← Modern Wisdom
Loading summary
Transcript465 lines
- [00:00]
A
Zach Talenda, welcome to the show.
- [00:01]
B
It's been a while since I have been on this show.
- [00:13]
A
You've been busy.
- [00:14]
B
I have been busy, dude. I've been very busy. I just want to say also that this is a perfect representation of you. And I like the autism architects and then, like the degenerate kind of cowboy Waylon Jennings figure outlaw.
- [00:31]
A
I'm trying to subliminally change people's music choices through what I wear as a T shirt. I don't think it's working. I don't think anybody is listening to any of the bands.
- [00:41]
B
I think. I feel like they are. I don't know. Yeah. But I'm not gonna give you. I'm not gonna allow you to be the only person that wears a band T shirt in here.
- [00:47]
A
That's true.
- [00:48]
B
I bought this purposefully for this episode.
- [00:50]
A
Oh, nice.
- [00:51]
B
Yes, I do love Waylon Jennings.
- [00:53]
A
So sick. Everything you want is on the other side of cringe.
- [00:57]
B
Yeah, so I saw. Actually, I made this post about cringe. And a lot of times people say if you want to, like, defeat cringe, you just have to. It's like a muscle. You have to flex. You just have to keep going for whatever it is and, like, learn how to take failure. And it's almost as if failure and cringe are kind of, like, aligned. But my nuanced take was it from. It was the people who are calling you cringe or like, the critics. Like, everyone has hopes and dreams. Everyone. You know, it's not like there are some people who are born and they're just like, I don't want to do anything with my life ever. Right. But the critics and the people calling you cringe, essentially what they're doing is saying, like, oh, you're pursuant of some sort of hope and dream. How dare you. And so at some point in their lives, they had to make a decision. I'm not going to pursue my hopes and dreams because that is quote, unquote, cringe, which I found super interesting. So in this video, I just. All I said was, like, you know, the only times that the critics or the people calling you cringe can access their hopes and dreams is when they're sleeping. So then when they wake up, just make sure they keep watching you pursue yours. And it's like, for me, that. That is adds another layer on top of what you typically hear, which is just like, keep moving, Keep. Keep going, push. Like, fail so you can get better at failing. Stuff like that.
- [02:29]
A
Yeah. It seems like there's something to do with earnestness and Sincerity and sort of ironic speech in here. So I think when people are speaking ironically, there's a distance between you and, and your speech. So being sincere sort of carries a type of vulnerability with it. So you're saying this is my position, this is something that I believe in. Whereas when everybody is always being ironic. And I think that identifying something as cringe is like the non engaging way of being ironic. Like say, saying that's cringe is the same as the exact same as saying that's good, but that's the same sentence. Right. And I think you have this sort of distance between your beliefs and your statements. Like you don't actually put your beliefs out there. You make statements about stuff that's typically critical and then you have your beliefs, but your beliefs are yours and nobody ever actually gets to interact with those. And by not putting your beliefs on the line, you can never be cringe. This is one of the interesting asymmetries. It's one of the reasons that I think critic, or what's called the critique sphere, YouTube channels have done so well because it's very difficult to do a criticism of a critiques via video because it's two levels of irony.
- [03:45]
B
Yeah, yeah, right.
- [03:45]
A
That person didn't mean that thing. They're there to take the piss. You can't take the piss out of someone taking the piss.
- [03:51]
B
Right.
- [03:51]
A
Unless they try to take the piss in the sensei away. And. But nobody ever does that. Nobody ever says, you know, this just didn't speak to me. It really didn't speak to. I didn't feel anything. And it's like, oh God. You can do a criticism of that.
- [04:04]
B
Yeah, yeah.
- [04:05]
A
You know what I mean?
- [04:05]
B
Yeah. Irony is the song of a bird who's never left its cage. I saw that quote.
- [04:12]
A
What's that mean?
- [04:13]
B
It's basically somebody who's never gone out and done anything or you know, they use irony as the weapon, as the song that they sing. You know, the people calling others cringe, they use ironic, they use that as like a, it's like a force field as well as a weapon to attack.
- [04:28]
A
Others, but it doesn't allow you to actually move forward because you're never posing anything.
- [04:33]
B
Yeah. You know what's wild though is like on social media you do find that if you engage in kind of that in an authentic way, like I've been rewarded for it being like, oh, that's cringe. Or like being on the side of the critic, I've been rewarded for it. And this is something that I'm actually super Interested in is being able to do two things at once. Almost two opposite ends of the spectrum. And I wanted to talk to you about this because this happened like, almost directly after having my daughter. It was. It's this idea of, like, I had it. It was like gratitude maxing, but at the same time being dream pilled for you. Gen zers. Right? So at the. At one end of the spectrum, you have ultimate gratitude, like, for everything that in your life and in a certain, you know, extent that could equal being content with what you have. And then on the other side, you're not content really with anything because you have your head in the clouds, you're dreaming, you're hoping. And what I've kind of been able to do recently and what I've been. What's helped me a lot is like, both I tell myself every day, like, I know what I want in. In the mu. In music, like, I know. And I'm going really hard at it, harder than ever before. I'm not doing this kind of like half in, half out thing. I'm really going hard. But at the same time, there are moments that I'm like, super grateful for. And specifically, it's funny, I have this picture. It's like you and I went to Nando's a couple weeks ago and it was just like you holding a. A Fanta. And it's like, I'm super grateful for that in on so many different levels. One, it's my best friend. We're. We're having Nando's. Two, a. A wonderful nectar comes out of a, out of a machine when you press a button and you just get to enjoy that. I mean, come on, how could you not be grateful for that sort of thing, right? Another example of this, Charlie. My daughter wasn't going down to sleep. Not very easy. It was just like. It was a brutal night. But. But Caroline and I got fresas, which is our favorite Mexican food. You've had it before. We got it delivered. We had margaritas, we put on standby Me. It's an American classic movie. And we clinked glasses. And I looked at her, I go, this is it right here. This is amazing. This is. Honestly, if this is our base level, like, we're all right. And I think it's really important for moments like that to just say those words. Two things that I would say is, this rules and this is it. And I feel like when you and I were living together, we did that quite a bit.
- [07:28]
A
Well, yeah, we had a little caption which was these Are the golden years like we're going to look back in however long when we've got tons more responsibilities and go, dude, do you remember when we used to live on South 6th Street? You remember we'd just fuck about in the Cold plunge and we'd get up and we'd make some videos and then we'd ordered fucking Papa John's on a Saturday and watched like Red Zone. That was it. Those were the golden years. And I think you're right. It's a difficult balance. It's probably one of the most common perennial challenges that people who listen to this show bring up. At the live shows that you're doing, come and see me and Zach live around the U.S. and Canada. Dates are available at ChrisWilliamson Live.
- [08:10]
B
That's right.
- [08:12]
A
One of the most common questions is basically, I want to achieve big things in my life, but my pursuit of something great makes me feel a lack in the present.
- [08:25]
B
Right.
- [08:26]
A
And that makes me miserable. And I know that the present moment, or I've heard that the present moment is kind of all that really matters. And I feel like I am borrowing, I'm spending joy that could be achieved right now in order to try and cash it in at some point in the future. And I'm worried that I've kind of got my priorities wrong. But I also know that I don't let go of my drive and moving toward goals.
- [08:51]
B
And it's just, if I had to suggest anything, it's use your senses, have children. Well, that, well, that's a little bit bigger, but I would say use your senses, like grounding and, and those sort of, you know, those things. Right? The. And like, I swear to God, like, my brain is just. How are we gonna make our dreams come true all day, every day? That's my, my head doing it.
- [09:15]
A
I'm gonna push back a little bit.
- [09:17]
B
Yeah.
- [09:17]
A
How much of this is the fact that you've had a kid? How much of this is I brought a life into the world? How old now? Three months?
- [09:25]
B
Ten. Ten weeks and three days.
- [09:28]
A
Okay, give me credit. That's not far off, right?
- [09:30]
B
Okay.
- [09:31]
A
Two, two and a half months.
- [09:31]
B
Yeah.
- [09:33]
A
How much of this is I'm a new dad. I'm watching this human that I made slowly get bigger and smarter and all the rest of it in front of me.
- [09:43]
B
How much of it is that I.
- [09:44]
A
Have purpose in a way that I didn't previously, that not only am I now providing for a wife, which is relatively recent wife, long standing girlfriend, now even more recent child, and all of this is just. Oh, this is, this is what it was for.
- [09:59]
B
Yeah, well, I, I, well, that's good criticisms, Chris. Very astute criticisms on your, on your side there. I would say it is always been in me to kind of like be a space cadet that focuses on like, really little things. So I was on a run. This was while Caroline was pregnant. I remember I was on a run. I even took a picture of it. I saw North American swallowtail, which is one of my favorite butterflies on the side of the road. And it was obviously wet, so it couldn't fly. So I picked it up and I put it on the, on the fence and I took a picture of it and I was like, wow, that is amazing. And it's like that, that took little things. Yeah. And that, that took me being a weird kid. That, like, maybe not weird is the right answer, but like, I, I love the little things. Like, I live for the little things.
- [10:52]
A
So to loop this back, I think a lot of this is what would qu be castigated on the Internet as being cringe. That I, I think felt a little bit of shame for quite a while at taking pleasure in small things.
- [11:09]
B
Right.
- [11:10]
A
Like that, that the fact that non grand, relatively insignificant, very normal things could give me sort of like a cozy sense of joy. That that was a comment on how small my life was. Like, oh, right, that's what made your day. Like, how unimpressive, how feeble, how, how, how non majestic must your life be? That seeing a butterfly or getting to have a really nice cold glass of Fanta, or. The one that I use as this example, which always works for me, is if I throw my gym towel, my little hand towel I take to the gym. If I throw it and it goes into the laundry basket without touching anything from across the room, I'm like, that was fucking sick.
- [11:59]
B
That was sick.
- [11:59]
A
And I just, I think I had a lot of shame. I still do have a lot of shame around that, because there's this sense that life's supposed to be very impressive and it occurs on a stage. And then I do think that I have kind of a, an inner cringe critic that isn't me, but is some imagined third party who's very sardonic, who doesn't really earnestly engage with anything, and I hear them making a comment around what I like, and that causes me to not like what I like so much anymore.
- [12:39]
B
Yeah, I think that that happens to everyone. Okay. But it's like, you have to, you have to be like, how? Even, even just like evolutionary human things Bro, if you are thirsty and you take a drink of water, you're like, oh my God, the miracle of water. Right? That feeling right there is like really crucial. And what, what I for sure have seen you do. Like we've gone to, we go to a Japanese restaurant and I remember being like, Chris, this sushi is amazing. Make say that it's amazing or something. You know what I mean? We can't, we can't. The miracle that went through getting this unbelievable piece of fish to. You're my plate. What was that restaurant? I was somewhere here in town. Sodo.
- [13:32]
A
Yes, yes.
- [13:33]
B
And it was like literally from Japan 24 hours ago to our plate. I'm like, you know, it's shit like that, that like you really got to just somehow be like, what, what is the joy that I'm feeling and why do I feel it? Like, oh. And then just reverse engineer the process that got you that feeling. And like, you'll be like, wait, this is amazing, dude.
- [13:54]
A
So you're trying to remind yourself of the miracle of modernity?
- [13:57]
B
Of course, yes. And, and yes. And like these simple pleasures that are just crazy. Like, I pressed a button on a box that I don't know how it works and my favorite Mexican food showed up. I, I pressed another button on another box and I had every movie possible.
- [14:15]
A
It sounds great, but we habituate. Right? That's exactly what.
- [14:18]
B
Of course. And, but we also, it's, we also look past. It's like, how could I enjoy this when I'm, when I haven't reached my goals yet?
