Video summary
When reflecting on what he would tell his 21-year-old self, the speaker emphasizes overcoming fear and uncertainty to move from running away from problems toward pursuing passions that drive impressive achievements. He acknowledges that feeling unrecognized or unvalidated is a common byproduct of youth rather than a personal failing, encouraging listeners not to subjugate their own desires for others' happiness. His specific advice includes falling in love slowly while breaking up quickly if necessary, and he explicitly advises against fearing the repercussions of putting oneself first. In terms of financial strategy, he recommends buying Bitcoin and engaging with "531," a concept associated with Rammo Palmo mentioned during his discussion on mental sharpness. To maintain peak cognitive performance for recording episodes, the speaker details a highly specific routine that involves eating bacon and eggs or sausage without carbohydrates, consuming minimal caffeine early in the day, and training moderately hard at an intensity of RP7 to RP8. He aims to be slightly hungry before taking one Newtonic supplement about an hour prior to work, followed by sipping on it throughout the session while ensuring exposure to sunlight and physical movement like walking. This regimen allows him to stay "dialed" for approximately four hours; beyond that time, he notes a decline in focus as his body fights between fatigue and stimulants, eventually becoming less effective if he continues pushing without adequate recovery or fuel adjustment. Regarding the purpose of his content creation, the speaker asserts that he primarily creates for himself rather than solely for an audience, viewing his show as a thinly veiled autobiography driven by his current interests and professional struggles. His deep fascination with evolutionary psychology serves as the "source code" for understanding human behavior, while his past obsession with productivity gurus like David Allen, Thiago Forte, and Peter Attia provided initial organizational frameworks that were ultimately tailored to his personal needs. He argues that following one's own curiosity is the most effective way to serve an audience because it generates a unique fingerprint; unlike other creators who might chase trends or reverse-engineer what will click on platforms like Twitter or Google searches, he believes authenticity resonates more deeply even if specific topics do not immediately gain traction. The speaker concludes that while there are inevitable "perverse incentives" and growth loops in the creator economy—such as optimizing for audience retention or trying different formats like live Q&A sessions—that one must learn to play this game without letting it define their identity. He warns against becoming an outlier by constantly adapting content based on external validation, noting that every other thinker has access to similar data regarding trends and search terms, making the unique value of a creator's work dependent on following their own instincts. Ultimately, he maintains that if a creative endeavor does not speak personally to him, it is better not to do it at all, as authenticity cannot be faked when an audience steps into one's room versus being alone in it. The discussion also includes a promotional segment regarding health monitoring, where the speaker highlights limitations in standard annual physicals which typically screen for only about 20 biomarkers. He promotes his partnership with Function to run comprehensive lab tests twice a year that monitor over 100 red blood cell biomarkers and screen for 50 types of cancer at stage one. This service provides actionable recommendations on heart health, hormone levels, thyroid function, and more through an expert team of physicians who analyze the data into a simple dashboard. While such detailed analysis usually costs thousands of dollars, Function offers these panels for $500, allowing users to bypass their weight list by visiting functionhealth.com/modernwisdom or using the link in the description below.
Read the full video transcript
If you could sit down and have a
conversation with your 21-year-old self,
what would you
say?
I I guess it depends how long the
conversation is, but I'd probably just
say fear less. So much
of my life, especially in my 20ies and
even still now, is driven by
this fear. It's driven by uncertainty.
It's um running away from something that
you don't want is running towards
something that you do
and
that will push you to do lots of great
things
and maybe become a very impressive
person. Uh but it's not the fuel that
you want to be using for a long time.
So, first off, I would probably
say I understand that you don't
feel very recognized or very validated
or very seen by the world. That's fine.
That's not some personal failing of
yours. That's kind of just a byproduct
of being a 21-year-old guy that doesn't
quite know what he wants yet and is
struggling to connect with the people
around
him. I would
say fall in love slowly and break up
quickly. Uh
because much of your 20ies, if you're
not careful, will be spent in
relationships that you should have left
sooner for both of your sakes. Um don't
be guilty about disappointing
people. Don't fear the repercussions of
putting yourself first.
Don't subjugate your desires in order to
keep somebody else happy. Don't make
yourself unhappy in order to keep
somebody else
happy. Buy Bitcoin and do
531. That's what I'd
say. Rammo Palmo, under what conditions
do you feel the most mentally sharp and
able to form co perform cognitive tasks?
That's a good question. Um, so I've got
a pretty dialed routine now before the
big episodes. Uh, which is no carbs at
all. So, uh, bacon and eggs, sausage and
eggs, breakfast. Um, minimal caffeine
earlier in the day. Uh, maybe one coffee
in on a morning. Go and train moderately
hard but not super hard. So,
RP7, RP8. Um,
then I want to be a little bit hungry
and then I want to have probably one
Newtonic about an hour before and then
sip on a new tonic throughout whatever
it is that I'm doing. And if I get all
of that in and I've got sunlight my eyes
and gone for a walk and I've been
moving, I'm I'm pretty [ __ ] dialed.
