Video summary
In a Q&A session at Dublin Live, Chris Williamson addressed his intellectual influences and strategies for managing productivity without burnout. He identified Morgan Housel, Joe Rogan, Sam Harris, Destin Sandlin, Rob Henderson, Tim Ferriss, Andrew Huberman, and Unheard as key sources of content he consumes regularly. To maintain a consistent reading habit despite falling out of the flow, Williamson adopted Substack newsletters delivered to his Kindle via an extension, ensuring daily engagement with short-form text. He also highlighted Dr. Andrew Huberman as essential for monitoring health-related information. When discussing the balance between taking responsibility for outcomes and avoiding overwhelm, Williamson argued that neuroticism and fear loops act as performance enhancers but can be detrimental if they sacrifice present joy for future success. He likened this dynamic to the parable of the Mexican fisherman, cautioning against optimizing solely for long-term achievement at the expense of immediate happiness, noting that while these fears are difficult mortal quests, one must consciously balance the desire to "be enough" with the drive to "be more." Williamson reflected on his career trajectory from Love Island and nightclub management to podcasting, attributing his shift in medium to a gravitational pull toward consuming educational content like Alan Boaton's School of Life videos. Despite holding degrees in business management and international marketing—which he admitted he largely forgot—he felt that traditional academia failed him compared to the bespoke syllabus podcasts provided. He recalled completing his master's dissertation under extreme pressure with minimal sleep, contrasting this academic struggle with his current ability to engage directly with top experts on specific niches without assignments or homework. A pivotal moment in his development occurred during Love Island, where living without distractions forced a stark contrast between his perceived identity and reality; he realized that while others were naturally extroverted socialites, he was merely pretending to be one until the environment stripped away all defenses. This experience taught him that personal growth is often an accumulation of small realizations rather than a singular epiphany, though acute events like breakups or job changes can also serve as catalysts for change. Offering advice to his younger self at age 23, Williamson emphasized three key points: finishing degrees even if one dislikes the subject matter, traveling extensively to foster growth and reduce fearlessness, and avoiding excessive worry about getting things right on the first try. He noted that he was once hermetically sealed off from introspection but now understands that everyone pays a price for their success or lifestyle choices, including his idols like Joe Rogan and Andrew Huberman. While acknowledging that some individuals possess an anomalous ability to handle discomfort effortlessly—like Alex Hoskins—he recognizes his own limitations in replicating such work rates without the associated strain. He admits to struggling with switching off as scrutiny increases but is actively working on relinquishing obsessive needs, noting that most people claiming to have it all sorted are likely liars. The only exception he knows of is Joe Rogan, whom Williamson describes as an anomaly who seems perfectly dialed in despite being a human like everyone else. Regarding dating and relationships, particularly relevant given Ireland's high average age for marriage and low divorce rate, Williamson advocates for transparency within the first three to five dates rather than waiting until later stages or on the very first meeting. He suggests that clearly stating intentions regarding children or casualness serves as an effective filtering mechanism, similar to disclosing work schedules like night shifts that might conflict with a partner's availability. This approach allows both parties to align expectations early and avoid wasting time incompatible lifestyles. For his future plans in 2024, Williamson expressed skepticism about long-term planning beyond one year due to the rapidly changing nature of life, citing how he could not have predicted living in Austin Texas three years ago instead of visualizing specific goals aggressively. Instead of traditional visualization boards, he relies on gratitude practices and has already outlined Q1 plans for cinema episodes featuring guests like Alex Hoskins returning and Dan Buettner discussing dating insights after his recent dinner with him. Looking ahead to 2024 and beyond, Williamson shared ambitious projects including producing the first high-quality podcast in VR using stereoscopic vision to allow viewers a third-person perspective at the table, and utilizing new AI audio tools for onsite cinema episodes despite media pass challenges. He expressed a strong desire to film Graham Hancock speaking about ancient civilizations at sunrise before the Pyramids of Giza with a portable generator nearby. Additionally, he plans to launch his own tropical ice-flavored energy drink alongside longer-term online courses that will need significant value delivery to maintain credibility without becoming fluff. A major personal goal involves remastering meditation teacher Corey Allen's course with new soundscapes and instructions from Williamson himself. Ultimately, while sleep deprivation remains a challenge given the intensity of these projects, he aims to balance his drive for innovation with necessary rest, ensuring that future endeavors do not compromise his well-being or professional reputation.