- [14:26]
A
You know, when I find that to be the worst is when we go comedy shows and it's usually me and you. And I always find myself hoping for the next comedian. And that's not to say the comedians we're watching are bad, although some of them are. But I'm always thinking, oh, but the neck. The next one, and then the next, and then the next, and then. And before I know it, I've nexted my way.
- [14:46]
B
Yes.
- [14:47]
A
Through an eight person comedy set. And then we're done.
- [14:51]
B
That's a perfect. Would it be analogy for life, the next. What's next? Yeah, but I'm, but I'm. I mean, I say all of this as if I'm some guy who just like appreciates everything in life. I wake up, my eyes go open, I go, what's next? Like, that's the first thing. Like, what's next? How am I like in music? How am I to make this happen? You know, so it's not like it doesn't exist. You just have to, I feel like you, you have to fight like it's two different things. Fighting and you have to place your money on both and like neither of them are ever gonna win and the fight's never gonna stop.
- [15:29]
A
It's like, yeah, I think there's definitely a lot of pain in the resistance of that of thinking, why can't it just be the case that I can take gratitude in the moment for the things that I love whilst also pursuing my dreams? And you probably just need to say, well, I'm not wired that way. Basically nobody is wired that way. In my experience, the people who are the most effective, as in, you know, successful objectively, external metrics of success are the ones who have the most turmoil internally. And that might not be true for every single person, but for the most part it is. And the reverse is true. The ones who have the most inner peace, that are the most chill, that are the most happy with themselves, are the ones who aren't going to try and fill some internal void with external accolades because the internal void isn't as big.
- [16:19]
B
Right.
- [16:19]
A
And I just. In some ways you don't even get to choose. I think you have to say this is kind of the way that I'm wired in to a degree. I am a very out facing person. I am a very in facing person. I'm sort of peace or goals. And okay, given that this is the setup, let's just step one, stop resisting the fact that. That I pursue things.
- [16:43]
B
Yes. Yeah, yeah.
- [16:44]
A
And that I wish I had more peace.
- [16:46]
B
So that's what I'm saying though is like you need to work the other thing concurrently. Even though they might detract from each other, you still can do it. It's a battle. You just.
- [16:57]
A
It's like you're like a sort of goals bisexual, like a. Yeah, you just non monogamous.
- [17:03]
B
But honestly, all of these dualities that we could think of, like you have to put equal chips into both, I think.
- [17:09]
A
In other news, this episode is brought to you by Momentous. If your sleep's not dialed, taking ages to nod off, you're waking up at random times and feeling groggy in the morning. Momentous sleep packs. How did I miss? Both of those are here to help. They're not your typical knock you out supplement overloaded with melatonin. Just the most evidence based ingredients at perfect doses to help you fall asleep more quickly, stay asleep throughout the night and wake up feeling more rested and revitalized in the morning. Which is why I take these things Every single night and why I trust Momentous with my life or at least with my sleep. Because they make the highest quality supplements on the planet. What you read on the label, what's in the product, and absolutely nothing else. And if you're still unsure, they've got a 30 day money back guarantee. So you can buy it completely risk free, use it, and if you do not like it for any reason, they will give you your money back. Plus they ship internationally. Right now you can get 35% off your first subscription and that 30 day money back guarantee by going to the link in the description below or heading to livemomentous.com modernwisdom and using the code modernwisdom at checkout that's L I V E M O M E N t o u s.com ModernWisdom and ModernWisdom a checkout. I wanna, I wanna go back to that irony thing. I was watching an essay from Joe Foley, unsolicited advice. He'd been on the show, fucking awesome guy. And he's got this great line. He says to profess an honest belief in anything, especially something open to challenge, is a pretty exposing thing to do in the public square. And he's talking again about his issue with ironic speech. That it allows you to care less about things, or at least seem like you care less about things, and it doesn't force you to actually engage with any information earnestly. Right. Earnest being the bravery to take your emotions seriously.
- [18:54]
B
Right.
- [18:56]
A
And it is insincere. And my issue, I think, with how much ironic speech there is at the moment online and, and accusations of cringe is why that really spoke to me. The, the problem that I have with so many things being called out as cringe, like everybody's cringe radar is fucking hyper.
- [19:13]
B
Yeah.
- [19:13]
A
The issue, the issue I have with it is that it dissuades everyone from being sincere.
- [19:20]
B
So I, Chris, I truly believe that the comments section has like changed humanity permanently. If, because what, right now, this discussion between you and I, if this was televised in like 1998, we would be more sincere, even though we're still performative and we'd still have a filter on it, we would be more sincere. And the only reason we, we would is because there's no chance of anyone else kind of like coming back unless they're on the network as well.
- [19:52]
A
Oh, right, okay. One of the three channels that are available.
- [19:55]
B
Yes. And so, so, bro, I left a comment on something. It has 65,000 likes from a fucking comment. That's insane. That's like, you know, what that says is like somebody's response to somebody who's working out their true self can be ironic, it can be critical, it can call it cringe, it can just make. As long as it's contrarian, whatever it is, just a quick little response can equal or have more value than the actual original person.
- [20:28]
A
Well, that's what getting ratioed is, right?
- [20:30]
B
Yes.
- [20:30]
A
Getting ratioed is somebody coming in and it's very rare. How many times in history has it happened where someone's got ratioed with a reply that says, this is so lovely. I'm so glad you did this and meant it?
- [20:41]
B
Yeah, right. That's not.
- [20:42]
A
It's never happened. It's always, it's always negative, it's always the contrary.
- [20:46]
B
But, but do you see how like that is fundamentally changes, like how we can do this, how we can make this happen.
- [20:53]
A
It feels like there's someone watching you at all times. You're thinking to yourself, is this, I mean, everybody's goal, everyone's goal should be to not turn into a meme like you should. If you can thread yourself through life without trending on Twitter for becoming a meme at some point. Well, there's that thing, you know, everybody on the Internet, everyone's gonna be famous for 15 minutes. Fine. But just not for something.
- [21:17]
B
Yeah, not the wrong thing.
- [21:18]
A
That's super, super meme y. So how would you advise. Let's say there's a cringe, hyper responder out there, somebody who sort of really feels the scrutiny of others opinions maybe more than they think that they should, or so much that it's becoming restrictive and constraining to them. What would you, what would you say to, to that person?
- [21:41]
B
Just be sure of what you want to say. Like, be sure. Like what I see a lot of times in podcasts is that people might learn very surface level things and then they just kind of bubble off how conversations usually work. Just bubble off, bubble awful. And all of a sudden you're now taking a stance on something.
- [22:04]
A
The Ukraine. Yeah, Climate change.
- [22:08]
B
Exactly. And you're just. The thing is like, it's not. You need to understand that the comment section is going to exist, that, that the response world is going to exist. So like by kind of just bubbling off into this world, like, you can get to some serious trouble.
- [22:25]
A
Okay. Understand where your domain of competence ends.
- [22:28]
B
Sure. Yeah. And you know, this is, this is the. I like podcasting is scary. It really is. Because this is how, you know, we, when we get locked in this room, we can just Keep talking, keep going.
- [22:43]
A
And we cannot have nicotine and caffeine.
- [22:45]
B
Just blah, blah, blah. Yeah, like, I could start a business. I just have to do this and like, you know, someone be like, these guys are idiots and they're teaching people or whatever. I do believe, like, you have to be able to pontificate on things. You have to be able to. To wonder and to explore ideas with your friend. But you can also get into trouble by, you know, and you can be cringe and all those things.
- [23:07]
A
So for that person, that's not to say that there is no such thing as somebody who is wildly unaware of their own detachment from the world. For instance, Andy Elliot. Right. Very difficult to look at him now. Maybe in the world of sales, I haven't done a deep dive. Maybe in the world of sales, he's a goat or something. It doesn't seem like that's the case, but from the outside, like a lot of that stuff, getting people up on stage to say, have you got a six pack? My wife's got a six pack. I'm indicted in a million lawsuits from the past about all of this stuff. Think you are flying very. You're like the Icarus of cringe. You're flying very close to the sun. In order to be able to do that and pull it off, it's going to. It's going to be really, really, really hard.
- [23:53]
B
Yeah.
- [23:54]
A
Even if you're squeaky clean and super legitimate and if you've got a huge fucking criminal history, that's going to be hard. So one thing that you said there was about people kind of getting out over their skis.
- [24:03]
B
Yeah, a lot.
- [24:05]
A
There's this idea called the Oxford Manor, which is the ability to play gracefully with ideas and it's letting someone. A similar idea from Eric Weinstein is the accuracy budget. So basically the Internet is sort of because of its eye of Sauron toward cringe and especially toward hypocrisy or people getting things wrong.
- [24:29]
B
I like that Eye of Sauron. That's great.
- [24:30]
A
Do you remember when Huberman M tweeted about percentages? He stacked up percentages over time and did a tweet about it.
- [24:41]
B
Yeah.
- [24:41]
A
He miscalculated the way that the maths worked and he got. He still gets that brought up now. Like, this is a doctor who doesn't know how. Supposedly the leader of the longevity movement who doesn't understand how to do a fucking percentage. That's one thing which is supposed to be, oh, this is the tip of the iceberg and shows that he's, you Know, he doesn't understand anything below that. The issue that I have with the idea of an accuracy budget is if you're never allowed to play gracefully with ideas, which is to talk in public about something that might be true or might not be true.
- [25:13]
B
Right.
- [25:14]
A
And you're given a little bit of latitude, you're given some breathing room before people say, oh, yeah, yeah, you know, that's wrong. And you go, hey, hey, hey, just hang on a second. May not be an expert at this. And the, the line, unfortunately, is so difficult to delineate between. Is this person a.
- [25:36]
B
It's. It's topical as well, Chris. So if this person is discussing, like, if you and I are discussing, like, our favorite sandwiches and I get in over my skis because I start talking about meatballs and stuff, and I, you know, they come from Italy or whatever, that's not a big issue. But if you're getting out over your skis and you're talking about cultural relativism or moral relativism and you start going real hard, that's when people are going to be like, hey, man, context or not, you're a idiot. You know, and that's where like, okay, you can take the response of, what is it? Post and ghost, totally. But you have to have a finger on the pulse to know what, what and what.
- [26:19]
A
To not talk about experts. Only the position of. Only people who have credible qualifications and an illustrious history within this particular area are permitted to speak on it.
- [26:33]
B
Yeah. So the problem with that ultimate. I, I don't. I disagree with that. You know, it's. It is a sliding scale as well, because then who determines what is the determining factor on who's an expert and how far does that go? There's a difference between, oh, I have my doctorate. Oh, you have your doctorate. Like you.
- [26:50]
A
It depends if you're Saudi ar. Hey, there it is.
- [26:53]
B
Hey.
- [26:54]
A
Now, there's a difference between being an expert and expertise. Right.
- [26:58]
B
Right.
- [26:59]
A
You know, you can have. You don't have a music qualification. No, no formal music qualification. You do have. Yours is like sport, snc, like bullshit. Not bad at music. Right. Pretty good at music.
- [27:12]
B
Right.
- [27:12]
A
Could probably explain to someone how to put a track together.
- [27:14]
B
So it's. It's two things. It's ideas and action. So if somebody is taking. Has really good ideas and. And takes action a lot, that builds expertise. If somebody just has good ideas, that's completely meaningless. You could tell me what you think would make a good song over and over again. And it might be good if I went out and I Did that. But if you never went out and you never did that with those ideas are meaningless.
- [27:41]
A
Would you. Is this not sort of counted by somebody that's a coach? You say, well, you haven't won any fucking world record.
