it's good weather today or you just had a great conversation with a friend or you're going to go out for dinner later on or you just really had this success 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 axis 1 1393 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 mental psychological sense we all know you can tank physical stress H wow okay the reason I'm laughing I'm not laughing at the fact that you've got feeling that you're not good enough it's that these qu I an audience of people that are me that are in little bits of my pathologies uh so I'm at least I'm um 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 my life is difficult as opposed to the anger and spite that you're not good enough look this is a very just give 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 pass 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 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 on my selfworth 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 [ __ ] creeping in everywhere and I can't stop seeing patterns in myself and it's made me a lot more interspective 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 Lov 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 [ __ ] 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 Mr Paul 3D congrats love new tonic 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 we methylated calam it's the methyl cobalamine B12 which is more absorbable and Roda R and panex Jin saying rodol R is an endangered species and we've got natural caffeine and we've 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 asking a question about some weird mental pathology I've got as well Lily dis 8013 great podcast how is your exponential success impacting your personal life and relationship [ __ ] 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 going to make mistakes but it means 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 it I'm being watched by half a billion people a year and it's [ __ ] terrifying and I don't don't know what to do and I don't know how to 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 he'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 [ __ ] ton of really good insights and all of the questions 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 how do I balance my desire to be better with my 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 [ __ ] go thank you brother uh what are the biggest midwit me midwit me moments over the last 5 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 instinct 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 in 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 what would it be rapid change is good and bad cam what's one area in your life you're looking to improve upon the most this year 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 are looking to improve upon the most this year fearing less I think this whole uh vigilance ambient anxiety thing um it's not going to get less the show's going to keep growing and I need to deal with it uh so that would be that would be one uh another one 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 kind of connect with my emotions would be something that's great as opposed to this like 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 uh uh continue to get massive that's really all there is Marissa Allen if you could send one message out into the great expansive 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 dogie house 93 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 [ __ ] 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 [ __ ] 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 the 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 [ __ ] free and then the internet has a problem with three minutes of podcasts on it like the entitlement that people have do you know how much it costs to run a podcast like it's insane so what is up with all of the ads they're going to 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 ones that I work with 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 that we make behind the scenes the amount of Revenue we leave on the table because of not wanting to play this limic 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 [ __ ] yourself Michael Connor if you only had 10 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 it's time you weigh in homie okay Mike so I've asked this question of 10 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 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 pups 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 [ __ ] 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 supern bicep curls overhead tricep extension quad extension hamstring Co what do 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 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'm I try to be precise and I care I genuinely care which is also a [ __ ] problem 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 look back at your life now what will he say you're doing too much of and too little of 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 pickle ball or or traveling uh I work an awful lot because I obsess and I like doing the show and it's it's 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 I don't know uh but I think 8-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 frontload 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 no one 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 they're doing to think comedian 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 Shan Strickland right Shan's crying he he's struggling with this sort of traumatic memory thing and Theo just let this silence sit Lex asks Elon Musk when are we going to get to Mars it's a 30 something second break also awesome really cool so best podcasting lesson is shut up actually Mort cic 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 hosi or Jim rat stuff with Mike isrel 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 yours which Michael malice told the entire internet about yours and yours that's kind of a funny thing so that the fact that I've got this particularly prominent brow that's not going anywhere like this sort of cling on shelf thing that I have here that this light really strikes perfectly let me see if I can see see that yep someone actually said that me and Mike isrel 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 want to keep doing this thing and because I don't like the idea of a joke being made at my expense that when I'm trying my best because that sucks so hopefully it doesn't happen Greg what is your goal slm Mission with this podcast I just want to 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 want to 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 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 people can come along for the ride talum Mulin Alex says you don't become Confident by in 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 would be because you know 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 onetoone input to outcome ratio the same as being a power lefter 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 the Pursuits especially things that are part of a team