3 MINUTE MONDAYHi friend, “Living an examined life is just one insult after another, you have to maintain a sense of humour.
Your mind has absolutely no shame, it will think anything.
The person you meet when you look in the mirror is not one person.
It’s a congress of selves, and many of them are total assholes.
And ultimately you can’t take it personally, you didn’t create yourself, or your culture, or your consciousness.
You find yourself here in this circumstance, and the question is; what can you do next; what is possible given the kind of mind you have?
Morally, psychologically and existentially we have a navigation problem, and there are tools we can put in-hand to be a much wiser and happier pilot.” — Sam Harris
This describes a kind of Internal Multiple Personality Disorder which we all feel. A selection of Avengers assemble inside of us, except more than 50% of them are villains. The best versions of us so often seem to be drowned out by the judgemental, harsh, emotional, juvenile voices which cause us to behave and think in a way that aren’t in our interests. Your moment to moment experience of the world is largely determined by the story you tell yourself about it. And if our narrator happens to be a total dick most of the time, is it any surprise that we struggle to find happiness? Sam summarises it nicely… “Wisdom is a matter of making your mind your friend.” Honestly, how can any of us truly say we are wise if our mind is out of control? If you’re so smart, and so wise, then why aren’t you happy? MODERN WISDOMI do a podcast where I pretend to have a British accent. You should subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. This week’s upcoming episodes: Monday. Thursday. Saturday. THINGS I'VE LEARNED1. “The more we see someone as competent, the less we see them as warm (and vice versa). As a result, people who are highly successful can seem cold and people who are warm and friendly can seem incompetent, even when they’re not.” — Rob Henderson 2. “Just because someone carries it well doesn’t mean it isn’t heavy.” 3. "The best thing about startups is you only ever experience two emotions: euphoria and terror. And I find that lack of sleep enhances both of them.” — Marc Andreessen LIFE HACKChoose window seats on busy flights. I’ve war-gamed this a lot and have come up with a definitive answer. Having the window seat provides two clear advantages. Not being disturbed by other passengers getting up to go to the bathroom. Control over the window blind (sometimes blindS if you get lucky). Both are crucial for sleep and general peace. Now you do lose arm-width on the side closest to the window, but you also lose that in the middle seat, and the benefits outweigh the costs. Big love, Try my productivity drink Neutonic. PS |
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3 MINUTE MONDAY Hi friend, It's nearly the end of the year, you should do a review process. My End Of Year Review framework has been downloaded by 100,000 people and is totally free. Enjoy x This time of year can be tough. Downtime from busyness, overwhelm from family and melancholy from reflection can create the perfect storm for overthinking. So here’s 20 Sentences to Stop Overthinking by Nir Eyal. Use these one-liners as mantras when your brain won't switch off. I don't need certainty to...
3 MINUTE MONDAY Hi friend, You should do an end of year review - it’s the one time of the year that’s culturally appropriate to fully focus on reflection. My favourite free end of year review process is here. Enjoy x Below is a list of the Top 15 most played episodes on audio of 2025. Perhaps unsurprisingly, that epic Naval episode came in at #1, it's so so good. Gonna have to do something special to beat that in 2026. It’s great to see such a range of topics performing well, I love how...
3 MINUTE MONDAY Hi friend, It's nearly the end of the year, you should do a review process. My End Of Year Review framework has been downloaded by 100,000 people and is totally free. Enjoy x You are not original. I've talked to thousands of people one-on-one at my live show meet & greets over the last year. Here is a list of thoughts that almost everyone has, but thinks that no one else has… I’m terrified that momentum is more important than talent, and I lost mine. I need to choose between...