Chris Williamson
His best pieces of advice
In your 20s, you have mentors.
I am sure you continue to have mentors in your 30s, 40s, and 50s, but it feels as though the mentors you have in your 20s profoundly affect your direction of travel for the rest of your life.
For me, one of these individuals has been famous podcaster and Youtuber Chris Williamson.
For the past six years (ages 18-24), I have religiously consumed content related to some form of personal development, with Chris’ content at the forefront. Consuming this content has contributed significantly to managing the effects of an autoimmune condition to the extent where it’s in remission, getting in shape and landing a job at an international law firm. A large part of the progress I have made is without doubt partially down to the content I have consumed.
Therefore, I wanted to be able to share the best parts of some of this content in the hope that it would be of help to others. Some of the best insights from Chris’ content will be discussed first, with other prominent individuals to be covered in future posts on Mondays.
‘What is the best life hack? - “Speed up your track pad if you increase your trackpad speed on your computer, just put it up to the maximum it will go and you will immediately move around the screen 10-20% quicker..”
What would your advice for depressed people be? - “It is a blessing and a curse to feel things deeply….dread and awe are kind of the same….50% of what you are comes from your genes….more of your mood than you think of is under your control….get up on time, go for a walk, drink water and hydrate, train and speak to friends. Before you go and see a doctor, if you haven't sorted the base out, you’re putting the cart before the horse….(being depressed) means that you have more empathy for other people's struggles.”
How to discipline yourself - “Part of it is a habit setting challenge. The other half of it is just giving yourself a kick up the ass.”
What’s the difference between consistency and hard work - “A lot of the time consistency is hard work, and you cannot do hard work without being consistent. But I would prioritise consistency over working hard. But you cannot be consistent without working hard.”
How to be more curious - “I hated learning” when in full time education. “The education system didn’t fully utilise my inherent curiosity. Only when I was learning the things that I chose to learn did I get a passion for learning….There is an endless number of people that you can watch or read or listen to.”
How to speak well - “Intentionality and just practice.”
Advice to people in their 20s - “Purchase a house as quickly as you can and do not rack up debt….Avoid developing bad habits…Develop a good health and fitness routine nd understand the basics of nutrition…say yes to adventures and yes to work opportunities…you need to explore more when your younger and exploit more when your older.”
Should I focus on working hard or my wellbeing? - “I genuinely do believe that allowing yourself to be carried forward is a fundamental foundation that will make you happy.…but being rich might not make you happy but being poor might make you miserable.”
How to deal with others’ opinions of you? - “One of the most annoying things you can do to people is to disprove their presumption of who they thought you were…As you reach more and more people, you have to take input less and less seriously….Just do the thing that you think you are supposed to do and just do it.”
How to stay focused - “A big part of this is doing the things that are not work. Training between 5-7 times a week. Making sure that I sleep. Spending more time around other people.”
Should you focus on your strengths or weaknesses? - “You need to get all of your shortcomings to the minimum effective dose. Then just focus on one or two of your strengths and go an inch wide and a mile deep on those.”
What is the best piece of advice that you would give another person that you do not follow yourself? - “Get off social media.”
Advice to those who are lonely- “Change location, change environment, change routine. Find people that are like the person you want to be…I would also work in something to do with nightlife, a barman or a glass collector or something.”
Career advice - “Inculcating a hard work habit when you’re young is very useful.”
How do I stay positive? - “Don’t treat current affairs with much personal investment. Knowing that you only have control with the way that you behave and focus on that. You have got to this stage (watching this podcast), and you are absolutely fine. What makes you think that isn’t going to continue?”
What is your manifesto for men? - “Get every man conscripted to train. There has to be some kind of progressive overload. You need to have a group that you can go and train with. Teaching men the fundamentals of evolutionary psychology and how to raise their mate value is really important. Showing how little work it takes to get ahead is important.”
What is your unfair advantage? - “Being able to work on your own for long periods is a complete gamechanger.”
How to do hard things - “I do subscribe to Jocko Willink’s view that discipline eats motivation for breakfast. If you are at the mercy of your motivation, then things ebb and flow. When it comes to doing hard things, decide in advance that you need to do them, and when the time comes to do it, remember that you made a commitment. It seems like a pretty good way to be a man.”
The top 5 books for self-development:
The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
Atomic Habits - James Clear
Essentialism - Greg McKeown
The Ape Who Understood the Universe - Steve Stewart Williams
The Way of the Superior Man - David Deida
How to become less self-conscious? - “You do know that you don’t care that much about anybody else”, so why would you assume that other people are different?
How to become articulate - “Intentionality is the most important thing…be precise in your speech…record it and play it back to yourself.”
How to be better at managing your time - “I try and do the same things each week….I have kind of just outsourced what I do to just routine….discipline can be made much easier if you just turn it into habits.”
How to apply knowledge acquired to your daily life - “You have to sacrifice progress towards everything in the short term to make meaningful progress on any one thing [in the long term]....narrow down the sort of things that you’re doing.”