Read the full video transcript
all right we have my lovely assistant
Ben and he has a microphone and we have
a little bit of time this gentleman here
second row you know there's a quote
you're the average of five people you
listen to or read about I just want to
know who are the five people you listen
to the most or read about the most
awesome question yeah I think the the
new version of that is you are the
average of the five podcasts you listen
to the most that's a new world
equivalent who would I say I listen to
or consume the most Morgan housel is is
up there um Rogan from a podcast
perspective very
high uh still a lot of Sam Harris I know
that he's like the least cool guy on the
internet at the moment um but a lot of
his commentary I find very
interesting uh Destiny for a good while
because he kind of taught me about the
other side of what was happening on
YouTube
um probably Rob Henderson my friend from
Cambridge so one of the things I've done
over the last few years which is really
cool and I highly recommend it if you
kind of find yourself falling out of
reading and you want to get back into it
is I started subscribing to more
substacks and newsletters and then I
used the center Kindle extension to send
all of those to my uh e-reader and it
just means it's it's everything's 10
minutes it's always there uh so yeah a
lot of a lot of substacks Rob Henderson
Ginder Bogle
fantastic um who else pops up
Harrington some of the stuff from
unheard so it's like little smatterings
here and there and to be honest probably
huberman as well like he's just a
One-Stop shop for keeping my finger on
the pulse of what's going to not kill me
I suppose thank you uh thanks Chris uh
just wondering like congrats on the
launch of the of the drink as well um
I'm curious like how do you H kind of
like dictate between the adoption of
like responsibility and not being
overwhelmed by like the totality of
growing amounts of tasks on your de
such a smart audience [ __ ] love it
all right how do
we
balance the fact that our outcomes are
on us with not feeling overwhelmed by
the fact that holy [ __ ] my outcomes are
all on me this is one of the perennial
problems my friend it is really
difficult and um it's a permanent a
permanent battle the way that I do it is
with most of the stuff that I've gone
through this this evening it almost
sounds like Ronda burn woo the secret
stuff but I genuinely genuinely think
that all of the neuroticism and fear and
and thought Loops are probably worth
about between 5 and 10% of your outcomes
it's not nothing right it is a
performance enhancer because it causes
you to obsess so much that it improves
your performance but what's the outcome
that you're going for presumably a life
that's filled with joy and happiness and
satisfaction and stuff like that so what
you're optimizing for you're sacrificing
the thing you want for the thing that's
supposed to get
it right you're sacrificing the joy of
the moment in order to be able to become
successful so that you can finally be
sufficiently successful so that you can
have some joy in your [ __ ] life it's
the parable of the Mexican fisherman
right but it is a a
challenge that you should not take
lightly and I think that just reminding
yourself oh this is a this is like a
really difficult mortal Quest I'm on to
try and
balance the desire to be enough with the
desire to want to be
more and for the people that are
growth-minded it is something I don't
have a
piy 260 character tweet answer that I
can give you and I think that that's why
it's an interesting challenge I think
that that's why it's a worthwhile
question as well so thank you for that
out of everything you've done so far so
love
Island
[Applause]
uh from love isand to uh organizing
events at nightclubs and when you
started doing podcasts they obviously
weren't as popular as they are now so
what made you start a podcast rather
than go on YouTube or do another form
of educating people I loved podcasting I
learned an awful lot toward the end of
my 20s I kind of had that discordance in
the force I used to do things like leave
the front door of a nightclub where 1500
18 to 25 year olds knew my name or
needed me and there was managers that
lubricated the event in between us but I
would leave to go and sit in my car and
wedge my phone sideways in my steering
wheel so I could watch aland Boton
School of Life videos right that was how
formative and important learning online
was to me it just called to me like a
like a gravitational pull it just ripped
me out of the stuff I was doing which is
what Society tells a young man he's
supposed to value in any case you should
be on the front door you should be in
the club in VIP with the blah blah blah
so I just figured look if I enjoy
consuming this this much maybe I'll
enjoy creating it and I always felt
wistful because I did two degrees at
Newcastle business uh Bachelor's in
business management and a master's in
international marketing and I can
remember neither of them nothing
zero I completed my Master's
dissertation in 36 hours with a 12pack
of Red Bull and three grams of cocaine
from my local dealer wasn't priced Like
Cocaine so I don't think it was but I
got it
done I don't think that I had a stellar
academic
career and I always resented that
because looking back I wish that i' done
psychology and
philosophy but what I've been able to do
with the podcast is create my own
bespoke syllabus speaking only to the
best professors on the planet only about