or stuff where that 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' be the best way to say it 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 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 say that 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 a 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 SK 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 mom even my mom and dad don't have a good relationship with screens so with difficulty I suppose I'm 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 in a SK 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 going to get to travel and go on holiday as much as I want I'll 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 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 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 seen 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 is so interesting 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 did you know that Chris was on love island or oh my god do you know this guy was on love Island yeah I I of course I did of course I 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 video 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 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 going to feel like you can't speak and you're completely useless and your brain your 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 going to 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 30 minutes once a week and have a fake podcast with a friend put your phone on record all the phones out of the room put it in the middle of the table and just talk to each other about 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 are just you've got Doms and you've got nerves and that the nerves die because of the Doms take over so that was my solution there Captain Reese 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 I could become a prepper in five years time and again this is the whole follow your instincts thing who knows I might get real deep into AI or into 80s jazz or something and guess what there's going to be a ton of episodes about 8s 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 something like becoming a dad getting married having a family uh dealing with the passing of friends 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 don't know what's going on in coffee zilla'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 going to happen all of that's in the post Le stoud why are 9 to FES look down on within the self-improvement space and how to get past it if your purpose is aligned within a 9-to-5 career I have noticed this I um I don't think I've ever personally actually been disparaging of someone that has a 9 to5 because I have been someone that's had a 9 to5 albeit not for long I did it for six months but every single person that I knew growing up had a 9 to5 or bigger and my dad certainly did and then coming from a working class a super workingclass background I've I've always felt a little bit uncomfortable with the way that 95s 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 Share of most people how to get past it if your purpose is aligned within a 9 to-5 career [ __ ] it doesn't matter like I've made huge huge huge developments while I was staying up until 4 in the morning 5: in the morning running a nightlife business you can make huge developments in your personal growth Journey while you're doing a 9-to-5 and if your purpose is aligned within a 9-to-5 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 are they've got to be the task Master they don't know what they're supposed to do 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 9 to-5 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 going to have a great time so I'm it genuinely genuinely genuinely envious of people that have great ninet to- fivs 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 able to find it uh I can't remember what it's was called something like uh 10 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 I don't know they're disparaging him 95 I'm not on board with that Mr meldrew 693 who do you think would win in a fight eight mildly irritated squirrels or a drowsy Beaver please provide working kind for God eight mildly irritated squirrels are a drowsy Beaver that Beav is [ __ ] 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 the very least that Beaver is wrecked so squirrels struggle to coordinate but they just rushed the beaver uh running around it on all sides little scratching biting squeaking things and that drowsy beavers he's he's wrecked unless someone comes in and gives him a a Lucas a or a new Tonic If he had new tonic actually if we made be a tonic uh he would be fine but unfortunately not happening uh jch jch 28 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 absolute 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 the way that they see the world 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 techie 8036 explain your back issues did visiting Dr Stuart Mill fix it what about your stem cell treatment in South America please share your back fixing story in the current state of your back Health cheers okay so quick 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' never lifted that heavy before with moderately poor form at a very high intensity um L3 L4 and L5 S1 two bulging discs MRIs not good tried to work on it kept on having those sort of spasy back attacks that anyone who's got a bulging disc or herniated disc will be familiar with went to go and visit St Mill 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 five four 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 got really bad back do them twice once in the morning and then once in the midafternoon uh and I've done that hundreds of hours I've done it on a paddle board in Lake Normand 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 bio accelerator and I got 200 thou 200 million stem cells over the space of a week including intradiscal and every Lumber 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 Del Lo for around about 3 months it's really hard for me to work out how much of this was stem cell and how much of this was D Lo because I'd never taken a three-month de lo of 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 D Lo and student Mill's big three current state of my back is I haven't had a back spasm attack in in nearly two years now which is very good that's mu 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 steu Mill it's very accessible very practical do the big three once or twice a day take a de lo 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 uh I'd 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 hyper sensitive 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 Parker 696 what have you done in your life that you are the most proud of conversely what have you done 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 3in 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 I 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 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 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 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 want to 