2.25M Q&A - The Manosphere, Mike Israetel & Overcoming Insecurities - #816

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
What's happening, people? Welcome back to the show. My guest today is me. I hit 2.25 million subscribers on YouTube, and to celebrate, I asked for questions from YouTube and Twitter and Instagram, so here is another 90 minutes of me trying to answer as many as possible. And as always, there are some very insightful questions and some slightly uncomfortable ones about my single life, my new project with Mike Israetel, and how I overcome insecurities. I expect to learn what the future of vlogs on the channel looks like, what I think about clickbait on YouTube, when the most challenging chapter in my life was, what I'm currently saying no to, what I'm looking forward to on my Australia tour, how to break out of self-destructive habits, whether I'm scared of American wildlife, and much more. You might have seen that I recently went on tour in the UK, Ireland, Dubai, Canada and the US, and the entire time for a full month, I didn't check a single bag in, because hold luggage is a Psi-Op meant to keep you poor and late. In fact, I never need to check bags anymore, thanks to Nomatic. They make the best, most functional, durable and innovative backpacks and luggage that I've ever found. Their 20 litre travel pack and carry-on classic are absolute game changers. They're beautifully designed, not over-engineered, and will literally last you a lifetime with their lifetime guarantee. Best of all, you can return or exchange any product within 30 days for any reason, so you can buy your new bag, try it for a month, and if you do not like it, they will give you your money back. Right now, you can get a 20% discount and see everything that I use and recommend by going to nomatic.com/modernwisdom and using the code MW20 at checkout. That's nomatic.com/modernwisdom and MW20. A checkout. I've been loving my cold plunge and sauna from the team over at Plunge. I literally use them every single week because the benefits of hot and cold contrast therapy make me feel fantastic. I have more energy during the day, sleep better at night and recover faster after hard workouts. Plunge's Evolve collection includes four brand new offerings made to fit your lifestyle, space and goals. The new Plunge Pure Pro Chiller uses state of the art technology to filter water and chill it at the same time. The all new Plunge Air is amazing if you're looking for a lightweight, space efficient option. You can connect it to the Plunge Pop-Up for maximum portability and affordability or go with the XL Plunge Pro for their signature style. They are quick to set up and always ready to go. It only takes three minutes to feel amazing. That's how long I spend in it. And they offer a 30 day return policy. Head to plunge.com/modernwisdom and use the code MW150 for $150 off any purchase. That's plunge.com/modernwisdom and MW150. A checkout. This episode is brought to you by Gymshark. The best gym wear on the planet is from Gymshark. So no matter what you are looking for, if you are spending more time in the gym, you will feel better if you've got cool new clothing. And Gymshark make the best men's shorts on the planet. Their studio shorts in dusty maroon, willow green, onyx gray and navy were what I wore throughout all of my trip to LA, which you may have seen on YouTube recently. Their crest hoodie is what I am flying in whenever I'm on a flight. And their Geo seamless t-shirt is also what I train in every single day. All of their kit is unbelievably lightweight, sweat wicking, it's easy to wash and dry. I'm in love and the fit and quality of their fabrics are phenomenal. Plus, there is a 30 day free returns internationally, and you can get 10% off everything sitewide and worldwide. If you go to bit.ly slash shark wisdom and use the code MW10 a checkout, that's bit.ly slash shark wisdom and MW10 a checkout. But now, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the wise and very wonderful......me.
What's happening, people? Welcome back to the show. It is a 2.25 million subscriber Q&A episode. As you can tell, I'm not in my usual recording setup. I'm here in Bozeman, Montana, and I wish that I could tell you that there's a beautiful vista of sheep grazing and cows chilling out in the mountains, but it's a building site, and there's some mountains in the distance. I've also had to cobble together this by stealing an office chair from the conference room and a table from the breakfast room in the Hilton here in Bozeman, so I'm not going to be there when this goes live. Say what I want. Anyway, I asked the questions on Instagram and Twitter and YouTube community, and we got tons. Lots of them were very similar. The guys tried to compile them so that they're chunked together, and there are many, so let's get into it. First off, Quincy O'Beng. Can you share a time when you realized that worrying less actually led to better results? I would struggle to think of a time when worrying more led to better results. I understand that we can sometimes have this sort of implicit assumption that our performance is fueled by our worry somehow, that it helps us to pay attention in ways it focuses us, focuses our precision and ensures that things don't get missed. But I am really struggling to think of a time when worrying led to better results. It can lead to small increases in performance, but results probably include more than just what was the outcome. It's also what was the experience of doing it like? How did I appear? And when you think about how does worrying make you feel when it comes to performing or trying to achieve results, you're all uptight. This sort of very hard, grippy, tense sensation mentally in your body and even Excel, professional Excel people, accountants and coders, they will probably not want to grip tightly onto things. They will probably want to try and find flow, I would imagine. So I think finding ease and grace is always going to be better than worrying your way through things. That being said, I'm patient zero for worrying an awful lot. And one of the first times that I can think that I did it on the show was with Robert Greene. So I massively respect him and he's this big intellectual powerhouse and who the fuck am I? I'm just some ex club promoter. And it was episode 30, I think. It's a super early and I just over prepared and sort of thought myself into this awful like washing machine cyclone of overthinking and it really wasn't my best performance and I was really disappointed because I loved Robert and I wanted to put on a good show for him. And I'm sure if you go back and listen to it, you probably can't even notice but I know how good I could have been. And that was exclusively due to worry. I was worried that I wasn't going to be good enough. And I turned up on the episode and underperformed and then castigated myself for worrying so much that I'd caused myself to underperform. And this is how bad spirals of performance, the yips or I don't know what you call it in America. Basically when a sportsman is having a bad run of form and they can't get themselves out of it, that is this, that is worry begetting more worry leading to poorer performance. I don't think that worrying helps. And I messed up in front of rubber green. Kevin Artois, my insecurity of being inferior and incompetent is my greatest source of fuel. Is this toxic?