the precise niche of their one topic
that I want with no homework no
assignments and somehow I get to call it
a
job thank you whatever version of the
simulation we're in that I get to call
this a job it is it's insane that's why
seeing all of you guys here for this is
just terrifying and and and wonderful
and and fantastic um I just did what I I
did what I liked one more quick little
story about
Douglas he told me this uh insight about
one of his bosses that was a journalist
and this guy had accumulated many haters
and supporters throughout his career and
toward the Twilight of his career he
decided he was going to release a West
End show about the life of Prince
Charles in rhyming
couplets
and obviously a lot of people were
scrutinizing how this was going to go we
going to be very critical of it so by
opening night the interval of the the
first show of opening night there was no
one left in the entire theater including
the
cast not good this guy was despondent
you know he was absolutely devastated
all of the people that had crosses to
bear came out of the woodwork and
started throwing shade at him Douglas
saw him a couple of days later in the
office and he's like what were you
thinking rhyming couplets about the life
of Prince Charles in the west end with
all of these people that had distaste
for you he said Douglas I followed my
instincts and sometimes instincts may
lead you wrong but they're the only
thing that's ever led you
right and I
thought [ __ ] that's
cool and you can dampen down that voice
of your instinct and I did for a long
time no I don't need to go the instinct
to go and watch watch Al Lander Boton
videos in your car at 3: in the morning
uh but I did that and the more that I've
allowed that to infuse what I do the
better things have got so I did it
because I enjoyed it and as of yet I
literally can't stop apparently like I'm
being marionetta by some puppet strings
above me was there like a pinpoint in
your life that you were like right this
is it I'm making a change or was it just
like habits that like just compounded
over time it would be nice if there was
just
a the sky and the sky parted and that
moment I knew I was supposed to be a
podcaster no um I will say that love
Island was particularly formative for me
like not not everyone gets catapulted
toward a life of virtue from going on
love Island but n of one baby
um what I realized when I was on there
was that the person I was pretending to
be got contrasted with people who
actually were that person that was like
the big name on campus super extroverted
party boy or party girl and I had
nowhere to hide cuz I'd always been able
to hide previously I could go back to my
house and watch my weird videos or do
whatever right get get up and do my
breath work but you got no phone no
contact with friends no books no
distractions no nothing it's just you
and 13 people and a storyline about Omar
and that girl that's like mugged her off
last night bro
like that's it and it delivered me a
fatal dose of contrast that I couldn't
Escape it was like you thought you were
that person these people are that person
that distance between you and them it
shows exactly what's wrong uh so that
was at least the beginning of it I
suppose
um but shy of like really really intense
acute trauma I don't know anybody who
just that happens with it's slowly just
accumulates over time it compounds and
compounds and compounds until you can't
hide from it anymore and maybe region
beta is a part of that right that it
just pushes you toward that level of
activation energy and then sometimes
there's things that can really shove you
down you know a breakup a change of job
a loss of whatever but for the most part
I think it's it's just that and for me
it was it was that too whatever it's
like takes 10 years to become an
overnight success like takes 10 years to
be told that you're not living the life
that you're supposed to live perhaps
first of all I'm going to try not Fang
girl right now but uh just quick
question so I'm 23 at the moment
currently
uh study in marketing as well just uh
what advice would you give to yourself
at 23 three tips if you could if you
could turn back for me I didn't like
marketing so the first one would
be finish finish the degree begrudgingly
yeah ask your dealer for higher quality
cocaine
perhaps
um I would have said travel more and
Adventure more that would have been the
first one a lot of
the concentrated learnings that I've had
in my life have been through periods of
travel you know it forces you to see
other people other cultures and it's
just really really ramps up your
learning and your self-growth
fear lless which is that Au Marcus thing
dude if you're here at 23 at 23 I
actually had my head inside of my own
ass
like I was so
[ __ ] insulated from me and that
sounds strange to say because I am me
and I was and yet I was somehow
hermetically sealed off from whoever it
was that was inside of
me the fact that you're here suggests to
me that the future for you
is pretty bright or bigoted depending on
how people see me on the internet I
guess um I wouldn't fear so much whether
whether you do or not but but I wouldn't
fear so much right you're going to get
to the thing that you're supposed to no
matter how much you
worry and the final thing that I would
say would
be don't worry so much about getting
everything right first time I left an
awful lot of growth and change on the
table because I was terrified of getting