- [27:48]
B
No, but he's. Exactly. So the, the goal is he's, it's not. There's multiple different ways that a coach, A coach is what have you done for yourself? So have you at least tried to make a journey of improvement in your own performance, whatever that is? And the answer should be yes. There's the, the second one is what have you done for others? And then again, that is not actually world titles, any of that. It's just visual representation of improvement. So in sport of weightlifting, which I'm well versed in, if you have gotten someone's total up 20 kilos in like two years, like, that's a level of expertise. Okay. And then the final one would be formal or informal education. Who have you worked under? Who's mentored you? What certifications do you have in those things? And that's the trifecta right there. All of those things. Like, if you want to expand beyond that, it's like, okay, well, if you want certain aspects, like, we can go further. Like that's, that's the umbrella 3.
- [28:46]
A
So I think that works in a sporting situation.
- [28:51]
B
Well, give me another one.
- [28:52]
A
What if you're talking about contribution to ideas, like somebody that comes up with novel, interesting, accurate insights about the world.
- [28:59]
B
So that is awesome. And, and I'll. The actors, whoever's going to take the action can take those ideas and run with them. But that doesn't make the person who gave the idea an expert.
- [29:13]
A
No, I, well, I, I Right.
- [29:15]
B
Wouldn't an expert have to be some sort of practical.
- [29:18]
A
Well, okay, so let me say that imagine, imagine Alex o' Connor didn't have his degree in philosophy, right. But came up with a really lovely description, a really lovely summary of how emotivism works.
- [29:30]
B
I believe the breadth of what he's done outside of what he did in Oxford was. It is so massive that it, like you take away the Oxford.
- [29:41]
A
What if it's, what if it's the.
- [29:42]
B
First time, the first thing ever.
- [29:44]
A
Yeah. And he's like, you know, someone just, well, be prepared. I mean, you're not going to debut single, right? You know, that first idea happens to be a fucking.
- [29:52]
B
Well, what if, what if somebody who does know emotivism, what if somebody who's like an absolute G at understanding that sees it and goes, this is brilliant right there. I feel he is now like, so.
- [30:04]
A
You'Re still having to rely on people then credibility.
- [30:09]
B
Because something has, it's like nothing can exist without outside understanding of that thing.
- [30:15]
A
I was trying to be from people that have got credibility though in that way. Or can it not just be, wow, this like this really improved my life. This understanding improved 1 million completely unqualified normies lives.
- [30:28]
B
But there's your qualification right there.
- [30:30]
A
But that's not coming. This is my point. This is my point that at no point in that transaction has there been an expert. That's so, so yeah, this is the, the gatekeeping.
- [30:39]
B
So, so then, so again, those three prongs, it probably hits one or two of them and it doesn't hit the final one, which is good. And it's good enough. But I don't think that people are going to like it. You know what I mean?
- [30:52]
A
Like I, I, I, I do get it. I think it depends on what side of the Internet you're coming from.
- [30:57]
B
Dude, a good idea is a good idea. I, I swear it doesn't matter. Like I take if someone writes well in my con. Like again, my comment section, I don't know who the these people are and if they write well and I'm just like, I don't care. I don't care what they've done, who they are. That was great writing and now I feel better because of it. You might as well be an expert in my mind. But like this like totality of understanding and like being an expert or being qualified, like that takes a little bit more and that's kind of a God again, another sliding scale of like how much and where.
- [31:33]
A
My main concern, my main concern is that there is this sort of experts only approach if you do not have the formal qualification and the illustrious history behind you.
- [31:41]
B
Well, can we give an example? Because I have one.
- [31:42]
A
Sure.
- [31:43]
B
You and I talked about it all the time. Was it Eric Weinstein was on your podcast?
- [31:47]
A
Oh, the one that Coffee Zilla brought up.
- [31:49]
B
Yes. Yeah, yes, you and I. Okay, I really want to talk about this.
- [31:52]
A
I'll explain this. This is a good point. So a quick aside. You are probably not eating enough fruit and vegetables and you know it. And this is going to help. Good news. AG1 just released their next gen formula. And for the first time ever, they've also released flavors. Berry, citrus, Tropical and original. It's a more advanced and clinically backed version of the product that I've been drinking every single day for years. So you still get the same one scoop ritual, but, but now with an even more thoughtful formulation and four clinical trials behind it. AG1's been evolving since 2010. I think they've done 53 recipe upgrades since then and their next gen version is the final result. It's clinically shown to help fill common nutrient gaps and support gut health even in people who already eat well. In one study, it boosted healthy bacteria in the gut by 10 times. They've added more bioavailable nutrients, enhanced probiotics and invested in real science, which is very rare in the supplement world. Plus, if you're still unsure, they've got a 90 day money back guarantee so you can buy it and try it for three months. If you don't like it, they'll just give you your money back. So you can do it completely risk free. And if you sign up right now, you can get a year's free supply of vitamin D3K2, five free AG1 travel packs and the 90 day money back guarantee plus international shipping. By going to the link in the description below or heading to drinkasia1.com modernwisdom that's drinking ag1.com ModernWisdom Coffey's got his second channel, Voidzilla, and this is forever ago. Now, a couple of years ago, I think, when it was much smaller and Eric Weinstein commented on what do modern women want? And he said, I don't think that the Marlborough man, which was showing his age, is kind of the classic hyper masculine perspective that most women are looking for in a partner and coffee, took this and said Eric Weinstein, managing director at teal capital, PhD in pure mathematics, what the fuck do you know about what women want? Fair. Completely fair. Right. If you take the surface level perspective of experts only if you do not have credibility in your history and formal qualification and if you're getting out over your skis, you. Interestingly, that's the same conversation that I bring up. The idea of an accuracy budget and experts.
- [34:16]
B
Right, right, right.
- [34:18]
A
Difference being Eric has been married for 20 years to a woman and his daughter's 19 years old.
- [34:24]
B
Yeah.
- [34:25]
A
So perhaps he is actually slightly educated and incentivized to really understand I'm on.
- [34:31]
B
The same side as you. But I wouldn't even acknowledge the argument from the beginning, from the, from the point of being like, what's Eric's credibility to speak on this?
- [34:39]
A
And.
- [34:39]
B
And then you go, well, here's his credibility. I go, who are you to question like it's a conversation. It's a conversation. You said, you asked him the question. You said, what do you think the Modern Women want. And he's kind of like playful about it. He wasn't like, let me tell. He wasn't like red pilling everyone.
- [34:57]
A
He was equivocating.
- [34:58]
B
Yeah. He's just chatting.
- [35:01]
A
Seem like they let them all.
- [35:03]
B
He didn't even remember he said that, you know, and like, so, so I wouldn't even come at it. And being like, well, he does have a wife and kid who's, you know, it's like, I wouldn't even go that far. I'd be like, what the fuck? He's allowed to talk about potentially what modern women want.
- [35:18]
A
So the problem with that argument, he's potentially allowed to talk about what modern women want. Feels very flimsy on an Internet, of.
- [35:26]
B
Course it is super.
- [35:27]
A
But on an Internet that is hyper obsessed with pointing out hypocrisy, cringe people getting out over their skis. And this was why the accuracy budget thing, I think is really good. And unfortunately it'll never exist. But imagine that everybody, everybody in the world you could even have. But especially people that talk online, everybody had kind of like a bank account of some kind. And when they contribute in areas that they know well and fairly represent the truth or the best of the evidence, the best of our understanding, and they sort of move the conversation forward in that way. Or they'd sort of replay existing parts of the conversation in a way that represents them fairly. That's good. That kind of adds to the budget. What this allows them to do is to withdraw from that budget when they want to play with ideas that they're a little bit less certain about.
- [36:12]
B
Right.
- [36:12]
A
And what I like about this is that it doesn't dissuade people who are maybe coming in from slightly different fields, different domains from going, huh, I just learned this thing. I just learned this thing in economics. And I actually think that that really applies to what we're seeing in the modern dating market. Or I just learned this thing in AI and I actually think that that really explains what's going on with China.
- [36:36]
B
Right.
- [36:36]
A
Right now.
- [36:37]
B
Right. So, okay, yes, this, this is a crucial point that so many things have similarities and so many things are analogous. And this is like, I hate to bring it back to the hustle culture, bros. They love analogies. They love them. It's you and I love analogies. And it's like, but if you end up using this analogy for something, people are going to go apples to oranges. Like, they're going to start freaking out on it. But, you know, it is, it's people want to just. Which Foam finger. Am I grabbing today? Which side are you on? Like, what are you an expert in? And that's it. That's. That's the end of this whole thing. And it's just. It is. It is flimsy to say, well, you should be allowed to. To talk about certain things. But then when you say the wrong thing, well, you shouldn't have talked about it.
- [37:25]
A
It is, it is strange that the sort of freedom of speech crowd are one of the first to jump down people's throats if they get something slightly wrong. It's.
- [37:33]
B
Well, actually, but that's also. That is the Internet. It's more important to be correct or it's. It's more important to correct someone than it is to be corrected or to be correct. Sorry.
- [37:44]
A
It's a good. That's a good way to put.
- [37:45]
B
Everyone wants to correct you. They don't care if. If they're what again, if you're right or wrong.
- [37:50]
A
This is the reason that ironic speech is protection. Right. That if you're the person pointing out other people's flaws, you don't have that eye of.
- [37:58]
B
Yeah, because. Yeah, because we have. The second level doesn't work.
- [38:01]
A
Exactly. You're like, hey, hey, hey, Look, I'm here as an arbiter. Don't worry. I am here as an arbiter of truth and I will help you to find out who the grifters and the shills are. I actually asked. I'll ask you what is a good. What is your best definition of the word grifter?
- [38:21]
B
Well, I would say.
- [38:22]
A
Or shill.
- [38:23]
B
Yeah. For me it's charlatan. It's usually a fraud. But somebody who claims to have absolute answers for things, it's usually somebody who is giving you very clear and concise one size fits all answer.
- [38:44]
A
I think that's a good.
- [38:45]
B
That's usually it.
- [38:46]
A
I think that's a good one for charlatan, at least the best one that I've heard for grifter and for shill grifter. Somebody espousing believes that they do not truly believe themselves. So like I say this thing, but I don't believe it privately.
- [38:58]
B
Right.
- [38:58]
A
That's a grifter.
- [38:59]
B
Yep.
- [39:00]
A
And a shill is somebody who is trying to sell a product or service that they wouldn't use themselves.
- [39:05]
B
Okay. Would you say that a shill has been bought by said product or something? There has to be some sort of monetary exchange.
- [39:12]
A
Yeah. Maybe they're doing it for status.
- [39:13]
B
Yeah, I think those are great.
- [39:14]
A
You could, you could shill for the Democratic Party because it makes you look good. You're not gaining monetarily, but you might be gaining in terms of status.
- [39:22]
B
Okay.
- [39:22]
A
And Grifter, I guess Grifter and she'll kind of interchangeable. She'll feels a bit more like about capitalism and selling shit, and Grifter feels a bit more about ideology and ideas. But I've probably got this wrong. Anyway, what I really like. I tweeted this ages ago. I was like, hey, people use this word a lot. Tell me, people who use this word, what is your best functioning definition of this? And I went through hundreds of replies, and they were all a fucking mess. And there was one dude that got somebody advertising or selling a product that they would not use themselves. I'm like, okay, there we have a nice framework. And I think. I think that's pretty good.
- [39:58]
B
That's pretty good. Yeah.
- [40:00]
A
The problem that you have is because so many people on the Internet are grifting and shilling, the sensitivity of everyone's radar has got turned up so much that you get pattern matched incorrectly all the time.
- [40:15]
B
Yeah.
- [40:16]
A
And then, oh, my God, like, it is constraining to the way that everybody behaves because you think, well, fuck, like, if I. If I do this. If I say this thing, like, for instance, when I do, the ad reads for modern wisdom. I'm always thinking, even if this is true, this sounds like something.
- [40:38]
B
Dude. This is like, this isn't true. Have you ever been pulled over by a cop and you're. You're totally not doing anything wrong and you're, like, nervous? That's literally how. That's what this is, bro.
- [40:52]
A
It's.
