3 MINUTE MONDAY

Hi friend,

This insight makes my soul hurt, largely because I see it in myself.

The writer Oliver Burkeman has a name for this bottomless pit of self-imposed expected efficiency - Productivity Debt.

Here’s to overcoming the “vague sense of falling behind”.

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MODERN WISDOM

I do a podcast which has had 550 million+ downloads. You should subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
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This week’s upcoming episodes:

Monday.
Neil Strauss - the world’s best known pickup artist gives his insights on modern dating advice, love and personal development 20 years later now he’s a father.

Thursday.
Vienna Pharaon - how do you overcome a difficult childhood? How can you make peace with your past without wallowing in it? What are the best methods to become balanced psychologically?

Saturday.
Dr Robert Glover - what don’t people understand about how to be confident? Why do men struggle to attract good women? How can you stop being such a people pleaser?

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THINGS I'VE LEARNED

1.
​The 10 most taboo statements in all of psychology.

"Cory Clark and colleagues conducted a study into Taboos and Self-Censorship Among U.S. Psychology Professors.

The authors began by interviewing 41 researchers in psychology to get an idea of which topics are most taboo.

Using the researchers’ answers as a guide, they condensed the topics to a set of 10 statements:

1. The tendency to engage in sexually coercive behaviour likely evolved because it conferred some evolutionary advantages on men who engaged in such behaviour.

2. Gender biases are not the most important drivers of the under-representation of women in STEM fields.

3. Academia discriminates against Black people (e.g., in hiring, promotion, grants, invitations to participate in colloquia/symposia).

4. Biological sex is binary for the vast majority of people.

5. The social sciences (in the United States) discriminate against conservatives (e.g., in hiring, promotion, grants, invitations to participate in colloquia/symposia).

6. Racial biases are not the most important drivers of higher crime rates among Black Americans relative to White Americans.

7. Men and women have different psychological characteristics because of evolution.

8. Genetic differences explain non-trivial (10% or more) variance in race differences in intelligence test scores.

9. Transgender identity is sometimes the product of social influence.

10. Demographic diversity (race, gender) in the workplace often leads to worse performance." — h/t Aporia

*The authors are not claiming these statements are truthful or valid, simply that they are the most taboo.

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2.
​Change the incentives, change the outcome.

“33% of British criminals were dying en route to Australia in the 1700s.

Britain switched from paying sea captains for every passenger who walked on the ship to paying them for every passenger who walked off.

Immediately, the survival rate shot up to 99%.” — George Mack

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3.
​A counter to social anxiety.

“Nobody is thinking about you.

They're too busy thinking of themselves.” — Ryan Holiday

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LIFE HACK

Have multiple locations you can work at.

Changing location when you change task is a great way to bring in a different state of mind.

If you’ve got emails to do, maybe that’s in an orderly part of your office.

If you’re doing creative work, perhaps you can sit outside.

I don’t know if your brain can associate different locations with different mindsets, but it’s definitely more energising and less boring.
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Big love,
Chris x

Try my productivity drink Neutonic.
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PS
I hope you have a good week :)