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 that 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 melanic 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 and 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 outoors doing new things visiting new places going for good food especially in different 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's 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 3 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 engag 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 Wheezy TF2 you've mentioned how you adopted a train like an athlete mindset in pursuit of podcasting any info as to what that regimen entailed yeah so this was something that I came across about four years ago uh three and a half years ago in the middle of Co 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 a 30 days to a better YouTube channel from video creators Ali abd'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 won an episode it turns out that it is just basically no carbs or fully fasted uh I started playing about with neut Tropics which is what newtonic 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 alander Boton from the school of Life bit of Peterson good bit of Rogan um and just looked at what they did and deconstruct 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 I 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 throughing 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 Alan 1779 what were you doing in Utah I was giving a keynote at it's 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 guy said what are you doing at 5:30 a.m. 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 of a hill I got to go to the top of the start of a hill uh before the actual Hill begins and I got to play about skiing and that was that was pretty cool um it's like fun to do something to feel like you were 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 high 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 simond day 1714 huge geese thank you my question is how when you decide to push back on ideal of your guest or if that is something you consider great question man so I've mentioned this before my therapy speak again my peop 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 curling hyper tuned it's something that I'm actively working harder at and I totally get it that if you're bench ship hero or or Destiny or Hassan ABI or you know Jeremy Paxman or Douglas Mario 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 for other people that make them easily in the same way as for me staying fit make them 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 have 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'm confident that I can but when I get that uh I think that'll be 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 was pretty well set up until about a year ago or so then the last year has been tons of change and then especially the last six months has been so much change and coming out the other side I'm hoping that it's going to be a little bit less change because 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 fabine 7039 congrats on 1.75 mil thank you very much by the time you've seen it it's probably close to about 2 mil yes it is uh have you ever thought about interviewing more musicians I think someone like John Mayor would make for a fascinating conversation never spoken to John Mayor 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 prids was someone that i' would 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 helden uh I met in Guatemala about a year ago uh and he he's pretty interesting dude totally sober like interesting guy so yeah I'd love to um uh Fred again I mean God if I could get that guy on that would be amazing but let me know any suggestions molas a 409 when are you getting Jonathan height 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 John Height's work it's really good very incisive uh and he'll be on within the next month or so uh Naomi gx4 RC how do you ensure each episode provides value to your audience I as long as it provides value to me I assume that some nonzero 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 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 nonzero 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 Clan cool name uh outside of the US and the UK where some of the countries you've enoyed 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 Bary was very good that's the most quintessential white guy thing that I could have said B was really good Thailand was okay I very much enjoyed Pi up north and I very much enjoyed kosui I think that pette is a [ __ ] hole and I think that changmai is a little bit of a [ __ ] hole and I think that Bangkok is a huge [ __ ] hole uh what else have I been that I've enjoyed Guatemala was uh cool although not super safe uh medin in Columbia was awesome and kamuna 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 mag M can you tell us about your spiritual beliefs uh 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 Rippon Cathedral with him and his wife and my mom on Christmas Eve this year and that was beautiful um but my spirit ual tank is relatively low uh mom's a raiki 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 I'm in 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 [Music] 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 real sort of warm lead in but even now if I want to bring like I wanted to bring jocker willing link 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 Joo and she was like oh I did some writing with Joo and then she looped me in so it's like I was the most tenuous of connections to get jocker 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 you're like oh that book sounds all right oh that documentary sounds okay oh I enjoyed that episode that they did that 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 them and I have a conversation I'm super excited the excitement in advance 99.9% of the time is a great indicator it's going to be an amazing episode and it's very rarely wrong and then there's other times I'm like I'm going to 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 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 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 going to 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 going to say to this oh my God like there's this new study that's just come out about this thing I've got to get their opinion on that like just do that just follow my instincts it's just instincts 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 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 a username 5.56 very clever congrats on this step toward 2 million and Beyond in one of your talks with Alex hosi 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 SL 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 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 wordcraft boss 79 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 often times the podcasts claim them to be experts but what is really true I see this trend a lot for example in the DI River 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 