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, I'm back on the road. LA for a full week of episodes then playing The Regent Theater this Saturday - I can't wait to see you there! All my live shows are sold out except for Boston, Denver & Chicago now. The Rivalry Theory Of Body Positivity. TLDR: Female support for body positivity is at least in-part fuelled deep down by female intrasexual competition, which pushes other women out of the dating pool by discouraging them from losing weight. This was originally...
3 MINUTE MONDAY Hi friend, My first two shows of tour in NYC and Toronto were amazing. Thank you so much to everyone who came out! In 1830 Victor Hugo was catastrophically behind deadline on The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. His publisher had given him only a few months left, but Hugo was a spectacular procrastinator, entertaining visitors, wandering Paris, and finding excuses not to write. Desperate, he invented a bizarre discipline system. He gathered all his normal clothes, gave them to his...
3 MINUTE MONDAY Hi friend, My live tour starts this Thursday in NYC. 5 shows are already sold out - NYC, Austin, Boston, Denver & Chicago all have very limited space left. Last chance for tickets at http://chriswilliamson.live/ I recently came across a blog post from Sam Altman about how to not care what other people think. It's definitely worth reading. “A founder recently asked me how to stop caring what other people think. I didn’t have an answer, and after reflecting on it more, I think...