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3MM: Not Caring, Left Wing & Reading
3 MINUTE MONDAYHi 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 it's the wrong question.
Almost everyone cares what someone thinks (though caring what everyone thinks is definitely a mistake), and it's probably important.
Caring too much makes you a sheep.
But you need to be at least a little in tune with others to do something useful for them.
It seems like there are two degrees of freedom: you can choose the people whose opinions you care about (and on what subjects), and you can choose the timescale you care about them on.
Most people figure out the former but the latter doesn’t seem to get much attention.
The most impressive people I know care a lot about what people think, even people whose opinions they really shouldn’t value (a surprising numbers of them do something like keeping a folder of screenshots of tweets from haters).
But what makes them unusual is that they generally care about other people’s opinions on a very long time horizon—as long as the history books get it right, they take some pride in letting the newspapers get it wrong.
You should trade being short-term low-status for being long-term high-status, which most people seem unwilling to do.
A common way this happens is by eventually being right about an important but deeply non-consensus bet.
But there are lots of other ways–the key observation is that as long as you are right, being misunderstood by most people is a strength not a weakness.
You and a small group of rebels get the space to solve an important problem that might otherwise not get solved.” — Sam Altman
MODERN WISDOMI do a podcast where I pretend to have a British accent. This week’s upcoming episodes: Monday. Thursday. Saturday. THINGS I'VE LEARNED1. The University of Arkansas found that political ideology predicts how people judge male leaders based on physical strength:
Researchers suggest this reflects evolved stereotypes: strength signals dominance, hierarchy, and enforcement — values conservatives admire but egalitarian authoritarians reject. 2. 73% of Boomer males: "No matter what psychological challenges I face, I will not let them define me." 72% of Gen Z females: "Mental illness is an important part of my identity." — The Presidential Election Survey 2024 3. “One in 5 American adults is illiterate. 54% of adults read below a sixth-grade level. And the numbers are getting worse. Relatedly, it is alarming how bad so many college-educated adults are at reading.” — Rob Henderson LIFE HACKLMNT Lemonade Salt is back in stock. This stuff is phenomenal and was sold out for ages. They had a $1.6M truckload of it stolen recently (no joke). But it’s available now, so go get it. I keep harping on about LMNT because it really works - try it and feel the difference that proper, tasty hydration makes. They also offer an unlimited duration money-back guarantee - so you can buy it 100% risk-free. Try LMNT Risk-Free with a free sample pack. https://drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom Big love, Try my productivity drink Neutonic. PS |
3 Minute Monday
Podcaster with 1bn+ plays. I write about the most important lessons from the best thinkers on the planet. 300,000+ people read my free newsletter. Press subscribe to join.
3 MINUTE MONDAY Hi friend, I'm in Bali. Tour has been wild and absolutely non-stop, got a week here to chill out. Final show tomorrow <3 In other news - today is the first episode from my new studio in Austin Texas! To celebrate we're starting a brand new new hang-style episode. Featuring George Mack, Shaan Puri, Michael Smoak, Tom Cruise and the McDonald’s CEO (really). Would love to hear your thoughts on this. Listen now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. In other news, I finally came up with a...
3 MINUTE MONDAY Hi friend, Tour the last week has been a madness. I’m in Perth for 18 hours and I’m gutted we have to leave. Thank you so much to everyone who’s come out to Sydney, Melbourne & Adelaide - Brisbane, NZ & Bali next! I am certain that most capable people don’t believe in themselves enough. A lack of confidence killed more dreams than a lack of competence ever did. Self-doubt often seems to be bundled into a package deal alongside potential. Why? Is it that capable people are...
3 MINUTE MONDAY Hi friend, I'm in Australia!! Live tour starts this Thursday 💜 Come see me. “I struggle to believe I’m worthy of moments of joy and peace without first putting myself through a brutal schedule, monitoring my productivity levels down to the minute. Perhaps some people apply this “earn your cookie” mindset in ways that lead to healthy achievements. Not me. Mine is a mutation whereby joy and self-compassion are regularly outlawed by an internal tyrant who decides when I’ve been...