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 Steven's profit oriented I I know that 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 it was a few months ago uh briefly over WhatsApp um I don't know if you treat it like a business uh there is uh contradictions yes there 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 PR marriage and then I've got James seon 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 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 there are ways that the body works there are studies that can be done and research that be can conducted that will give statistically significant reliable replicable results right those are hard facts me bringing on someone who is PR 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 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 Stevens is reassurance I am doing the thing oh this is what I need to do right that's that 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 going to 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 were 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 and 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 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 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 sensemaking 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 a lot of questions about this stuff which I think means that my Insight around this like weather report of uh skepticism around podcast I think that's accurate Aaron Mt 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 [ __ ] imagine that like it would be basically impossible I think you could probably swipe right for the rest of your life and not have known you people in your area in a big city uh I would say 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 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 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 [ __ ] good marriage material You' evidently shown that you're able to commit to someone for a long time you have you 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 going to have any problems I think go slow don't expect too much be forgiving of yourself if you have a um a bad a couple of bad dates because maybe it is a bit of a new world I I haven't dated for a while uh but yeah uh I think you'll be fine I think that you're you already sound like marriage material so you won't have any problems candil rotas 367 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 Grayson s paa Etc best wishes from Guyana wow Guyana thank you um I had a conversation with a guy called Paul Evans who had a uh ND 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 that sounds pretty interesting I'll do do a little bit of research on those people but uh I'm kind of skeptical I'm pretty skeptical to be honest but um yeah we'll see I'll do some research and come back to you Darren Collins 850 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 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 antivaccine during Co you say that person was antivaccine therefore moving forward I am never I'm never going to 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 going to 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 want to 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 that 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 you disagree with then 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 kiwi reese5 when is New tonic 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 fentol in it and it' 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 they're 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 want to do some halfast product that isn't effective so if we can't get Replacements that are as well research as the ones that we do maybe not until Australia changes their laws Amy Robinson 4451 congrats Chris absolutely Fab stuff thank you what was the reasoning behind the newtonic 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 going to kill me here uh so this is an ie it's a big eye it's generated by uh I think Dolly 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 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 let me phenomenal uh YouTuber uh a lot of documentaries basically um those and uh some Fitness stuff Mike is retel I can't I watch all of his stuff it's great ranan candel 2924 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 well it is easy to make them go better when things are going badly it is more difficult to even slow that down so yep I feel you when you lose a little bit of steam I it sounds so trite and I know that you're going to because I would think this you're going to think that's [ __ ] 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 con 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 I didn't want to go and 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 CLE you probably have done already but read Atomic Habits by James CLE or reread it to remind yourself of it even when reading the book I can't be bother to read your book okay 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 beginning to get things to go downhill is it starts as soon as you begin the thing second thing never miss two days in the row never miss two days days in a row because if you miss two days in a row that is no longer a mistake it's the start of a new habit those are my two things and I use this I use this all the time Blue Wave 3417 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 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 I I 100% m m melanc miac do you have a process for balancing your own internal imposed high standards of execution mental physical karmic with Grace learning opportunity grow when you find 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 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 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 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 in 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 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 of 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 you don't don't be worried about the red pill it's a pink pill coming Downstream from serial [ __ ] crime junkie uh I personally I don't think it's that I don't I don't think it's 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 scared too like this is one of the things that um a guy I was talking to over the weekend who the [ __ ] was I talking to who was I talking to I can't remember I was talking to someone I remember I remember this 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 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 not a creep and 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 advertisers and there's pressure to perform and we don't do that then we 35 Grand in the hole and that's not going to be good and you know all of this stuff scrutiny online all this [ __ ] um I'm really hoping that I'm going to 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 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 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 2 million it'll be very soon some huge guests coming on over the next couple of months I genuinely do appreciate you big love