- [40:52]
B
It's. It's. Yeah. Oh, my God. I've done this. This is so funny because this has happened to me so much. Like. Like, I. Like, I. I do believe in this thing, guys. I swear to God. And now that I'm arguing that I do believe in it, you guys, now.
- [41:07]
A
For sure, he feels like a.
- [41:08]
B
What? Okay. One time, Augie and I, we were at this girl's boutique opening. Like, she opened this boutique, like, clothes store in. In Chicago. It's since been shut. You know, her daddy paid for it. Auggie and I showed up, both wearing Hawaiian shirts about two bottles of Rose Deep. We showed up, and we were just the life of the party, you know, Just. And it was, you know, this grand opening, all this stuff. We were making jokes and all this stuff. We left, had a great night, whatever. My buddy Hank calls me on the phone. He goes, hey, what's this I hear about you and Augie being gay together.
- [41:53]
A
And I'm like, you drank Rose Wolf a while ago.
- [41:57]
B
What are you talking about? He's like, yeah, you know, Olivia was like, you and Augie were acting all gay together at. And I'm like, I. I was like, now, come to think of it, we were acting pretty gay, you know? And now I'm like, dude, I. First off, I swear I'm not gay. And saying that sentence made me feel gayer. You know what I mean? So I just stopped. I was like, look, sure, sure, you know, come to think of it, we were pretty gay on that day. And I would have suspected the same thing. But, you know, it's just this. This denying the thing that you know you aren't might make you, you know, more. Not complicit, but, like, make people be not.
- [42:41]
A
The lady doth protest too much.
- [42:42]
B
Exactly.
- [42:43]
A
Okay, so another one that you've been talking about recently is cool, right? What makes something cool? What's your best sort of working model of cool and how it works?
- [42:52]
B
So the actionable thing about cool is, like, not talking. Seriously. Serious.
- [42:59]
A
Some of the coolest guys in Austin actually don't talk.
- [43:03]
B
You and I are patently uncool because.
- [43:06]
A
Of how much we speak, right? Yeah, that's true.
- [43:08]
B
That's it. I mean, that's. That's it. We could go down everything. But it's like, I talk too much, I think too much. You hear me on this podcast. I'm just babbling. Not cool. It's not cool. So I just. I don't try to be cool. You know, it's the same thing. Like, I'm in music. I cannot. If I try to be cool, I might be cringe, you know, If I try to be something I'm not, I can't. I can't. I gotta just be my authentic self. I gotta talk. I gotta worry about things.
- [43:39]
A
That is very insightful. So there was a study done very recently. Came out about a month ago about what makes someone cool. So I'm gonna take you through it. You can jump in whenever you're ready. Early writing on coolness described it as emotional restraint, being calm, composed and unbothered. This view, rooted in the metaphor of temperature and emotion, saw coolness. Right. Coolness is a sign of self control and mastery. Nice framing, right? Not bad.
- [44:05]
B
Yeah.
- [44:06]
A
They did a study of more than 5,000 people in 12 countries. Each participant was asked to evaluate non famous people that they considered cool, not cool, and good or not good, and rate them on 15 values and personality traits. Extroversion. Autonomy, warmth, conscientiousness, stuff like that. Across the 12 countries. So huge range of cultures, different people's cool gets described in really similar ways. And you're talking like Africa, Western countries, Eastern countries. And what it suggests is that the meaning of cool has changed. And it's a way to. To identify and label people with a specific psychological profile. Right. Because if it wasn't, they wouldn't converge on what cool means. Based on. Here are a bunch of different psychological profiles. So cool people are outgoing and social. So extroverted. They seek pleasure and enjoyment. So they're hedonistic, they take risks and try new things. So they're adventurous. They are curious and open to new experiences. Open. And they have influence or charisma, powerful and. And perhaps most of all, they do things their own way, autonomous. So extroversion, hedonism, power, adventurousness, openness and autonomy. Those six things. Right.
- [45:22]
B
Does that comport to a certain extent.
- [45:26]
A
I think one of the. Openness, autonomy.
- [45:29]
B
Do you and I talk about this? I think rare, just being scarce if you're too available. I mean, this was. I saw a really awesome clip from one of the guys from Suicide Boys, awesome rap group. And he was saying, you know, we, we couldn't tell anyone in our hometown that we were good. They saw us buying menthols at the, you know, the Quick Mart on a Wednesday. So we couldn't be like, dude, listen to our music. I swear it's good. They're like, yeah, whatever, dude. Off. You know. But to people in Russia, we were the Suicide Boys. We were cool as shit. You know, it's your. A cheeseburger in your hometown and you're a steak elsewhere type of thing. That is a level of cool. And it's like rarity. Something we don't see.
- [46:18]
A
Aloofness.
- [46:18]
B
Yes, aloofness. So this is why you see, like, how come Denzel Washington doesn't have an Instagram? Because if he did, it would only detract from his cool. So, you know, this is where like, somebody at your status, like, might start playing with cool, meaning, aloofness and all that. The problem is if it's not who you are as a person, like we said.
- [46:42]
A
I'm getting to that. I'm getting to that, that, that. So that thing that you said before about authenticity, that fits in here too. But I do think you're right. I think that.
- [46:51]
B
We talk too much, dude.
- [46:53]
A
Aloofness, distance, it allows people to sort of suck in speculation. And the speculation is cool. Sleep Token president. President's an even better example.
- [47:02]
B
Yeah, well, I mean, dude, let's take it even more Americana here. The new chick at your school. The new chick shows up at your school. She's hot, she's cool, she's different, she's new you. Then by like second semester, you're just like, yeah. Oh, that's Sarah. Yeah. Fuck yeah.
- [47:20]
A
Boring. Okay, so this is, I said before that there was a difference between cool and good, right? So they're asking cool, not cool, good, not good. And it's interesting because you'd think, okay, are cool people good? Like intuitively you think, no, but why? What's the difference between somebody who is cool and somebody who's good? So cool people were more likely to be described as extroverted, hedonistic, powerful, adventurous, open and autonomous. So I think just to break that down. Extroverted, outgoing, very good. Hedonistic, like. Yeah, I can see that too. Like sort of short term pleasures. Powerful, yeah, you need to have that in order to be able to sort of enact your influence. Adventurous, yep. Also true open. Adventurous and open. Very much so. Like doing new things, trying new things, being creative and autonomous, doing things their own way. So I think that makes sense. Good people, on the other hand, were more often described as conforming, traditional, secure, warm, agreeable, universalistic, conscientious and calm. So this is like a cozy, reliable, relatively predictable, but hardworking person. And I think one of the reasons that good and cool are different, apart from the fact that there's only like a tiny little bit of crossover kind of in autonomous, conscientious area, is that the problem with cool people is they're unpredictable. They're unpredictable because they're so extroverted, adventurous and open and autonomous.
- [48:46]
B
Yeah, they do their own thing. Yeah.
- [48:48]
A
How the fuck are you going to be able to predict what they're going to do next? This is exactly why Sleep Token breaks convention when it comes to and why they're cool. They're cool because they do seem to be doing things their own way.
- [49:00]
B
Well, this is, this is marketing. This is the, you know, cultural industrial process. Through all of it is how can we, how can we popularize cool? Because like essentially again we say like cool is underground, different, rare, scarce. Okay, so how do we make that popular? Because that's just like the opposite. We, they did this with like the hippie movement in the 60s. They did this with, I mean, essentially, if you think of Nirvana, like Kurt Cobain to a certain extent, that's why he killed himself was because like it. He was incredibly depressed about what Nirvana became. It became the exact thing that they didn't want it to be. And like, that's. It's a counterculture, basically. Popularizing a counterculture, which could be. Counterculture is usually pretty cool.
- [49:53]
A
Well, you had a good example of this. Represent George Heaton's clothing company, the Owners Club, which is that little thing left breast and then the big back print was becoming so ubiquitous and so worn across the UK that it was maybe gonna go the way of Burberry. You know that Burberry was worn by chavs in the uk? Did you know this?
- [50:13]
B
No, I didn't.
- [50:14]
A
You know what? Burberry, it's got. It's kind of like a crosshatch pattern with a sort of beige background. I don't know why, I have no idea why. But for most of sort of the 2000s to the early 2010s, Burberry was worn by chavs in the UK. And it was kind of a status symbol, presumably. I don't know where the fuck it came from. Because when you actually think about the positioning of Burberry, it's like a classic British brand. It's trench co high collar trench coats. It's very formal. But anyway, they cottoned onto it and ran with it. I think you have seen the same to a degree with Stone island, except for the fact that Stone island is actually made for football hooligans, right? It's like padded jackets and sort of crew neck jumpers and stuff that kind of fits the aesthetic a bit more. Burberry was a bit more interesting. Anyway, Represent Owners Club. And I said this to George. I was like, mate, I'm. I see a lot of people wearing Owners Club, like, hooray for your bottom line, but are you concerned about overexposure? And he said, yeah, we're killing the range. You can no longer buy it starting in whatever month. He's like, it's. It's gone. We're gonna do it. Because there is such a thing as too much exposure if you want to be cool. And I think, right, it's interesting what, what you've added in here because I do think that that's a dimension that's missing when it comes to cool. How extroverted, hedonistic, powerful, adventurous, open and autonomous. Aloof for that. But a good question would be, we'll get back to talking in just a minute. But first, some things are built for summer. Sunburns, hot girl walks, your ex posting their Euro road trip. And now lemonade and salt. Huh? Element just dropped their brand new lemonade, salt flavor. And it's everything that you want on a hot day. Tart, salty and stupidly refreshing. It's like a grown up lemonade stand in a stick with actual function behind the flavor. Because let's be real, if you're sweating through workouts, sauna sessions, or just walking to your car in July, then you are losing more than just water. Element replaces the electrolytes that your body actually needs. Sodium, potassium and magnesium. With no sugar, no junk and no nonsense. I've been drinking it every single day for years and in the Texas heat, this lemonade flavor in a cold glass of water is unbelievably good. Best of all, they've got a no questions asked refund policy with an unlimited duration so you can buy it and try it for as long as you want. And if you don't like it for any reason, they'll give you your money back and you don't even need to return the box. That's how confident they are that you'll love it. Plus, they offer free shipping in the US right now. You can get a free sample pack of elements most popular flavors with your first purchase by going to the link in the description below or heading to drinklmnt.com modernwisdom that's drinklmnt.com ModernWisdom why would you rather have a cool friend or a good friend? I would much sooner have a good friend. Okay, so why is it that regularly we choose to sort of push to one side unless we're very mindful, right? If we're a little bit more juvenile or immature, we push to one side. Things that are good in place of things that are cool. Like what's the allure? And there's an interesting insight here that says coolness and goodness are related, but they're not the same thing. Your grandma might be a really good person, but that doesn't necessarily make her cool. The distinction matters because it helps explain why we admire people for different reasons. One attribute, only one attribute, which is being capable, right? So power on one and I think conscientiousness on the other was seen as equally cool and good. And I think the interesting thing about being capable is that if you're unable to be capable, you can't enact your will into the world. How can you be cool if you're at the mercy of the world? And how can you be good if you can't push back against the world? So I was like, huh, okay, that's pretty interesting. And the final bit that loops to what you said. If you Want to be cool. Authenticity matters. Previous research shows that trying to be cool usually doesn't work. Trying to be cool usually doesn't work and can cause someone to lose status in the eyes of others. With wealth, people tend to respect it more if they believe that someone worked hard to earn it. So you can think silver spoon versus self made millionaire. Coolness works differently. If people think you're trying to be cool, you lose credibility.
- [54:27]
B
Oh yeah.