And that can last can hold on to that as
long as I keep the neutonic levels up. I
can hold on to that for probably about
four hours and then it starts
to sort of become psychotic after that
time because I'm you're fighting this
tension between fatigue and stimulants
but more more stimulants aren't
necessarily fixing the fatigue. Uh
they're just making more stimulated. Um
yeah JD fits. Do you create for yourself
or for your audience? That's a good
question and unfortunately it's probably
the biggest middle finger uh I create
for myself. Um this show has always been
a thinly veiled
autobiography. Um whatever it is that is
on my mind, whatever it is that I'm
dealing with, whatever it is that I'm
interested in, uh what's happening to me
professionally, personally,
um much of that is the inspiration. uh
not everything obviously um but much of
that is the at least the beginning it's
sort of the spark of the direction that
I take the show in um you know I I I
fell in love with evolutionary
psychology because I I found it really
insightful about understanding the sort
of the why you are the way you are
really sort of seeing the source code of
human behavior at least from a a sort of
conditioning sense and then obviously
that gets coded into genes
Um, that was a huge part of of
understanding me because I wanted to. It
was a big period where I was into
productivity. So, I was just rinsing
through every productivity guide. David
Allen coming on and get Thiago Forte and
Peter Akis, you know, getting all of the
the big names in productivity on to help
organize my things three
GTD process and and you know, what's the
best email client I should be using? Um,
it's just for me and I think the best
sure there are some artists like
creators out there who can make content
for an audience and really enjoy the
process. But for me, the more that I
don't follow my own curiosity and the
more that I don't make it for myself,
the less I enjoy it and the less
successful it is. So I I genuinely think
and maybe again this is just Stockholm
syndrome. I genuinely think that the
best way to serve you guys is to just
follow my own curiosity because I'm not
I'm not that much of an outlier. I'm not
that
different. I think a lot of the
challenges that I face and a lot of the
interests that I have are really
representative of those that any other
thoughtful, sensitive person has. And
that means that if I follow my
instincts, some nonzero portion of other
people are also interested or care about
this thing that I'm thinking about. And
it gives me a unique insight
because everybody has access to what the
audience says. Every other
creator, thinker, artist, songwriter,
whatever, they all have access to what
are the trends that are going on online.
Everyone can see what's happening on
Twitter. Everyone can ask chat GPT what
the most search search terms are on
Google,
right? So that means it's a very unique
body of work and not necessarily
accurate but if you follow what you do,
I think that that really elicits a
unique fingerprint
uh and one that absolutely resonates.
even if it doesn't, you pursued
something that you found interesting.
And the more that I try and reverse
engineer
what will click, what will resonate,
well maybe I should be doing the Q&A,
maybe I should have someone ask me the
questions on the Q&A or maybe maybe the
Q&A should be done live or maybe I
should be streaming on Twitch or
whatever. And if it doesn't speak to me,
not doing it is the best strategy
because even if it would be optimal,
even if it would be better in some way
for audience growth, if it doesn't speak
to me, it's not going to be authentic.
And there's always this tension, right?
Everybody shows up in you show up
differently when someone else steps into
your room versus when you're on your
own. So when it's audience, there's all
of these perverse incentives and trying
to be 100% yourself is essentially
impossible. But you can get closer and
closer to that and you can also get
further and further away and you train
yourself in either direction. So for
people that are wanting to create a body
of work, you need to play the game. You
absolutely need to play the game. There
is a game to be played. There are
mechanisms in place, growth loops that
you need to take advantage of. So you do
need to play the game, but you need to
know that it's not about the game.
play it, but it's not about it. I think
that's really important and that's a
strategy I'm holding on to. Did you know
that your annual physical only screens
for around 20 biomarkers, which leaves a
lot of gaps when it comes to your
understanding of your health, which is
why I partnered with Function? They run
lab tests twice a year that monitor over
a 100red biomarkers. They even screen
for 50 types of cancer at stage one.
They've got a team of expert physicians
that then takes that data, puts it into
a simple dashboard, and gives you
actionable recommendations to improve
your health and lifespan. They track
everything from your heart health and
hormone levels to your thyroid function.
Getting your blood work drawn and
analyzed like this usually costs
thousands, but with function, it is only
$500. And right now, you can get the
exact same blood panels that I get and
bypass their weight list by going to the
link in the description below or heading
to
functionhealth.com/modernwisdom. That's
functionhealth.com/modernwisdom. Would
you look at that clip is already over,
but if you want more, don't be sad. The
full episode is available right
here. Go on.