3 Minute Monday

Happy new year friend, we’re all gonna make it.

I released a 250k Subscriber Q&A episode today.

In it, I brought up of the main lesson I have learned from the last 4 years of Modern Wisdom…

“Your life should be lived by design, not default.”

Kyle Eschenroeder explains it beautifully…

Blindly following your desires makes you a slave to your impulses — slave to the assumptions of those around you, the advertisements you’re exposed to, and the confused chemical signals of your body.

If we don’t pause and ask ourselves what we want to want, we will spend our lives focused on unhealthy aims defined for us by others and the worst parts of ourselves.

We will pass these bad assumptions about life onto our children and loved ones.

We will reinforce these boring, desperate defaults in everyone we encounter.

To achieve freedom we must be able to think for ourselves.

If we don’t cut to the core and program our wants (our desires) then our best-case scenario is to be a successful, rich, or famous slave.

If we never peer into our programming then we may end up being the cleverest rat in the room, but that’s hardly worth celebrating.

In short – your default factory settings are absolute horseshit.

Do not follow them.

People who do will never actualise their potential, either for happiness or success.

“They do not what they intended but what they happen to run across” — Seneca

Our desires define our own paths of least resistance.

Through deliberate training that at first feels tedious, we can eventually arrive at a point where we want what we want to want.

Life should be lived by design, not default.

Join the Modern Wisdom Community to connect with me and 2000+ other people who all listen to the show.

MODERN WISDOM

I do a podcast which has had 25 million+ downloads. You should subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

This week’s upcoming episodes:

Monday.
250k Q&A Special – what do I think of the Manosphere? How do I choose guests for Modern Wisdom? When was the longest fart in history?

Thursday.
Johann Hari – one of my favourite authors deconstructs his new book Stolen Focus and explains why it’s so hard to pay attention in the modern era.

Saturday.
Not sure yet. Maybe Hamza on redpill dating coaches.

THINGS I’VE LEARNED

1.
“Wokeness gives nasty people a shield to be mean and cruel, armoured in false virtue.” — Elon Musk

2.
Everyone needs to be quiet.

Wearing noise cancelling headphones in an open-plan office helps a little bit — reducing cognitive errors by 14% — but actual silence reduces those errors by one third.

3.
“It is remarkable how much long-term advantage people like us have gotten by trying to be consistently not stupid, instead of trying to be very intelligent.” — Charlie Munger

LIFE HACK

Silent Walks Improve Wellbeing.

Overstimulation is a thing.

Spending some time without external input is critical for giving your mind room to wander which is linked with increased focus and creativity.

Using a daily walk as opportunity to not take the AirPods with you and to just exist while avoiding extra input is a great way to integrate this.

Big love,
Chris x

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PS
Thank you to everyone who 5* reviewed Modern Wisdom on Spotify, you are my babies.