- [54:27]
A
That's because coolness is about autonomy, originality and being unconcerned with fitting in. And the fact that so many cultures agree on what makes someone cool suggests that coolness may serve some sort of shared social function. So it's kind of adaptive in a way. Right. The evolutionary build side of this. The traits that make people cool may make them more likely to try new things, innovate new styles and fashions, and influence others. These individuals often push boundaries, introduce new ideas in fashion, art, politics or technology. They inspire others and help shape what's seen as modern, desirable or forward thinking. Coolness in this sense might function as a kind of cultural status marker, a reward for being bold, open minded and innovative. It's not just about surface style. It's about signaling that you're actually ahead of the curve and that other people should pay attention. But the authenticity thing is a big part and I thought that was so funny. We love people that are self made. Millionaires hate people that are trying to be cool.
- [55:20]
B
Yeah, yeah. Authenticity is a wild one, isn't it? Because it's like you need status to show off that your authentic self is worthwhile looking at. At least like in content creation or whatever. Like somebody's authentic self. Like no one could care about seeing it.
- [55:39]
A
There's lots of people that are authentic but don't have any status. So they're not respected for their authenticity.
- [55:43]
B
Right. It's one, you know, it's a, it is a amalgamation of a bunch of things as well. There are like juggernauts in, in music that are like getting older. You know, you have Beyonce, Jay Z, Taylor Swift, and even like the Weeknd. Rick Beato had a big thing on. This is like the, the room for cool to come up in, in take over is just like. It's much like we're much more corporatized with our pop artists now. And it seems, it seems as like that.
- [56:16]
A
What was the. What are some of the last breakthrough artists? Well, it just went off the back of cool in your opinion?
- [56:22]
B
Oh man. Well, like, like current breakthrough artists. I mean, Billie Eilish is super Cool, I think. But she's a juggernaut and she's been around.
- [56:33]
A
Breakthrough is not due to being cool.
- [56:34]
B
Right.
- [56:35]
A
Right.
- [56:36]
B
I don't. I don't know if I don't know. Red Clay Strays, I wouldn't even say. They're like, I'm talking huge. Sure. I. Look, it's like Bob Dylan was just cool, dude.
- [56:48]
A
Right.
- [56:48]
B
Okay. Like, I don't think a Bob Dylan could exist now. And why. It's just too, like, the world is just too, like, corporate and. And like. Like, I hate. I don't want to sound like a hippie on this, but, like, the process of growing from an independent artist to becoming a Bob Dylan is just too difficult, really.
- [57:10]
A
I would have.
- [57:10]
B
Or it's too. It's too different.
- [57:12]
A
I would have thought that the market would have just rewarded whatever the market wants. That gatekeepers.
- [57:18]
B
That is true.
- [57:18]
A
Gatekeepers are there. But if you can say, hey, put me in a fucking spangly blue unitard and let me do a backflip off this fucking Benson Boone sign, people are gonna. People are gonna like it. Then they'll go that way.
- [57:32]
B
Yeah.
- [57:33]
A
Or if they say, we're not gonna tell you our names.
- [57:35]
B
Well, how about this?
- [57:35]
A
On. They're gonna go that way.
- [57:37]
B
It used to be like, man, I heard this band is really good. We gotta go check them out. And like, it would be a record label or an A and R guy from a record label or something to go check them out. Like, they don't have to do that anymore. They just check Tick tock, see who's trending. So then now the filter is like, okay, well, who can put the together the best video for that sort of potential to exist?
- [57:57]
A
Well, because the route to success has been sort of narrowed down through this one aperture, which is attention online. Right. That's it. Like, what was the last. I don't even know what this is. The last band that came up the old way by playing live gigs with no online presence. Simply doesn't exist. Yeah, right. You mentioned, like, Rachel McAdams is another good example of this. But Denzel Washington, two big film people that don't have Instagram. Name me the biggest band on the planet that doesn't have Instagram. Oh, wait, it doesn't exist.
- [58:29]
B
It doesn't exist.
- [58:29]
A
It doesn't exist. It can't exist. I'm sure that there's an outlier that's going to make my fucking hat.
- [58:34]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [58:35]
A
But largely the point being, promotion is the name of the game. Eyes Attention.
- [58:39]
B
Right?
- [58:39]
A
That is how you grow and move through the industry. So it is in that way that makes sense. Because if the only sort of path to success is squeezing yourself through attention online, there are only so many ways that you can do that. The rules of the game online are more compressed than they are when you're just listening to a song and saying, do I like this thing or not? Or going to see a show live and saying was that good or not? As opposed to did this particular video or post manipulate the small number of levers that work the algorithm in a manner to be able to get them to gain attention? Right. So it's like taking something from 4K to 360p or you full color to black and white. There's only a few ways to do it and people can try and be innovative. Like the world of brand at the moment, all of the biggest brands, Newtonic included, what the photos are all like, here's a thing that's going on and oh, there's a product over there. Here's a thing that's going on and oh, there's a product over there. Because the world of sort of front led marketing is kind of died.
- [59:51]
B
Yes.
- [59:51]
A
And now it's all about lifestyle marketing. It's like, what's the life that you live alongside this product?
- [59:56]
B
Yes.
- [59:56]
A
And it's just the game that you need to play.
- [60:00]
B
Yeah. The. So the typical kind of music thing is to do a performance online, you know, and then post that. But if you have a song coming out, you can keep doing performances of your song. Like pre save here, check out my new song and all this stuff. Already tired, just saying that, it's like boring, you know, And I've. I've done a bunch of live performances on my instagram and only one or two of them have like broken through. I've probably done 40. It's like countless hours of trying to like just play a song and here, listen to my stuff and like two of them have broken through.
- [60:37]
A
So.
- [60:37]
B
So I, I one time made just bullshit videos on things that I was thinking, like, I don't know, just nonsense for 30 days. And I got 19.9 million views, gained 30,000 followers. Not one of them had to do with music. It was just me talking about life and people were like, I like that, blah, blah, blah, you know, so that window is so much easier to grab people's attention. It is really difficult to the problem.
- [61:06]
A
That you have and it's great and congratulations for crushing it on Instagram, but you now need to somehow convert those people that came for the vibe yeah. Into a viewer.
- [61:19]
B
And here's the thing. I'm not even gonna try. I'm just gonna say, if you guys want it, here it is. Because I. Because like, I can't make people do anything. You can't make anyone do anything. But. But the few that go, they're gonna be like, damn, this is really good. And I have had a lot of that.
- [61:36]
A
There's a line between, how much are you sort of. How much are you growing? Whatever it is that you do. We used to. We used to do this in nightlife, where the cool kids from around town are the hot girls or whatever. They're the ones that you want at the launch of your new event. And you'd be befriending them and, you know, asking them if they want to go for coffee or like checking in about how their fucking football team or like, whatever, like some bullshit that you don't care about to then cash in the favour that you've built up this sort of social equity that you and this person have accrued or that you feel like you've accrued with this person by doing favors for them or whatever. And then you want them to bring their 15 hot girl friends to this event that you've got that's launching on Friday night at fucking Tup Tup palace in Newcastle or wherever. And that was very tit for tat. I think that it made me see a lot of marketing and sort of. That side of social dynamics is very transactional. It was kind of a little bit like being a stripper. A little bit like being a stripper. Like an onlyfans.
- [62:36]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [62:36]
A
You know, but that and what you're doing here is basically the same thing. It's just a much longer game with, no, you're not asking someone to come to the nightclub at the end of it. And I think when it. To sort of loop it all back to authenticity. What people can fall in love with is somebody like Dry Creek. Dwayne.
- [62:55]
B
Right?
- [62:55]
A
That wrangler guy that I had on the show about a year ago. And he is somebody who is so authentic. Or the Rizzler. Right. The better example. Waiting for him to come up, weren't you the Rizzler. Why is that kid interesting? Because it seems like he's being himself. And when did it get cringe? When they started doing like dance videos and stuff.
- [63:21]
B
Yeah.
- [63:21]
A
Like it was contrived like, yeah, I want to watch this 32 BMI 12 year old.
- [63:32]
B
I want to watch him do goofy, silly things.
- [63:34]
A
Be him, be him.
- [63:35]
B
I don't want to see him do brand partnership. Yeah.
- [63:37]
A
He's charming, funny, and silly and like, like, and. And gonna die early. And I wanna, like. I mean, there needs to be an intervention.
- [63:45]
B
Yeah. That would be sick. What an arc. That would be the Rizzler weight loss arc getting jacked.
- [63:51]
A
Did you see Serena Williams got loads of stick.
- [63:54]
B
Yeah. But, yeah, because of her husband, man. I mean, I don't even.
- [64:02]
A
She looks great. Say what you want. She looks great on a zempic. Stacked abs and everything.
- [64:09]
B
Yeah. I mean, she's got insane genetics. She's got the best genetics.
- [64:12]
A
Yeah. But also has always been a thicker girl.
- [64:16]
B
Yeah. But there's been a ton of muscle underneath that. Whatever, you know.
- [64:20]
A
So then she's black. Sunny web.
- [64:23]
B
Yeah.
- [64:23]
A
So like female.
- [64:24]
B
If you take a GLP1 and you're always been a jacked person, you just have a little bit extra body fat, you look great. But if you take a GLP one, you've never worked out a day in your life. You look terrible.
- [64:34]
A
Horrible, Awful.
- [64:37]
B
Disgusting. Yeah, you look awful.
- [64:42]
A
I mean, look, that's the. The biggest takeaway has been that most people who have an issue with people losing weight through GLP1s are not fat. People that have actually done the work the natural way because they feel like they're being threatened.
- [64:58]
B
Right.
- [64:58]
A
Like fat. You would think you could imagine a different world where it was, well, see.
- [65:03]
B
But this, this is why. This is why performance matters more than everything. You know, you could. You can. I know this is gonna. Again, this is gonna like, what's your 5K, bro? Like, what's your. Can you, like, go up a set of stairs without huffing and puffing? Can you just walk around like, yeah, you. You took a bunch of GLP1s to lose, you know, 30 pounds. But, like, are you capable physically? And the answer is no, you're not. So it's like, I still am. You know, that's. That's at least what people could hang their hat on, who did it the right way.
- [65:33]
A
That's true. Yeah.
- [65:34]
B
Well, I mean, performance will always have to be at the forefront of weight loss, in my opinion.
- [65:39]
A
That's because in order to achieve a calorie deficit without GLP1s, you need to create the deficit through moving more as well as opposed to just eating.
- [65:49]
B
And it's. And it's likely going to be a better process and a more fulfilling process if that added movement has performance metrics attached to it. Oh, I'm lifting more weights this week. Uh, or. Or like my, you know, mild time has gone down these sorts of things.
- [66:04]
A
Like it's something happening inside other than just fat loss and actually a little bit.
- [66:09]
B
And what size on the scale and.
- [66:10]
A
Actually probably a little bit of bone density losses.
- [66:12]
B
Yeah. I mean, and the, the most healthy way to go about this is to just say the weight loss or looking better or feeling better is just secondary to your performance increase.
- [66:22]
A
Well, in that, in that case, does this make an argument that people who are already training should be the ones that go for GLP1s the most?
- [66:31]
B
Maybe. Sure.
- [66:32]
A
Because they already understand what it is to do the things that mitigate the muscle loss and the bone density and all the rest of the stuff.
- [66:39]
B
I mean. Yeah, I mean, the, the. The question then it's is like, you know, performance enhancing drugs as well. It's the same thing. I'm pretty sure. Are GOP ones allowed in sport? I don't even question. Yeah, I don't know. I should know that because, like, that would be a huge game changer.
- [66:54]
A
Wanted to go move down a weight class.
- [66:56]
B
Oh, for sure. Or anything that requires lower body weight.
- [66:59]
A
Which is like running.
- [67:01]
B
Yeah, many different sports. Like lower body, like run a marathon, lose 10 pounds, run a marathon again. It's like gonna be easier the second time.
- [67:10]
A
Do you know Magnus Midpo?
- [67:12]
B
Yes. The rock climber.
