3 Minute Monday
Hi friend,
I had a really fascinating conversation about cynics and the modern culture of negative skepticism with Michael Malice this week.
“Being black pilled guarantees that you can’t be accused of naivety.”
This is a huge driver for why cynicism is so popular I think.
Two amazing comments my YouTube channel explained this perfectly…
“Cynicism as Michael espouses it is 1000% a guarded response.
You’re setting yourself up against disappointment.
The worst, most obnoxious, black pilled cynics are pretty much always heartbroken by their own experiences and terrified to hope.
It’s more comfortable to get fatalistic and call it pragmatism.
The cope is framing hope as pathetic and embarrassing and optimism as delusion (which is a projection on their end).
It’s “sour grapes” at an existential level.
If everything sucks, and everyone is horrible, and reality is disappointing and you know that for a fact, it’s the people acting like things can be better that are dumb/delusional/the problem.” — @alc8736
And…
“Cynicism is a psychological protector.
Its role within the system is to protect you against experiencing anything bad. It is a pre-emptive strike against a perceived threat.
If I tell myself that ‘all women are bad’, then I’m less likely to seek a relationship with women and, as a consequence, I’m never going to feel the pain of rejection.
If I tell myself that ‘everything is shit’ or that ‘things will never get better’, then I am excused of ever having to try at anything.
The upside of never trying is never having to feel the pain of failure.” — @md1trk
(sidebar: these sorts of comments are exactly why I love having you as an audience, ridiculously insightful, elite balanced takes)
I’ve realised that this culture of cynicism and pessimism is one of the things I’m trying to rail against most.
I want a community who see the good in the world, who are agents of change for themselves and for everyone around them, who take control, who face down huge challenges with a grin on their face because there’s a chance they might win.
This is my energy for 2023.
Not blind optimism but blue-sky self-belief.
I back myself, and so should you.
I don’t think that pessimism is cool or fun to be around.
And even if I’m wrong, let’s say that the challenges we face are insurmountable and we are individually or collectively frolicking toward an inescapable apocalypse, I am absolutely not spending my final moments with some buzzkill mood hoover telling me how they knew this would happen all along.
MODERN WISDOM
I do a podcast which has had 100 million+ downloads. You should subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
This week’s upcoming episodes:
Monday.
David Goggins – the hardest man on the planet explains the most painful experience of his life, why he recorded a mixtape of hate, his new job smokejumping and much more. Don’t miss this.
Thursday.
Dr Robert Waldinger – mind-blowing statistics and insights from the Director of the longest running study on human happiness ever conducted – over 75 years of data on the same people and their children.
Saturday.
Peter Diamandis – Tony Robbins’ business partner on his space-travel companies, human longevity, how to create a world-class mindset and much more.
THINGS I’VE LEARNED
1.
Unplanned Childlessness is a huge problem.
80% of women who didn’t have kids, didn’t intend to not have kids.
Involuntarily childlessness accounts for 4/5 childless mothers worldwide.
A 2010 meta-analysis showed that 10% of women are physically unable to have children.
10% actually planned to not have children.
Which leaves a whopping 80% of non-mothers who are childless due to life circumstances but wanted children – the most common reason being that they didn’t find the right partner early enough.
(This is taken from the largest ever study done of its kind by Dutch academic – Professor Renske Keiser)
2.
The Babble Hypothesis.
“According to multiple studies, what best predicts whether someone becomes a leader? Their experience? Their IQ?
Nope.
The amount of time they spend talking. It doesn’t even matter what they say, just how much they say it.
We suck at picking leaders.” — Gurwinder Bhogal
3.
Freedom requires control.
“The paradox seems to be, as Socrates demonstrated long ago, that the truly free individual is free only to the extent of his own self-mastery.” — Steven Pressfield
LIFE HACK
Amazon Expert Furniture Setup.
When you order furniture from Amazon there is an option to have an expert come and set it up for you.
It’s usually under £50 and will include the expert also taking away all the packaging for you and dealing with any missing or broken parts.
Especially for bigger or more complex items, this absolutely stacks up as money well spent.
Big love,
Chris x
Never miss an episode by pressing Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
PS
The Goggins episode is live on YouTube today at 4pm UK/10am CT. Les Goh.