it wrong that's why the in life we must
choose our regrets thing is so important
to to me why it sent me into a fever
dream for 12 months after I was that
might have just been The Manhattans I
guess but
um don't worry about getting everything
right first try you're going to think
Beyond even your your lowest effort is
likely to be beyond the level of
development and and detention that most
normal people you can't overestimate how
normal the normies
are those are be my things oh yeah hello
Chris uh so you mentioned that you know
uh Jimmy savel is grumpy Amber herd
can't find the difference between a
toilet and a bed and uh Tiger Woods we
shouldn't take
relationship advice from him so what's
your uh kind of human thing about you
it's a high bar for me to break isn't
it okay I
mean switching off is something that I
struggle with um
and
being perfectly honest that's gotten
more difficult as the pressure's
increased and as the scrutiny is
increased so one of the great things
about having a bigger audience is that I
get to do stuff like this which is again
thank you so much for coming out it's
just so
amazing
but the level
of reach comes with an Associated level
of scrutiny and rigor and attention
mention that's not always particularly
good and that causes me
to tune up even more so the
obsessive uh neurotic sort of workaholic
type thing I found that as we've been
able to grow the team I've worked more
not less um and that's something that I
need to fix and it's something I'm
actively trying to fix very very quickly
um but I I I struggled to switch off
much of the time and that's got worse
this year
uh so you know the price that you need
to pay to be the people that you admire
like you might think that you want to do
700 podcasts in six years and get one
and a half million person email list I
mean video guide is stood at the back
there that's the dude that's made I'm
pointing at you 2,500 videos in seven
years the guy's an animal um give it up
for video guide Dean come on you made it
happen
the least happy person to be in front of
the camera of anyone you will ever see
um he's seen this firsthand like it's we
really really really grind and it's
great because the thing that you
do that gives you your competitive
Advantage is positively rewarded and it
comes with this side dish which is the
more that I do it the better the
outcomes get but that means that you
never where's the room to switch off in
that um and you know I'm learning out
loud as it says on my website maybe or
somewhere like that like I'm practicing
in public and
hopefully showing at least a little bit
that I don't have it all sorted I don't
have it figured out and I think that
most of the people that say that they do
are liars the only person I know
actually to give you break another
fourth wall the only person I know who's
actually actually actually got it all
sorted out is Joe that
man is a [ __ ] anomaly uh he's like
antimatter of
the the Creator world he just seems to
have it dialed but I don't um and I'm
going to work hard to try and relinquish
some of that need that obsessive need to
to stay on top of things um but yeah
that's that's what I'm working on right
now this is probably actually a followup
to that guy because I was going to ask
the same question as him but so what I'd
ask to that is would you still knowing
what you know fall into that trap
thinking I I wish I could be like jock
or hubman like that sorted out like even
though you know now they're not I'm not
big enough to be Jo or huberman not yet
at least um but I've managed to largely
deprogram that uh Envy was something
that drove me for a good while it wasn't
like proper proper Envy it was more like
um like a felt lack in me that other
people had fixed you like I was saying
about how other people were were normal
and they could see in me something that
was deficient and and broken uh but
largely
I I see as I've kind of gotten closer to
people this isn't to like say that Joo
and Andrew have got like athletes foot
and loads of problems or something like
that but as I've climbed the tree a
little bit more I have realized that
ultimately like everyone everyone is
paying prices that you wouldn't bear and
um yeah largely I've managed to I
managed to deprogram a good chunk of
that there are times
when people who aren't me and aren't
built like me Alex is a good example of
this hosi you know he's just got this
work rate that is so ungodly 99 100th
percentile of ability to deal with
discomfort and there's a part of me
that's that thinks it would be really
great if I could go through the level of
work that I'm doing but without the
associated like discomfort of having to
do
it
but that's not my programming I'm not
built like that built close to it but
I'm not built like that so I can't so
like kind of accepting your limitations
in some ways I think is good and again
uh talking to you man with the the
balance of of the different things
working out this is beyond my limitation
and I probably wouldn't want it and I'm
leaving this on the table because I'm
not trying hard enough again messy
middle like where is the am I stopping
training because I'm about to injure
myself or am I stopping training because
I'm being a [ __ ] like difficult balance
to act but yeah hi Chris hi um me and my
sister are totally obsessed with your
evolutionary psychology content so it's
doggy dog out there obviously the top
10% of guys are doing great in Ireland