- [67:14]
A
Me, I was watching him do the Norseman, which is this extreme triathlon. I think it's a maybe a 5k swim, 140k bike ride and then a marathon at the end of it. But the elevation change is fucking absurd. Right? And the water, you jump into the water at 4 in the morning and it's in a freezing lake in wherever the fuck.
- [67:40]
B
Wait, I. Fergus did this.
- [67:42]
A
Maybe the Norseman, it's called.
- [67:44]
B
Yeah. And you could choose different paths depending on the weather. Have you seen that one?
- [67:47]
A
I don't think this is the same.
- [67:48]
B
They both suck. But like you have to depends on like where the clouds are because like you literally can't see it.
- [67:53]
A
There's no, no, no, it's not this one. There's this one. This one. The first 160 people that get past this point get a black T shirt because they have to do what's called Zombie Hill, which is the. The steep incline at the very end. And the remaining people get a white T shirt. Anyway, I just watched. I mean, that rock climber guy, I've started being served his shit online. He is a fucking freak. There is nothing he can't do. French Foreign Legion selection process. Walked it. Trained for 14 days. He trained for 14 days. To do the Norseman came in 79th out of hundreds of people that had been training for over a year. And they did his VO2 max as a part of this thing. VO2 max came in at 59.
- [68:33]
B
Holy shit.
- [68:34]
A
50 in above his elite.
- [68:35]
B
52 is crazy.
- [68:36]
A
Yeah. Because he's probably late 30s, right?
- [68:37]
B
Yeah. Age is a huge, huge factor for VA259.
- [68:41]
A
They were, like, elitist.
- [68:43]
B
I gotta get mine tested, bro, because I've been. I've been chirping my comments section. Show. Just show VO2. I mean, it's. It's pretty base response, you know, like, what's your total? Was my previous one response. And now show VO2 is another one, too.
- [69:00]
A
But you haven't done your VO2.
- [69:01]
B
No, I gotta go do it. But I do think, like, we can.
- [69:03]
A
Do it at nutribull. Yeah, no, Eric will do it.
- [69:06]
B
Yeah.
- [69:06]
A
Yeah.
- [69:07]
B
Kind of nervous for that.
- [69:09]
A
I. I fear that I would suck a lot. Is it. So VO2, is that built through low, low end zone 2 stuff?
- [69:19]
B
No, no. There's different tests, but they always peak. Always increase.
- [69:23]
A
In terms of building it, in terms of the work that you do to build it. Is it both your. Your slow runs and your fast runs.
- [69:28]
B
I'm, again, I'm way out of my accuracy budget. Yeah, give me that accuracy budget, baby.
- [69:34]
A
Okay.
- [69:34]
B
But I would imagine it's everything. It's like an amalgamation of stuff. But I do think that, like, okay, the Nordic 4x4 thing, Norwegian 4x4, the idea of, like, threshold pace and then, like, not full recovery, but, like, damn near full recovery and then threshold, like, it's just that threshold work, just getting your heart going and pumping just constantly without fully maxing out. And, like, because once you fully max out, the session's over, you know? And I'm talking fully full, like, sessions over.
- [70:05]
A
I asked. I asked Andy Galpin about this because what I'd been doing was threshold. So I'm right in saying threshold is like, just pulling below anaerobic, right?
- [70:14]
B
Sure. Yeah.
- [70:15]
A
It's. It's like not completely killing yourself so that you basically can't come back from it.
- [70:20]
B
Yeah.
- [70:21]
A
And holding the highest average pace that you can for four minutes, three minutes off. Four rounds of that. So four on, three off four and three off. Four on, three off, four on, three off. Assault bike is by far for the people that want to try it, Assault bike is by far the easiest way to do this because you don't have to start or stop anything. You don't have to get on or get off. Anything. You can speed up and slow down as much as you want. And Rhonda Patrick, when she came on the show, said that this reversed two decades of heart aging. In the study that this was done on, two decades of heart aging is done. And I think it was once a week in untrained individuals for one year, one or two years, once a week. So it's like 104, either 52 or 104 sessions. And that's the, the effect. But I spoke to Andy Galpin. He was like, no, no, no, no. I want you to end yourself as fast as possible and then try and hold on and yourself, like, spike that heart rate as high as you can and then just hold on. And then he said, when the second one comes along, it's like you can do the same thing, but it's just going to be lower. And then the third one, yeah, you can do the same thing and it's going to be lower.
- [71:19]
B
It might, it what, what you might run into is kind of. It. The same thing occurs. Like you, the breadth of intensity over the course of the session might be the same.
- [71:30]
A
You know, it's like it's going to be higher peaks.
- [71:32]
B
Yeah. Or you, you're just. Your performance goes down. But you had a way high performance in that first bout. So the later bouts are worse.
- [71:39]
A
Before we continue, if you haven't been feeling as sharp or energized as you'd like, getting your blood work done is the best place to start. Which is why I partnered with Function, because they run lab tests and twice a year that monitor over 100 biomarkers. They've got a team of expert physicians that take the data, put it in a simple dashboard, and give you actionable insights and recommendations to improve your health and lifespan. They track everything from your heart health to your hormone levels, your thyroid function and nutrient deficiencies. They even screen for 50 types of cancer at stage one, which is five times more data than you get from an annual physical. Getting your blood work drawn and analyzed like this would usually cost thousands, but with function and it is only $500. And right now, the first thousand people can get an additional hundred dollars off, meaning it's only 400 bucks. To get the exact same blood panel that I use, just go to the link in the description below or head to functionhealth.com modernwisdom that's functionhealth.com modernwisdom what have you learned from running for 100 days?
- [72:36]
B
Oh, dude, I have a great analogy for this. I was thinking about this on the way here, it's like showing up to a classroom. So your mind is the class of kids, let's say like 16 year old kids. And you show up and you're the substitute teacher. Those kids are not listening. They're like, you, you. You can't even be like, all right, guys, put your phones away. They're like, nah, fuck you, dude. That's your first run. For me, my mind was like, this is terrible. This is terrible. This is the worst thing ever. We're going to stop. And I'm like, you know what? Screw it. Like, we'll get out of class early. That was day one, you know, day 50, you're like, phones are away, kids are still interrupting. You're kind of able to like, get out the work that needs to be done, but the kids are still not listening. By day 100 today, which is amazing. I already did my. It's like you can look at the kids and be like, all right, we're doing what we need to do. And everyone's like, yeah, I know. And they, they look up and they're like, can we get our phones out? And you're like, no.
- [73:33]
A
What do you mean by the kids? What are they?
- [73:35]
B
It's like, that's your mind being like, this is so annoying. I really don't want to do it. It's. It is a distinct. This is why I truly believe, like, when I say the word run, go for a run, or running, almost universally, the response is, oh, God, no. No way. Because when you start, your heart rate goes up, your muscles fatigue and you want to stop. Period. You just want to. If you're on a bike, you can sit and you can go a little bit slower. You know, rower, you're sitting, you. You know, it's something distinctly about running that is just brutal in that way. And so my approach to this, and I have, since I think it's a million views, I was like, guys, I'm a running influencer now, and I call it gaslighting yourself into becoming a runner. Essentially, if we look at what running is, it's hopping from one foot to the other, just doing that. So what I want you to do is as little effort as humanly possible, hopping from your left foot to your right foot and then doing that in succession. Really minimal effort. Now we're just going to lean forward a little bit and move forward. I don't give a shit what your pace is. I don't care at all. I want you to do that for 20 minutes and like, accidentally, you're going to run like a mile and a half and you'll look at me, you'll be like, I have not run over 400 meters in two decades, bro. I go, exactly. This is what it is. So I started and I was just like, I'm just gonna see if I can hop for 40 minutes. I didn't even look at how far I ran, but it was always over like two and a half miles or whatever. And I just kept doing that over and over again. And then someone would be like, hey, do you want to run with me? I'd be like, I'm not very good, but yeah. And I would go and I would die because I could try to keep up with them. And it's just like you, you're just constantly over, you're overreaching and you're coming back and I'm just a noob. I don't know what the fuck I'm doing, dude. Like, I'm, I'm new to this, but I had to eliminate my ego entirely. There was no pace, there is no Zach the Runner. There's no gear that I have to buy. There's no nothing. It's just hop from one leg to the next for 40 minutes.
- [75:50]
A
Why is running taking off so much at the moment, do you think?
- [75:52]
B
I think influence. You know, I, I would be remiss if I said that I'm not hopping on a trend. But the reason I started was I had this idea I was taking a. And I was like, hey, it'd be really cool to run a mile in 10 minutes and then tomorrow try to run it in 9:50 and then the next day of 9:40. That's why I started posting and that's why I started running every day. And today is the hundredth day of doing that. Not, not the mile thing, obviously, I gave up on that 22 days in and just continued to run and continue to post. But the reason why I think it's trending is, yeah, influence, like just, it's. It looks cool, the bodies are cool that are doing it and we could get into the hybrid thing too. But the reality is you're taking this aspect of fitness that everyone, once you go to the gym and once you grow muscle, you're like, this aspect of fitness. I'm genuinely not gonna like the cardio aspect. The, the. And it's a hugely important scientifically, like, it is the biggest, you know, you've had. If you talk to Peter Atia on here, that's his thing too. It's like crf, cardiorespiratory fitness is like the most important thing, period. Also having muscles as well. And once you have muscles, you're like, I don't want to do this. So what the runners have figured out or the people who want to run is like, we have hacke brains into like, kind of like competing to get better times and to see how far we can run. And now we have this aspect of our fitness that is now taken care of because we're, we're legitimizing it in our mind, if that makes sense. It's helped me for sure. I'm in the best shape that I've been in in years because I'm like, I want to see if I can get my 5k time down, you know, and I just train the out of my upper body and like I normally would.
- [77:48]
A
It feels a lot like the hybrid thing is kind of come and gone already. I'm not sure.
- [77:51]
B
Maybe. I think, you know, I think fewer.
- [77:54]
A
People post about high rocks and more people post about just running.
- [77:59]
B
Yeah. That it's hard to know, like, what, what's happening.
- [78:04]
A
Which subculture am I being exposed to on exactly. Like, tiny corner of the Internet.
- [78:08]
B
Yeah. Yeah. But I will say this. Like the, the hybrid shtick that everyone loves to hate on is like, oh, so you're a shitty bodybuilder and you're a shitty runner. And it's like, oh, look at Fonz. Our boy Ian, right? He's not a. He's what Everyone wants to look like him. Okay. Takes his shirt off, everyone goes, yeah, that's, that's pretty solid right there. So right there, bad bodybuilder says who? Okay. Then he posts like his Strava. It's like eight miles at a 608 mile pace. That's really good for, for, you know, an average runner or a shitty runner, as everyone says. So it's like, okay, well that is a, a guy who's a gym bro who has now hacked his way into like, getting his cardio in and maintaining leanness.
- [78:56]
A
Has the fake natty debate come for running yet?
- [79:01]
B
Ooh, I don't know.
- [79:03]
A
I don't see it. Because you can't really fake a Strava thing unless you're gonna jump on a bird.
- [79:08]
B
It would be awesome.
- [79:10]
A
You did 22 miles an hour for a lot of this run. But I'm just wondering because the only anchor that I have for this is the world of bodybuilding and fitness. And the equivalent would be, well, his physique versus his physique. This particular trend performance Enhancing drugs, age, all of this stuff. But the running community, I guess, well.
