3 Minute Monday

Hi friend,

I released a video about my 15 best strategies for reducing phone use.

I don’t know a single person who doesn’t wish that they used their phone less.

This will help.

I’ve been thinking about imposter syndrome this week, and how many of us shouldn’t suffer with it.

Sometimes imposter syndrome is justified.

Understanding why it’s justified is liberating because it makes us feel less irrational for having it.

For instance…

If you’re doing something that you’ve never done before, why shouldn’t you feel imposter syndrome?

You are literally stretching yourself beyond your historically proven capabilities.

This really shouldn’t be called imposter syndrome.

It’s just an accurate view of uncertainty in a new domain.

I bet tons of parents feel imposter syndrome with their first child.

You remember your parents bringing you up and seeming all parenty and in control.

Meanwhile you haven’t got a clue what you’re doing.

Of course you don’t – you’ve never done this before.

The same goes for if you’re growing a business or playing a sport or starting a new hobby.

As you venture into new ground, imposter syndrome comes along for the ride.

In fact, we should probably rename this from Imposter Syndrome to Adventure Syndrome.

I think you can liberate yourself from feeling like an imposter by knowing that uncertainty is justified in these situations.

The real imposter syndrome I want to attack today is when you’ve proven to yourself that you ARE capable.

And yet your lack of self belief persists.

You’ve been a parent for years, you’ve successfully closed sales over and over, you’re played this sport hundreds of times…

Imposter syndrome has no place here.

There should only be so many times that you can disprove your imposter syndrome in the real world and it still exist.

Sometimes I think people hold onto their imposter syndrome because it’s a comfort blanket.

If you don’t believe that you’re capable of doing great things, it might soften the blow of your future failures.

This is bollocks.

Demand a lot from yourself, do what you can, with what you have, for where you are, and you’re liberated from ever feeling guilty about failure anyway.

Another reason people hold onto imposter syndrome is because they fear being cocky.

I get this a lot personally.

Having been such a partyboy showoff for years, I became super conscious of coming across in a cocky manner.

My solution was to actually cultivate, utilise and externalise my imposter syndrome to compensate.

But that’s not what I was trying to achieve.

Another lesson:

Imposter syndrome is not the same as being humble.

One is a modest view of high capacity, the other is an unhinged view of an unknown capacity.

Imposter syndrome clouds your ability to see your own capacity clearly, it’s absolutely not something to cultivate.

Do small things well, then do slightly bigger things well, and allow your self-belief to come along for the ride.

No one ever got criticised for having an accurate view of themselves.

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MODERN WISDOM

I do a podcast which has had 13 million+ downloads. You should subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
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This week’s upcoming episodes:

Monday.
Steven Bartlett – one of the UK’s most famous and successful CEOs joins me to talk happiness, fulfilment, business and young-people culture.

Thursday.
Ryan Bush – total underground hero who I stumbled upon. Learn how to redesign your mindset from the ground up, backed by modern science & ancient philosophy. Awesome.

Saturday.
Not sure yet. Maybe Thomas Moynihan on the history of existential risk and humans becoming aware of their own demise.

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THINGS I’VE LEARNED

1.
​“Telling someone to think their way out of overthinking is like telling someone to snort their way out of a cocaine addiction.” George Mack

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2.
​Standards for preferred female body shape are the same, everywhere.

There are historical and cross-cultural differences in the preferred weight for women.

Some periods of history have had different in-trend weights, sometimes bigger girls have been cool, sometimes skinnier ones.

Some cultures, countries and tribes also vary in terms of preferred weight.

But across all periods, across all cultures and tribes, the preferred Waist To Hip Ratio is always roughly the same: around 0.7.

An hourglass figure is universally seen as more desirable by all men, everywhere, ever.

Having an hourglass figure is also statistically associated with better female fertility.

This is another case of a beauty standard being attractive because it signals a fundamentally useful trait in a partner – the ability to bear children.

Claims about “culturally created beauty standards” vs hardwired genetic predispositions is a fight that’s going to end badly.

h/t Devendra Singh via Steve Stewart-Williams

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3.
​“Nobody roots for Goliath.” – Wilt Chamberlain

People largely privilege the emotional states of a low-power character over those of a high-power character.

Basically – we have a natural affinity to the underdog.

I think it’s why we love rags-to-riches stories, fat people who’ve got fit and inspirational stories.

It reminds us that if everything goes wrong for us, we might be able to get out of the muck & mire too.

That person is also seen as less of a threat because their success seems less secure, if they came from nothing then maybe they’ll go back to nothing – so we don’t need to worry about them competing with us as much.

h/t Rob Henderson

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LIFE HACK

MyProtein Supplement Towers.

I’ve used these for 10 years and totally forgot to ever mention them on a podcast.

Basically a tower of tall circular storage disks that you can screw together.

I have 5 Towers of 3.

Daily Tablets in the top.

Afternoon protein & creatine in the middle.

​Athletic Greens Powder at the bottom.

It’s far easier to batch process organising your supplements for the next few days.

Fantastic if you’re going away for the day – just throw an entire tower in your bag and you know you’re sweet.

Literally a game changer.

Plus they’re about £4.

PLUS you can get 37% or more off everything including apparel from MyProtein.

Code: MODERNWISDOM

​Get a Supplement Tower here.​
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Big love,
Chris x

Listen to me on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Say hi on Twitter or Instagram.

PS
Recording with Dr Jordan B. Peterson this week. I really want to maximise this episode’s reach – so press Subscribe to know as soon as it’s live.