3 Minute Monday
Hi friend,
The Modern Wisdom Reading List is finally live.
You’re going to love it.
Get your copy now at https://chriswillx.com/books
Feel free to share this link anywhere, honestly the more people that read these books, the better the world will become I think.
In other news…
I’m back drinking alcohol again.
I have been for the last 2 months or so.
Turns out I’m a super lightweight now and that after 5 drinks or so I seem to get bored of drinking more. Kinda weird.
Reintegrating alcohol got me thinking about my justifications for stopping in the first place.
And why the debate is so explosive.
People can become dogmatic about anything, and sobriety is no different.
It can become a them & us battle where each side considers themselves superior.
These people are idiots.
It’s not a case that those who drink are bad, and those who go sober are good.
It’s simply a case of working out where your objectives lie.
There are ways of living which are aligned with what’s best for you given your goals right now.
And there are ways which are misaligned.
In the same way as a weightlifter periodises their training across the year based on their competitions, you should periodising your relationship to alcohol based on your life requirements.
Want to achieve a lot and really drill down into your habits & productivity?
Go sober.
Want to be more social and take a break from intensity?
Drink.
Also, I actually think that drinking & nights out are a fairly essential part of growing up.
Becoming an adult with experiences which allow you to relate to your friends requires you to be exposed to elated nights out, hungover regrets & everything else.
My issue lies with adhering to this life for the next 20 or 30 years.
There is nothing sadder to me than seeing someone well into adulthood who continues to undo all the progress they make during the week with mind, body & spirit by getting off their face every weekend.
1 step forward & 1 step back for 2 decades is a travesty.
Pattern interrupting this with a long period of no alcohol is a really powerful tool.
The best Elective Sobriety prescription I’ve seen is: 28 days once per year, 90 days every 2 years and 6 months every 5 years.
If you’re stuck in a rut, I highly recommend it.
MODERN WISDOM
I do a podcast which has had 20 million+ downloads. You should subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
This week’s upcoming episodes:
Monday.
Yeonmi Park – North Korea’s most famous defector explains what life is really like inside the world’s most brutal dictatorship. Harrowing & awe-inspiring.
Thursday.
Christopher Mason – how can we reach other star systems within 500 years? Christopher wants to genetically reengineer humans to survive space flight and has laid out a road map. Super interesting one.
Saturday.
Not sure yet. Maybe comedian JP Sears on the madness of the last year.
THINGS I’VE LEARNED
1.
Take nobody’s word for it.
“Think for yourself. That’s the golden rule. Think for yourself. Make it your mantra. Tattoo it on the inside of your eyelids.” – Jed Mckenna
2.
Jobs recruit on skills but fire on attributes.
Job applications mandate particular skills as the gauge of a candidate’s suitability.
But why does any team not slot together well and become toxic?
Or why do individuals often get fired or let go during probation?
It’s rarely because of a lack of skills to get the job done.
It’s a mismatch of fundamental attributes.
They don’t have the intrinsic values which the employer wants in their company.
But because there is no MSc for Diligence or Grit or Lateral Thinking or Compassion or Humour, companies use qualifications as proof-of-work which they hope have stress tested the people without those values out of the game.
Then after a couple of 30 minute interviews which anyone can fake, you’ve got the job.
Recruiting based on attributes rather than skills will win every time because skills can be learned quickly, whereas attributes take years to develop and deprogram.
h/t Rich Diviney
3.
That awful play might be paying you to watch it.
A typical West End Show needs to charge £27.92 per ticket to break even.
So if you buy a discounted £15 ticket, you’re being paid almost £13 to sit through the show.
LIFE HACK
Eat before going shopping.
I cannot believe it’s taken me 33 years to realise this.
Going shopping when hungry is a nightmare.
You buy tons of things you don’t need and then consume them all immediately once you arrive home.
If you’re super hungry when you arrive at the supermarket, buy a sandwich from the front counter and eat it.
I guarantee you’ll make better shopping decisions and consume fewer calories overall for the entire day, even with your SOS sandwich purchase.
Big love,
Chris x
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PS
Tag me in any of the books you fall in love with! Enjoy.
