3 Minute Monday
Hi friend,
We just hit 20,000,000 plays on YouTube.
Which is completely amazing.
Thank you to everyone who keeps on tuning in and watching.
And an extra special thanks to those of you who share the episodes to friends, Reddit, Twitter and everywhere else – you are my babies.
I genuinely get the feeling that the show is on the verge of another huge hockeystick growth spurt.
Some massive names coming up including Aubrey Marcus, Dr Andrew Huberman, John McWhorter, Robert Greene, Ryan Holiday, Dan Jones & Joe Navarro.
Hold on tight.
Anyway.
“Learn Like An Athlete” is the name of a blog post by my friend David Perrell.
Even though it wasn’t the purpose of the post, it gave me an idea.
“Think Like An Athlete” came into my mind.
Not many people treat their chosen pursuit like an athlete.
When you think about how a sportsperson behaves, everything in their life is geared toward maximising their performance on game day.
Everything.
From their nutrition to their sleeping pattern, the game tape they watch, the drills they run, the conditioning work, their self-talk, the people they hang around with, their recovery, their pre-game ritual, even the content they consume.
Everything contributes to their performance.
And yet when you ask people what they want to do in life, unless it’s a sport pretty much no one takes their preparation this seriously.
“I want to be a world-class podcaster.”
Ok so tell me what you did on the morning of your episode recording.
“Oh well I got up late cos I didn’t get in from the cinema until 1am and scrolled through Instagram for an hour when I woke up-“
Hang on a second.
I thought you wanted to be the best at this?
Why is it that you don’t treat your chosen pursuit with the same level of finesse and sacredness that athletes treat theirs?
This thing is THE thing you said you wanted to do.
Your highest calling.
Your maximal point of contribution to the world.
But you’re leaving so much on the table.
Why is that?
I think the reason is because the parameters for success and failure in pretty much everything except for sport are so messy and hard to define that we always believe we can just “get by” and no one will notice, not even ourselves.
In sport you have very tight metrics of success and failure.
You know how fast you ran/heavy you lifted/accurately you threw in the last match, so you have a benchmark for this one.
You also know where you were at in training and can predict what should have happened on game day.
These tight, objective metrics of success and failure aren’t there in pretty much anything else.
Who’s to say that this podcast/YouTube video/music performance/day with your children was better or worse than the last one?
What even constitutes a good performance here?
The subjectivity and inherent opaqueness of most pursuits provides sufficient degrees of freedom for you to believe you can just “get by” with poor preparation.
And it’s difficult to draw a direct line from you being a worse podcaster/YouTuber/musician/father to the sleep/nutrition/mindset/training you did.
So we don’t concern ourselves with it.
Where could you be in life if you treated your chosen pursuit in life with the same level of dedication that athletes treat theirs?
You’re only getting one shot at this.
Maybe taking it more seriously would be a good idea.
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.
Will Storr – one of the best books I’ve read this year on the status game. Why do humans desire power, influence, renown, respect and admiration, and how can you get it. Amazing.
Thursday.
Aubrey Marcus – just sold Onnit to Unilever for many millions and got married after being polyamorous. What is life like when you’ve completed its challenges? Gorgeous episode, don’t miss this one.
Saturday.
Not sure yet – maybe Beau Lotto on the cutting edge of neuroscience research for optimal performance.
THINGS I’VE LEARNED
1.
If you live off people’s compliments, you’ll die from their criticism.
“Be aware of your ego in good times, do not forget that the journey has no finish line.
It’s a continual work in progress with ups, downs, wins and losses.
The constant is never-ending focus.
Focus on building good habits in your life through discipline each day.
If you have a bump in the road, don’t forget we are all human.
Start over and continue to simply do your best.
When things are good, remember this…
If you live off people’s compliments, you’ll die from their criticism.” — Quade Cooper
2.
Paying early pays off.
“A simple rule I follow in business:
Pay every invoice within 48 hours.
You’d be surprised how many times people go out of their way to do our work first because they know they’ll get paid right away.” — Shane Parrish
3.
BMTH’s new track slaps hard AF.
Like a pop-punk, post-hardcore Post Malone.
Anyone who’s at their show this Friday in Sheffield – I’ll see you there.
LIFE HACK
A Year’s Free Deliveroo With Amazon Prime.
Just released this week.
No idea why this is happening but you can get a year’s Deliveroo Premium if you have Amazon Prime.
Open up your Deliveroo app, go to settings on the right and there is an option to link to your Amazon Prime.
Boom.
Free delivery and extra bonuses for the next 12 months.
Big love,
Chris x
Listen to me on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Say hi on Twitter or Instagram.
PS
I did a full video on last week’s newsletter about men dropping out of college and modern educated women’s challenges with dating.
