3 Minute Monday

Hi friend,

I hope you had a great Christmas, the food coma is REAL.

To celebrate the end of the year, here’s a rundown of the Top 10 Modern Wisdom episodes of 2021, sorted by audio plays.

#1 – Dr Jordan B. Peterson – Take Control Of Your Life
https://apple.co/3Fqxz75 & https://spoti.fi/32vLmdY  

#2 – Adam Lane Smith – 15 Harsh Psychology Truths
https://apple.co/3muzwrC & https://spoti.fi/3110U9a  

#3 – Mark Manson – 11 Uncomfortable Truths About Life
https://apple.co/3ejpuoD & https://spoti.fi/3FszRCD  

#4 – James Smith – Dating, Finances & Happiness
https://apple.co/3H6EQcz & https://spoti.fi/3mw7FHw  

#5 – Robert Greene – 12 Laws Of Power & Human Nature
https://apple.co/3FGks1L & https://spoti.fi/32p0ERZ  

#6 – Peter Crone – Defeat Your Limiting Beliefs
https://apple.co/3ejh94k & https://spoti.fi/3yVBWUZ  

#7 – Dr David Sinclair – Defeating Ageing & Living Longer
https://apple.co/3ejFUgX & https://spoti.fi/3pmI0Tu  

#8 – Anna Lembke – How To Reset Your Brain’s Dopamine
Balance https://apple.co/3EnEMmL & https://spoti.fi/3mxlFRb  

#9 – Ollie Marchon – Identity Change & Personal Growth
https://apple.co/3EmpKOd & https://spoti.fi/3J9MDrX  

#10 – Oliver Burkeman – How To Properly Manage Your Time
https://apple.co/33OTNBz & https://spoti.fi/3ejGeMH  

MODERN WISDOM

I do a podcast which is definitely not a cult. You should subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

This week’s upcoming episodes:

Monday.
Leo Kearse – JK Rowling is in hot water again, Jessie from Little Mix is accused of tanning too easily and Scottish people swear a lot.

Thursday.
End Of Year Special – Jonny & Yusef join me to recap the wins, lessons & fails from 2021.

Saturday.
No episode. Enjoy your NYE. January is going to be berserk

THINGS I’VE LEARNED

1.
Goodhart’s Law

“When a measure becomes a goal, it ceases to be a good measure.”

A famous example of this is what is now called the “Cobra Effect. In India, under British rule, the Colonial government was concerned about the number of venomous cobras in Delhi.

The government thought it was a good idea to recruit the local populace to reduce the number of snakes, and started offering a bounty for every dead cobra brought to its door.

Initially, this was a successful strategy: people came in with large numbers of slaughtered snakes.

But as time passed, enterprising individuals began to breed cobras with the intention of killing them later, for the extra income.

When the British government discovered this, they scrapped the bounty, the cobra breeders released their cobras into the wild, and Delhi experienced a boom in hooded snakes.

The Raj’s cobra problem was hence no better than when it began.

Basically – beware what you optimise for.

2.
Hitchens’ Razor.

What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.

If you make a claim, it’s up to you to prove it, not to me to disprove it.

3.
Don’t commit crimes in Japan.

Japan’s legal system has a 99 percent conviction rate.

LIFE HACK

Decide in advance what you’re going to suck at.

You should have already downloaded your free copy of my Annual Review Template.

When making goals, you have to focus your efforts toward the things which make those goals happen.

This inevitably reduces your efforts in other areas.

Your body’s condition worsens when focussing on your career because you can’t train as much.

Your finances worsen when focussing on socialising because you can’t save as much.

And so on…

When you feel these other areas falling behind, the FOMO pain kicks in so hard that you get tempted to re-focus on the area that’s slipping.

This negates the focus you had on your goal-areas and just spreads your efforts across everything again.

Solution: when setting goals, don’t just decide on what you want to achieve, but also decide on the things you’re prepared to suck at while you make progress in another area.

Big love,
Chris x

Join the Modern Wisdom Community.

PS
LES FKN GO JANUARY. Steven Pinker, Tim Urban, Johann Hari, Bridget Phetasy.