3 Minute Monday
Hi friend,
I’m going to start doing YouTube properly.
Up until now the channel growth has been exclusively through content from the podcast, and that’s done really well.
But it’s not specifically what the YT platform is there for.
YouTube Channels grow and resonate best with purpose-made content.
So, when I hit 100k Subscribers, I’ll be starting to release proper, down-the-pipe monologue videos.
Covering all the things I’m most passionate about, without a guest to distract me.
Time to jump, and learn to fly on the way down.
Except now, I’m being watched leaving the nest by 100,000 people.
Anyway. It’s happening no matter 🥳
If you want to hurry the onset of these videos – Subscribe now.
As a part of preparing this new direction for the channel, I’ve been trying to work out why I’m so interested in what I do and what the purpose of the channel would be.
It lead me to thinking about this…
You are not all that you could be.
And neither am I.
And we know it.
You have been thrown into a body you didn’t choose, with genes you didn’t choose, in a world you didn’t choose.
Your body and genes are not adapted to make you happy.
And misaligned with the modern world they exist in.
You are a rider atop an elephant.
Except it’s not the elephant, it’s YOU who is wearing blinkers and can only see a tiny amount of your steed’s motivations & the world around him.
You’re permitted surface-level control, and a tiny sliver of awareness into what’s truly going on down below.
It’s just enough to give your post-hoc rationalisations sufficient insight that they might appear believable, or at least not totally insane/detached/deceptive to yourself and the people around you.
You have evolved to be the Press Secretary of your elephant, not the President.
Your insights are so blocked that you don’t even understand your own motivations.
Countless neuroscience studies have shown that we make gut-instinct (elephant) decisions and then rationalise them into a believable story (rider).
For some people, they go through life never knowing there is an elephant.
Or never caring.
And to be fair, this is fine for those people. Ignorance can be bliss.
Deeper consciousness does comes with associated deeper suffering.
But ignorance is not the richest existence possible.
And for some of us, the genie has already been let out of the bottle.
Once you’ve left Plato’s cave, you’re never going back into blissful, ignorant darkness.
These are the people I want to speak to.
The ones who know there is more to life and are hungry to find out about it.
So onward is the solution.“Deeper and deeper into insight and awareness.
Until you take the thing that poisons you and turn it into a tonic to girdle the world around you.”
— Jordan B Peterson.
Stepping into your own programming is necessary to curb the elements of your nature which you don’t want and to enhance the things you do.
This is the foundations of a Consciously Designed Life.
Not existing at the mercy of your genetic predisposition, or the way you have dealt with past traumas, or your paths of least resistance, or societal norms, or your cognitive biases, or anything else.“Ultimately happiness comes down to choosing between the discomfort of becoming aware of your mental afflictions, or the discomfort of becoming ruled by them.”
— Rinpoche.
I’m not actually too sure how I fit in here.
I’m not formally trained in pretty much any of the stuff I talk about.
But I have access to some of the smartest minds on the planet.
And I’m prepared to be uniquely transparent in throwing my own life experiences, vulnerabilities, successes and failures into the conversation to give it context.
Perhaps being the best entrepreneur or philosopher or psychologist or fuckboy I can be isn’t my highest value.
Perhaps it’s bridging the gap between insight and application.
Taking the learnings from philosophy, psychology, evolution, neuroscience, ethics, fitness, physics, culture, SAS Operatives, pornstars and everything else.
And working out how the hell they slot into a world with TikTok, Help To Buy Mortgages, International Travel, UberEats and OnlyFans.
Cutting through this noise to find out the lessons we can all learn seems like a pretty good place to start the channel at least.
My goal is to remove my rider’s blinkers as fully as possible.
To live in harmony with my elephant.
And hopefully to help you do the same.
MODERN WISDOM
I do a podcast which has had 9 million+ downloads. You should subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
This week’s upcoming episodes:
Monday.
Paul Evans gives one of the most extreme stories I’ve heard. From surviving the Arab Spring revolution in Egypt to living an entire alternate reality during a coma. Epic.
Thursday.
Rob Lipsett is Ireland’s biggest fitness YouTuber and the most positive man on the planet. We talk about robot overlords, training, pancakes and more.
Saturday.
Diren Kartal recovered from our trip to Dubai and sat down to talk through relationships, how to stick to your resolutions and why people are miserable in the UK.
THINGS I’VE LEARNED
1.
The Fundamental Attribution Error
We attribute the behaviour of others to their disposition, not to their situation.
We identify systemic badness in others, not in acute environmental factors that caused their actions.
Someone cuts you up in traffic; it’s because they’re a dick, not because they’re late.
You take a single data point and extrapolate it out to their entire life.
Conversely the Self Serving Bias is the opposite;
You cut someone up in traffic; it’s because you’re late, not because you’re a dick.
2.
There Are Bombs In London
In the Thames Estuary, about 40 miles east of London, is a shipwreck from WW2 containing 14,000 unexploded bombs.
If they blew up, it could send a five metre tsunami up the river.
3.
Tuvalu Is Crushing The Internet
Nearly 10% of the revenue of the nation of Tuvalu comes from its control of the .tv domain used by companies like twitch.tv
LIFE HACK
Whiten Your Teeth
The easiest attractiveness & confidence upgrade available.
It’s not just for reality TV stars.
Whiter teeth makes you want to smile more to show them off and will make you seem more positive and approachable.
It was only after I whitened mine a little that I realised how big of a difference it made to how confident I felt.
Try it.
Big love,
Chris x
Listen to me on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
Say hi on Twitter or Instagram.
PS
This is perhaps my favourite episode of the year. Watch it now.