- [79:35]
B
Running is an Olympic sport, so there's gonna be doping, like, at the highest level, there's gonna be doping. And then at amateur levels. Sure. You know, and that's. This is how, like, Icarus started. Was. Amateur level doping is, like, huge, because amateur races are huge. Amateurs love to go as hard as they can. You know, it's like they're a yuppie during the day. They're just, like, working on the computers, day trading. And then they're like, can't wait to post their Stravas, you know, and go try and beat their homies in. In marathon stuff. They're just com. Hyper competitive people. So naturally, peds are going to fall right into that. And that's how Icarus started. People, like, forget that. Like, it was not an. Initially a documentary to expose the. The Russian doping plan. It was a documentary to see. He was like, I wonder if I can, like, get my time to be better by getting supervised drugs. Supervised drugs. It just so happened that Rodchenkov was his supervisor, who was, like, the linchpin of. Of, like, Russian doping.
- [80:39]
A
Yeah.
- [80:39]
B
And it ended up being an incredible documentary because of it.
- [80:42]
A
I love that documentary. It was. He did a second one, right? But it wasn't like a serial.
- [80:47]
B
I don't know.
- [80:47]
A
He did. The dude that did it went on to go and do a second one. Yeah, it's. I've been watching Tour de France Unchained on Netflix, and there's three seasons of this. It's basically drive to survive the formula One thing. But for Tour de France, bro, it's so fucking compelling. Like, that is. That is so hardcore what those guys do. It is unbelievable.
- [81:09]
B
Yeah. Isn't there, like, a stud right now?
- [81:12]
A
There's a couple of. There's Taddy Pogacha, who is one, and Jonas Fingergaard, who are the kind of. The two guys that are trading back and forth. One of them had a really bad fall over the last 12 months and then came back. I think that was the Giro d'. Italia. And then didn't have a long time to turn himself around, ready for the Tour and just struggled. But, yeah, these guys are freaks.
- [81:39]
B
And it's a sick, disgusting sport, cycling.
- [81:42]
A
Yeah. To see. The reason I really, really like it is that the protracted suffering story is really compelling in a way. That drive to survive or even. Thor Bjornsson just broke the deadlift record again. Super impressive. 510 kilos. Just keeps going up. Unbelievable. But there's no story. There's no story around the pursuit. All of the story is in the preparation of the pursuit. When you're watching Unchained Tour de France on Netflix, it is like, it's. So how about.
- [82:22]
B
I mean, let's go simple with it. How about the art of traveling through space and time, like, on a cycle. These guys are up in, like, beautiful Italian Alps, cruising through Switzerland. Of course, it's. It's poetic, and it's like. It's been poetic, bro. It.
- [82:40]
A
You mean that Thor sniffing Nose. Nose.
- [82:43]
B
Yeah. Like, just sitting. Like, I can't. I shouldn't move because I need to deadlift today. So I'm just gonna sit and eat food, and then I'm gonna deadlift. Like. Yeah, it's not as romantic. Remotely as romantic. And just thinking of, like, bro, 70s Tour de France racing is, like, the most poetic ever. Some guy, like, smoking a cigarette, like, getting a bike ready for this guy. He's like, are you ready for the race tomorrow? Like, you know what I mean? Like in somewhere in Milan or whatever that is Romance.
- [83:12]
A
We were raised very fast.
- [83:13]
B
We got a race tomorrow. It's a bigger race, you know?
- [83:19]
A
Well, it's either that I love, dude, this, that, or 2000s. Well, you want to get me fired up?
- [83:24]
B
You want to get me fired up on. It's like, romanticism of things that may have no romanticism around it. What whatsoever. For instance, Billy Strings. Do you know Billy Strings?
- [83:33]
A
No.
- [83:34]
B
So there's a style of guitar. It's bluegrass, and it's kind of flat picking, so you, like, almost pick every note. You do a lot of hammer on. So you go like, do, you know? And you hammer on, pull off. But a lot of, you know, these guys would be great in metal. In fact, Billy Strings, I think, was just on a metal tune, which is amazing. But he was talking. I think it was on Theo von. And he's like, I did meth, and I stayed up for two, three days playing guitar. That was it. That was all I did. I don't. I don't think I went to the bathroom. I think I did anything but played guitar. And I was like, did this just make meth romantic? Am I just like. You know what I mean? Like, if there is a story, I'm just a story, bitch. You know what I mean? Anything. Anything like that, like, cocaine can be romanticized.
- [84:26]
A
Well, certainly some of the stories that you hear about that, like, when you hear Charlie Sheen, right? He's just got this new series that's coming out at the moment, and I.
- [84:35]
B
Feel like I've Seen clips from that.
- [84:36]
A
Yeah, but he was, you know, I was banging seven Graham rocks and finishing them. You're like. You're like, good story. That's. That's cool. I mean, until your life falls apart, that's cool, right?
- [84:46]
B
Right?
- [84:46]
A
Yeah, but no, you are right. I. There's certainly. Something about. It feels a little sterile now to have everything so dialed.
- [84:56]
B
Yes. Yes, bro. This is like the. There's a meme about we can talk about running again. It's like. There's the. The, like, just got into running. Pretty good at running. And then like, the badass runner. And the badass runner is like, same shoes from 1996. Like, shitty shorts, like Casio watch and just, like, some shitty hat. He's like, I don't know, dude. I just ran like a 2:30 marathon. I don't know. Whatever. That's romance right there. We love that. And it's, you know, to go back to the tour, it's like, well, we can't science everything. It just always comes back to suffering, which is so romantic. I'm gonna put myself through hell, and then it's gonna feel awful, and everything's gonna be telling me no, and I'm gonna keep saying yes and yes.
- [85:45]
A
That was one of the reasons that the Kipchoge 2 breaking 2 thing was awesome, but actually a little bit less awesome for sure than it should have been.
- [85:58]
B
He had people he was drafting off.
- [85:59]
A
Of and a Tesla in front of him that he was pacing off of and lasers on the floor, and they, you know, done specific genetic testing to work out precisely the fall off of glucose in his muscles. And this is the. The mixture that's at this point. This. The mixture that's at this point. And that's sick.
- [86:14]
B
And it's basically exciting in its own way.
- [86:16]
A
It's treating a human like a formula one.
- [86:18]
B
Yeah.
- [86:18]
A
Like. Like an engineering project to be mastered. And that's really beautiful. But I don't know whether you would necessarily look again, Chris.
- [86:26]
B
This is another duality. We have practicality and we have the story, dude. And so much of this podcast and so much of what you do is, like, demands practicality. It demands optimization. It demands all these things. But at the end of the day, bro, the way I know you, the way that you think is it's up in the cloud. Like you. Yeah. And you. It's like you feel like you're in a movie. And, you know, things can uplift you in a way. Like looking at your vlogs from your tour shows. Those are not. That's not optimization. That's just love and like the hero's journey. And we all have to dig into that. And so much of the content in everything that we're wrapped up in all the time is like, here's the best way to do this. Here's this, this, this. And it's like at the end of the day, just shut the fuck up. Let me just feel this story and at least believe in something that might not even even exist.
- [87:28]
A
Is that not allure of somebody like a David Goggins or a Cameron Haynes?
- [87:32]
B
Sure.
- [87:32]
A
Sort of a blunt instrument. That's kind of. I don't really. I saw Truitt do the Leadville 100.
- [87:39]
B
Yeah.
- [87:39]
A
And he does this video and he's talking about how he's got. They called drop bags maybe or grab bags or something. It's the aid station, prefabricated, this much glucose and this bar and this other stuff. And he's. They're already made like little pack lunches, I guess, for your run. And they're at each of the different stations or whatever. And his dad had left. Cam had left and didn't have anything. And he said, yeah, dad, dad, dad left the house and he didn't have any drop bags. He'll probably just go to a, you know, gas station, like pop in and just find like, see if there's anything there that he likes the look of and like some beef jerky and RX bar or something. Yeah, yeah. I just thought. I. I think that that is part of the allure. But even within that, people are so quick to jump on the cringe thing, right? Because that's.
- [88:32]
B
Yeah, but results. Yeah, but results can beat the. Out of that. That off totally.
- [88:38]
A
Well, that's a good. That is a good point.
- [88:39]
B
Results are so underrated. It's crazy.
- [88:43]
A
Salve.
- [88:43]
B
Yeah.
- [88:44]
A
Cringe.
- [88:44]
B
Shut the fuck up. Here's my results. Fuck off.
- [88:46]
A
Like, I mean, that's the same thing as the Sleep Token stuff, right? That you say, who are these fucking homos in masks? What are these fucking theater kids doing in masks?
- [88:57]
B
They are theater kids. That's great. Okay. Yeah, but results.
- [89:01]
A
Yeah, same as. Same as Noah from Bad Omens.
- [89:04]
B
Yeah, you go. I mean, yeah, Too aloof.
- [89:06]
A
You don't talk enough. I want to see more forward facing stuff. And you go, we, we. We break records all the time. We're like big at one of the biggest rock bands in the world.
- [89:15]
B
Do you. Where. Where do you feel like you could improve as far as just. Where. Where do you feel like you could improve? How about that. How about that for a question? I'm gonna flip the script.
- [89:30]
A
Well, endless list of things.
- [89:32]
B
If we stay on topic, then I.
- [89:35]
A
Think I would be significantly happier and significantly better at the things that matter most to me if I cared less about the opinions of others. A lot of.
- [89:46]
B
Yeah, but bro, you don't realize how little you care about people's opinions because I, I see it. And this is, this is the thing. This is my job is to be like. Like for instance, your TikTok, dude, there was a video where. I'm not kidding you, there were thousands of comments just bruh, fucking boar in your TikTok, bro. And you're like, oh, I. I forgot I had a TikTok. Yeah, that you don't know how little you actually care.
- [90:13]
A
But that's easy to do when you. That's. There's a difference between not caring and being ignorant. Okay, I was ignorant, right? Had that ever. I mean, this is a great, A great example. I'm glad you brought that up. When that happened, and it's happened a lot when that one happened, the first thought in my head was how silly for me to care about this furore fucking meltdown that's happened on this stupid little platform that I don't even, you know, like, how silly.
- [90:42]
B
Yeah.
- [90:43]
A
And then immediately my next thought was, oh, that's all of them.
- [90:48]
B
That's all of them.
- [90:49]
A
That's all.
- [90:49]
B
That's the whole thing.
- [90:50]
A
But how did it have happened? How did it have happened on my YouTube or had it have happened in my Spotify comments? Had it have happened as a response to my email that I sent out? Fuck. If it was in my email inbox, right, the one that I sent 3 minute Monday out from, then I would have been, oh, all right, I've done gone fucking fuck myself here. So, okay, you may disagree, but not fully. Not fully caring less about or at least fearing, Fearing the sort of judgment stuff, right, Would make a big difference because I think there's lots of things that I like the idea of doing, but for fear of looking silly, for fear of criticism, for fear of getting it wrong, I don't move as quickly as I should do. I take. I'm very sort of deliberate, which is good because it means that I kind of rarely fail at most decisions that I make. But it also means that I'm leaving so much on the table by going so slowly with things. And there's levels to this game, right? Like I'm comparing myself to people that move really, really fast and break shit all the time and People who might move more slowly. Whatever, whatever. So that would be one thing, I think, sort of the opinions of others. The. This is kind of associated to it, but the. The bravery to the. The bravery to believe that you've sort of got the support of people, even if you're not continually putting stuff in front of them. So continuing to be prodigious at the pace that stuff goes out. Quarter of a million words written on the newsletter over the last five years, and that goes out every single Monday and the pod and all the rest of the stuff. But because there is a little bit of a hamster wheel that you get on with regards to that, which I love. A big part of the reason there's 150 episodes a year is because I want to have 150 conversations. And if I drop down to two a week, I only get a hundred, and that's a lot less. And that sucks. Yeah, I want to have this many conversations, but you don't get to do the aloof thing.
- [92:58]
B
Right. At what point do you think that you will have the results that you want? That you can step back and not try less hard, but work less hard?
- [93:11]
A
I don't know what that means. Like, I understand that means that maybe means publish fewer podcasts, but that means for me, I have to have fewer conversations. And that would. That's like a hundred a year. A hundred. I get a hundred. Each person's 1%.
- [93:27]
B
Yeah, that's a lot hard.
- [93:28]
A
Yeah, that's hard for me because that's what I've got used to. And so much of it's anchoring buyers. You know, you look at guys that do one episode a week and that's one. One week is 2% of their whole inventory for the whole year.
- [93:42]
B
And I'm like, yeah.
- [93:42]
A
Oh my God. Unbelievable.
- [93:44]
B
I do like that you're doing like these live events that can. It's the big push. It's a big spike. Like I gotta do something extra. I gotta push myself a little bit.
- [93:56]
A
So that's. That's actually a really good point. I am a creature of routine, as you know, and that has been a huge benefit. And I think that people who don't have routine will regularly have their lunch eaten by people that do, because there's not. There's basically nothing that you can achieve in this world that doesn't require consistency. Even the greatest one hit wonder, like Gangnam Style or whatever the fuck I bet that guy had spent or whoever wrote that song did not just do it out of thin air. The construction of that Particular fucking cultural moment was not just conceived of overnight and then published the next day. That's not the way it works. However, if you're the sort of person who has a disposition. I like routine. I sort of get into this. It becomes. The groove that you sink into quickly becomes like a valley that you can't climb out of. And you get locked into ways of operating, ways of thinking.
- [94:56]
B
But how does that make you feel then? Like, if it. If it's interrupting your. Your. You. It's interrupting the very person you are. Do you feel like. Do you feel like you're okay? You know what I mean? Do you feel like. Like, do you ever feel like you're swimming in deep waters because of the amount of work that you're doing or the amount of.
- [95:19]
A
Sometimes. Sometimes I do. It doesn't get super overwhelming. It hasn't gotten the most overwhelming. It was. Was last year. Last year was the most overwhelming. This year's been overwhelming for a different reason. Because I've been trying to have two jobs at once. One which is my job and the other which is fixing my health. But last year was the sort of closest I came. There's a vlog from LA when I do all these episodes back to back to back to back to back in the fucking car garage. And I'm in between two of these episodes. I've got my head sort of resting. My eyes are resting in the heels of the palms of my hands. And I was like, yeah, that guy's. You're. That's too much. That's. That's. You're sort of pushing too hard. But on the flip side of that, this is the perennial question that we sort of started with. People want to really fucking. I want to make a dent in the world. I really want to make a dent in the world. And I want to enjoy my time, too. And how do I find this balancing act?
- [96:21]
B
It's a silly pursuit, though, mate, trying to make a dent in the world. But you do it anyways. Everyone does. So, Frank Zappa, there's a really interesting interview. I don't know who was asking the question. I think it might have been either, like, Barbara Walters or Katie Couric. They're like, how do you want to be remembered when you die? And he's like, what? I'm dead? Are you talking about. I don't. There's no remembering there. There's no me. And he died. I mean, he. He, like, knew. He. This was a premonition he had. And I saw it and I was like, oh, that's you know, the, that's the reality of this whole thing.
- [96:54]
A
Oh yeah. If there are. If by making a dent that sounded like leave a legacy, that is not what I meant. Yeah. I simply meant I want to feel like I happened to life and that when I get to look back I'm like, fuck. Like yeah. Like I did a thing.
- [97:07]
B
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [97:08]
A
Really did a thing. And there is a mark that was left as opposed to me kind of just coasting through all that being said, you're right with what you say about doing the live show sort of rips you out of the hamster wheel. It rips you out of that sort of regularity. It's the reason that, you know, I was in. I basically lived in New York for a month last month and then went and did London straight from there. Then I'm back, then I'm back to London for the health conference, then I'm doing the roast of Andrew Hume in la. Then I'm doing Tony Robbins, then I'm back and then we're on tour. And that's the final third of this year is just trips to the uk, LA and tour. That's it.
- [97:47]
B
Yeah. So imagine you have a theater full of people. They're all bright, bright eyed and ready to watch you and they're there to listen to you and you. And you finish up and it was great. You finish up and you go, you guys, this experience that you had me talking to you didn't matter because my eyes are on my future and I want to make a dent in the world. That's what they offer is like you could, you would never say that. You know, we live in a digital space where you, you can have an impact on people and a comment will come, thousand comments will come. Holy Chris. Oh my God. Even in, you know, but because maybe it happens so much and maybe your eyes are set on the next. What's next? What's next? These people that are coming up to you, that is these, this is like the ultimate gratitude max that you need to work on.
- [98:48]
A
So low impact. This is, this is one of the things I think that we see one of the reasons that you see creator burnout online and it's so strange to look at whatever percentage of primary school children want to be a YouTuber or a content creator or an influencer or whatever for a job and you are going out of your way to pick a job which has a really huge asymmetry between the level of gratitude that people think they will have before they get into it and the level of gratitude that people have when they do get into it. So there's a few examples like this New Orleans, a place that is one of the most fun for me to visit, that is one of the least enjoyable that I would like to live. Pickleball, one of the most fun to play, that is one of the worst to spectate, right. Things that from the outside are different. George Mack's got his Call of Duty versus War thing, right? What does Call of Duty looks like being in a band? Being in a band from the outside looks fantastic. You're on the road, you get to have loads of fun. You're playing in front of crowds, people sing your songs, all the rest of it from the inside. You don't have a routine, your sleep's all over the place, your health's fucked, you don't get to eat a square meal and your relationship is in the toilet. Like that's the reality of it. Call of Duty versus what? One of the things that when you look at. And this is a unique category, right, because it's swallowed up so many other umbrellas of other bits of work. Musicians are also content creators and fucking news anchors are also content creators and poets. And, you know, it is the least, in many ways the most sterile and least gratifying form of having a massive amount of impact in terms of your positive feedback.
- [100:30]
B
Yeah.
- [100:30]
A
And that's not to say that I or anyone, you, anybody else that's sort of in our circle are ungrateful for how fucking amazing it is that people love what we do, but that for how much people love what we do, the level of felt sense is just. So we did, when I was doing the tour with James two years ago when we did our first like live tour, we played to 350 people in Edmonton, right? And it was fucking freezing cold. Like actually freezing, freezing cold. We went outside to this porter cabin thing and there was pizza, actually quite nice pizza. And Warm Diet Sprite. Warm Diet, I remember Warm Diet Sprite and pretty good pizza. And then I went out and I did my half hour and I came back and James did his thing and that was so fun. And I remember the drum and bass DJ that came on after us. And I remember. And the same thing just is not true in the same way. And I think that humans, the way that we're built to feel gratitude and imbibe memories and like encode the. That we've experienced is much more visceral and felt and real. Yes, Right.
- [101:45]
B
I have a great example of this. Do you remember meeting Me at the bar here. And I was like, bro, some. I went up, I went up to the bartender, I said, do you guys have any non alcoholic beers? And they're like, actually, we don't. I was like, that's fine, I'll just get a rambler. He comes up and he goes, I love your music. This one's on the house. And you showed up after it. And I was like, what do you mean you. You love my music? Like, he's like, what do you mean, what do I mean? I'm like, well, do you follow me on Instagram? He's like, no, dude, I just saw your music on Spotify. Recognized you.
- [102:18]
A
You.
- [102:18]
B
That had never happened to me before. Ever. Ever. I took a picture of that rambler. You showed up and I told you about it at that moment. That is. If that's not gratitude, I don't know what is. And that is a interpersonal relationship right there. That is it. Touching. Reaching out and touching them. And that. Yeah, that.
- [102:40]
A
I say that. Actually, I say that about the influencer thing, but I have to assume the authors. You know, you spend all of this time writing this big treatise thing, and this is forever. This is fucking Hunchback of Notre Dame. It's everything, right? And you write this big tome and then it goes off and it gets printed and people read it or buy it. You see the money and then maybe charts or whatever, and maybe you even see sort of tweets and all of this stuff back and forth. But these people have spent hours, hours immersed in this very interactive relationship between what you put and them and their. The unique thing about reading, it's the only pursuit really that you can do now as a recreation. That is a. It's a mono pursuit. So while doing it, you can be doing nothing else.
- [103:29]
B
Right?
- [103:30]
A
Right. Even rolling Brazilian jiu jitsu. You can be thinking about your fucking relationship.
- [103:33]
B
Yeah, right.
- [103:34]
A
While you're reading, unless you're doing that thing where the. You're scanning the words and then you just have to go back. But that's not reading.
- [103:42]
B
You can't do anything.
- [103:43]
A
You can't do anything else. So it's a really unique. This person's like lived. Or you, you, the writer, the author has lived inside of this person's mind like some weird.
- [103:51]
B
It's why, bro, it's why I pursue music so hard. And I love. You know, it's like the. The guy who does those sculptures, the sand sculptures and. Or not even sand sculptures, like ice sculptures, things that just go away. Beauty people. You. You admire the Beauty. But the. The fact that there's a time limit on it is. Makes it even more beautiful.
- [104:13]
A
Bonnie Blue, time limit on it.
- [104:17]
B
Your 10 minutes are up, sweetheart.
- [104:19]
A
Goodbye.
- [104:19]
B
I got 900 to go. No. So, like, playing. Playing for people who don't know who I am, who are like, oh, this is awesome. In that moment. And then they just leave and never think of me again. Like, I actually think that's amazing. I think that's awesome.
- [104:40]
A
How much less awesome would it be if that was just on shuffle on Spotify or was on the radio or.
- [104:46]
B
Was put up a thousand times less?
- [104:48]
A
Yeah, because they don't. You don't get to see the. For those 3.5 minutes while you're playing the song, you don't get to feel the positive reinforcement. So, yeah, I think it's a. A huge missing component, that sense of sort of positive reinforcement to the thing.
- [105:06]
B
You gotta reach out and touch grass. Yeah, well, you gotta touch grass, but you have to reach out and shake hands with people. You have to. Holy shit.
- [105:15]
A
Yeah. Zach Talendar, ladies and gentlemen. Where should people go? Check out all the shit you're doing.
- [105:21]
B
Check out my music. It rules any streaming sites. Just search. Tellander, Spotify, Apple, all that good stuff. Instagram, Zach, underscore, tellender, and YouTube. Zach. Tellender. Wait, Chris. I have one thing. I.
- [105:37]
A
Hit me with it.
- [105:39]
B
Don't end the show.
- [105:39]
A
It's a rhythm stick. Hit me.
- [105:41]
B
Okay, okay. This one's gonna be. Get serious here for a second. Okay? Chris. So much of the good in my life has occurred because you've been in it. You've taught me lessons I couldn't teach myself. You inspired me to work harder. You have been an incredible influence on me these five very formative years of my life. Because of you, I believe in myself. Because of you, I believe I'm smart enough to speak freely in front of audiences. Because of you, I believe that I have enough talent to perform my songs for crowds I wouldn't dream of playing for. Because of you, I know what it means to have a friend in a time in a man's life. When the rubber hits the road, the friends from child childhood start to peel away. The conversations between them become fewer and fewer and far between. I expected this in my life, and then you came along. You have been my biggest fan. And not because I tried to make you one, but because you believe in me. I don't care if you're a successful podcaster. I don't care if you have a million subscribers and followers. I care about you. I care about your happiness. Ultimately, I want you to win more than anything. You're my best man, the godfather to my beautiful daughter Charlie. And you're my best friend.
- [107:06]
A
I love you, man. I love you.
- [107:08]
B
Love you too, bro. That's it. That's a wrap.
- [107:15]
A
Thank you. Wow. What a way to finish. I get asked all the time for book suggestions. People want to get into reading fiction or non fiction or real life stories. And that's why I made a list of 100 of the most interesting and impactful books that I've ever read. These are the most life changing reads that I've ever found and there's descriptions about why I like them and links to go and buy them. And it's completely free and you can get it right now by going to ChrisWillX.com books that's ChrisWillX.com books.