the average age of um the average amount
of time that people court is s
years we have the oldest Brides in the
world the average age of a woman getting
married in Ireland is 30 5 but we also
have the lowest divorce rate in the
west and the fifth lowest divorce rate
in the entire world this is a very
strong advert for people to move to
[Applause]
Islands internet come over here do you
think women should be straight up from
the gecko after 30 and risk
scaring 80% of their dates away
or do you think they should play the
game great
question and I I almost purposefully
steered clear of dating content this
evening but let's dive
in in my opinion it is significantly
better to be upfront maybe not first
date
upfront but within three to five dates
if you want to have kids say that you
want to have kids if you're not looking
for anything casual say that you're not
looking for anything casual all it is is
a filtering mechanism the same as I
don't want to date someone that works
night shifts right because I want to
spend time on weekends and I want to
have a reliable partner or whatever it
might be I think that you need to be
upfront I think that it is an
appropriate filtering tactic say what
you mean up front and gentlemen you can
do the same all right final question
look probably a fit in one for the last
one so I think a lot of people do
gravitate towards you because they see
you as authentic with that in mind do
you buy into visual ization and if so
what does 2024 look like for Chris
Williamson's visualization
board that is a cool
[Applause]
question do I buy into visualization and
what has my visualization board got in
store for 2024 so I've always been bad
at plans longer than a year I think that
if you are in a period of time where
things are rapidly changing it's very
difficult to make plans more than about
a year out cuz three years ago I
couldn't have known that I was going to
live in Austin Texas and be doing this
dear God
um I don't visualize all that much uh my
equivalent of that practice would be
gratitude I try and use gratitude as
much as possible to just be thankful for
the things that I've got if I visualize
too aggressively I've noticed that I
slip into that um like trying to achieve
goals to make you happy you've already
achieved goals that you said would make
you happy thing trying not to position
I'm already quite future focused so the
visualization thing no next year I
already know q1 for the cinema episodes
for next year and it's insane uh which I
can't wait I can give you one preview
which will be Alex hos is coming back on
and while I'm in Vegas I'm going to get
Dan buaran on the podcast which I think
will be interesting given the insights
that we need about dating and he's like
I I went for for dinner with him a
couple of weeks ago and he's like a
seems like an almost changed man I'll
see how much of that's like just when
he's chill or when he's on camera
um all right so there'll hopefully be a
much bigger version of this again he's
nodding aggressively um there'll be a
much bigger version of this
happening I want to do the first
highquality podcast in VR with
stereoscopic vision so if you could
imagine that you had guest me
table you're where the camera usually is
with all of those different angles but
that there would be a third seat at the
table and if you had your VR headset on
you could be the third participant and
if you're just an Andrew hubman hyper
fan you can just sit and
just you could see Joo do the do the do
the eye thing um doing it in what's
called stereo I think it's called
stereoscopic vision so as you move
sideways you get that Parallax effect so
cool no one's really ever done it at a
high high level yet and I'd love to do
that I want to do video Guiden has got
this new AI tool that allows us to clean
up audio from anywhere so I want to do
onsite Cinema episodes so I really we
can't do it because of it's going to be
tough to do because of the uh
requirements to get the media pass but I
wanted to do Graham Hancock at sunrise
in front of the Pyramids of
Giza I mean if that doesn't break the
internet like grahe Hancock in front of
the pyramids of Geer at Sunrise and we
could just run a petrol generator 100
yards away and and clean up the audio I
would love to do that um and beyond that
man like you know like some personal
goals
that well I tell you what I can tell you
about already given that this has been
here anyone that's bought some of this
you'll notice that this white can
doesn't exist online yet this launches
this launch is when does this
launch Thursday this launch is on
Thursday this is a white Monster killer
this stuff is so good this is tropical
ice which is our equivalent of white
monster and it absolutely wipes the
floor with it so that there'll be more
of that longer longer longer longer term
I would like to do some online courses
but even saying that makes like my toes
Cur so I'd need to come up with a way to
overd deliver so much that it doesn't
impact like credibility or anything I
need to work really hard don't just want
to like fluff out some online community
and be like oh it's an accountability
group it would need to have so much work
I really want to do uh Corey Allen my
favorite meditation teacher of all time
I want to remaster his meditation course
the best meditation course I've ever
taken I want to re-release it with new
sounds and new instructions with me um
and sleep get some sleep would probably
be a good thing L thank you so
much
you