A Psychologist's Tips To Find Meaning - Dr Clay Routledge - #366

**Chris Williamson** (0:00)
What's happening, people? welcome back to the show. My guest today is Dr. Clay Routledge. He's a professor of management at North Dakota State University and an author. How to find meaning in life is a question that's been grappled with for thousands of years. As an existential psychologist, Clay uses modern methods to answer these ancient questions and provides an awesome overview of our current understanding of what meaning is, why it's important and how to attain it. Today, expect to learn why nature would design a creature that requires meaning to feel fulfilled, the most robust ways to add meaning to your life, why religion might have answered a lot of these questions already, Clay's views on the importance of nostalgia and much more. I love talking about meaning. It's one of the most fascinating topics because it comes to everybody in different ways and it's such a uniquely human phenomenon to need that, to feel like you're connected and contributing to something that's greater than yourself. So yeah, if you're in the middle of an existential crisis, this might be very good for you. Or just if you want to live a fulfilled existence. Who doesn't want that? Actually, before I get to other news, this was the episode that I recorded in the midst of laryngitis. So I'm all husky and seductive, so I need to apologize in advance for the very low tones that you're going to hear coming out of my mouth today. In other news, this episode is brought to you by Manscaped and they have just launched their brand new and improved Lawnmower 4.0. It is the ultimate ball and body hair trimmer ever created, which features a cutting edge ceramic blade to reduce grooming accidents thanks to advanced skin safe technology. If you were a bloke that trims your gentleman's region using an old face trimmer, you are asking for a problem. You are asking for issues to occur. And that's not an area of your body that you need to be taking risks with. Get something which is purpose designed for the job. And the Manscaped Lawnmower 4 is the one. It's now got a wireless charging system using electromagnetic induction to help the battery last longer. There's an LED light, which means you can illuminate grooming areas for a closer and more precise trim. And it's fully waterproof, so you can even groom in the shower. You can also get 20% off plus free shipping worldwide by going to manscaped.com and using the code MODERNWISDOM. If you need to get a man in your life who is a little bit hairy, a gift that suggests, hey, you could do with trimming yourself a little bit. This is, I mean, what an awesome way to passive aggressively tell someone that they need to give themselves a trim. Or just a lovely present, you know? manscaped.com and the code MODERNWISDOM, 20% off and free shipping worldwide on everything, including their amazing Lawnmower 4.0. In other, other news, this episode is brought to you by Element. It is a tasty electrolyte drink mix with everything you need and nothing that you don't. You take one stick of this on a morning instead of your morning coffee. This is what I've been using it for for years. And then I heard Andrew Huberman on his podcast say the exact same bro-science. I'd been bro-sciencing it and then he went out and actually researched it. Salt in the morning instead of your first coffee will get you better hydration. It will keep you more awake. It will manipulate your adrenal glands in a very optimal fashion. And it means you can have less caffeine throughout the day. And when you do have your first coffee after about 90 minutes in the morning, you will feel more awake. Element is the best place to start if you want to start putting salts into you in a morning time. It's the exclusive hydration partner to Team USA Weightlifting and is relied on by Olympic athletes, high performers in the NHL, NBA, NFL, Special Forces, Navy SEAL team, FBI sniper team, and Marines plus tech leaders and everyday athletes around the world. All of the flavors are amazing. The mango and chili salt is ridiculously tasty. It's the best way to wake yourself up on a morning, as far as I'm concerned. Also, you can get a free sample pack. All that you need to do is cover the cost of shipping and pay nothing for the pack itself. It's $5 shipping in the US or £3.84 in the UK. You'll get one of every flavor, so seven sticks. So you can try it out for a full week. Try and get rid of your coffee. First thing in the morning, $5 shipping to the US £3.84 to the UK. Just head to drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom. That's drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom.