Modern Wisdom

I'm joined by long time friend of the show and all round great human George MacGill to re enter the world of Mental Models. Mental Models are tools you can use to improve your ability to effectively make decisions. Today we are upgrading our minds by thinking about thinking, as we delve into some of mine & George's favourite mental models from Jocko Willink, Paul Graham, Ben Bergeron, Navil Ravika...

Brian Carroll is a coach, author and multiple world record holding powerlifter. Brian is one of the strongest men on the planet, having squatted 1000lbs+ more than 50 times in official meets. He suffered a catastrophic spinal injury which would have stopped many athletic careers but has recovered to not only be pain free, but now has his eyes set on more world records. Expect to learn about the ge...

Roger McNamee is a businessman, investor, musician and founding partner of the venture capital firm Elevation Partners. Roger has had a front seat to the biggest developments in Silicon Valley for the last 30 years and this culminated with his time as an early investor and key advisor to Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook. Over the last few years he became concerned with the direction that Facebook and B...

Scott H Young is a blogger, programmer and author. Learning new things is hard. Learning new things quickly is even harder. So how did Scott manage to complete the entire MIT Computer Science Degree of 4 years in just 12 months? Today we're going to learn about learning as Scott shares with us the approaches and real world examples of how people master hard things quickly from his new book Ultrale...

Richard Shotton is a behavioural scientist, the Founder of Astroten and an author. What is the reason that restaurants don't put £ signs in front of their prices? Why do marketing campaigns with huge flaws end up winning the market over? How does increasing wait times on comparison sites improve customer buy-in? And why do budget airlines reduce quality of experience to improve trust? We're talkin...

Dr Taylor Burrowes is a Doctor of Marriage, Couples and Family Counselling. After working for 14 years as a mental health counsellor and marriage and family therapist, Dr Burrowes has seen a huge sample of relationships going through turmoil. Today we get to hear about her best advice to make a partnership work. Can you get over cheating? How should men & women play different roles in a relationsh...

David Carroll is an associate professor at Parsons School of Design. The Great Hack is one of my favourite documentaries of 2019 and today we get a fascinating and unique insight into the story behind Cambridge Analytica from one of the key figures in this controversy. Extra Stuff: Follow Professor Carroll on Twitter - https://twitter.com/profcarroll Check out everything I recommend from books to...

Nat Eliason is the founder of GrowthMachine.com and the host of the Made You Think Podcast. Nat likes to read and think. Today we get to hear his five recommendations for books you probably won't have read, along with a description of his progressive summarisation system which he uses to note down and remember their key points. Also expect to learn Nat's thoughts on abortion, Trump, organic vs pai...

Jonny & Yusef join me again for another Life Hacks episode as we detail our favourite apps, websites, resources and tools for a productive and efficient life. Expect to learn... Why yoghurt is a savoury ketchup, how to save £1 on meal deals in the airport, how to automatically share your Instagram Stories to Facebook, the best apps for laptop keyboard shortcuts, frictionless To Do List capture, fi...

Teemu Arina is a technology entrepreneur, author and a leader in the field of biohacking. The Biohacker's Handbook is one of my favourite resources over the last few years and I've been looking forward to sitting down with Teemu - one of the Co-Authors for a long time. Today we delve deep into the world of biohacking with one of the best minds in the industry. Expect learn why bilberries are badas...

Nicholas Christakis is a Professor at Yale University and an author. Much of what I've covered on the podcast has focussed on evolution's effects on the individual, but today we look at how evolution has shaped us as a collective. Expect to learn... Why is it that we live in groups? Why can we (mostly) rely on the person we're talking to to not lie to us, or kill us on sight? Why can we recognise...

David Epstein is a New York Times Best Selling Author and Investigative Journalist. Specialising early and hard is a frequent piece of advice I hear given to people asking for advice on how to become great at things. Mastery and the 10,000 Hour Rule suggests to niche down as early as you can and then capitalise from there. Today David provides us with an alternative point of view and explains how...

Jonny and Yusef from PropaneFitness.com join me for the start of a brand new series. We're talking all things careers and entrepreneurship as we call on our combined 30+ years of operating and failing at business. Expect to learn how you decide whether to stay in your job or leave to do your own thing, the inception stories behind PropaneFitness and Voodoo Events, our thoughts on how helpful a uni...

Caleb Jones is an online coach, blogger and non-monogamy advocate. Statistically, most marriages end in divorce. This limited life span for the traditional approach to relationships has lead some people to seek an alternative setup. Today we hear from one of the most prominent figures in the non-monogamy movement as Caleb explains his relationship-rationale, we also discuss industry, weed legalisa...

Dr Stuart McGill is a professor emeritus at the University of Waterloo and a world expert in back pain. Dr McGill has worked with some of the best athletes in the world across pretty much every sport you can imagine as a spinal specialist, so if anyone can give us some advice about how to cope with back pain, it's him. On today's episode expect to learn why backs are so problematic, how much of ba...

Stephen Wolfram is the founder and CEO of the software company Wolfram Research. What happens when you track every email, every keystroke, every mouse movement and every project for 30 years? Today we find out the productivity strategies, personal infrastructure and tracking analytics from the man behind Wolfram Language and Wolfram Alpha - the answer engine which powers Siri & Alexa. Extra Stuff:...

Laura Vanderkam is a writer, author, speaker and an expert on time management. We are all familiar with the phenomenon that is time, it passes at the same rate for all of us, so why do certain people seem to have so much of it while some of us are left stressed and seemingly without a spare second? Let's remember that you have the same number of hours in your day as Elon Musk, or Beyonce. Today ex...

Robert Greene is a New York Times best selling author. You can be a genius in your field and know all the things you need to know, but if you're bad with people you will totally neutralise your brilliance and can face many difficulties and pains in life... Today we're talking about Robert's new book The Laws Of Human Nature, as we delve deep into understanding people’s drives and motivations, even...

Dominic McGregor is the COO and Co Founder of Social Chain. Today I'm sitting down with Dom to catch up after we first spoke on Modern Wisdom 12 months ago. We reflect on his continuing journey through sobriety, why he believes that Social Chain may know their users better than they even know themselves and where the future of online advertising is heading. Thank you to Social Chain for letting me...

David Pearce is a co-founder of Humanity+ and a prominent figure within the transhumanism movement. Where is the future of the human race heading? Will our descendants be at the mercy of random genetic chance for suffering diseases? How about editing the genetic baseline for happiness? Or levels of empathy? Can we use computers to emulate a human brain? What are the ethical implications of Crispr?...

Jonny & Yusef join me again for another Life Hacks episode as we detail our favourite apps, websites, resources and tools for a productive and efficient life. Expect to learn... Why whitening your teeth is an instant attractiveness upgrade. How to automate tracking your weight every day. How to cope with bacterial vaginosis on a bus. Why people who say PREEmark are psychopaths. And much more. This...

Tiago Forte is a blogger, company owner and productivity coach. We all use digital tools, and some of us spend most of our lives at their mercy. Today we are going to learn the most effective process for having a productive digital life. Tiago has created nothing short of a curriculum for maximising your digital productivity and on this episode he takes us through his entire process including all...

Theo Watt and Eve Young are the hosts of the Socials Minds Podcast and Copywriters at Social Chain. We talk about millennials and Gen Z like homogenous groups, but technology and innovation have made it problematic to index generations by 15 year gaps. A person who is 12 will have little in common with someone who is 27, as will a person who is 25 have little in common with someone who is 34. And...

David Perell is a podcaster, blogger and writing coach. Why is the ability to write effectively the biggest opportunity which individuals can capitalise on? How can an improved grasp of language actually improve the quality of your thoughts? And why should you focus on content which is longer than 24 hours old? Expect to find out all this and much more, huge thanks to David for coming on and dropp...

Jonny & Yusef from PropaneFitness.com join me again as we continue our Catch Up series. No agenda, no specific topics for us to cover, just us talking about what we've been watching, reading & experiencing in our lives. This week we're talking about my trips to America, the new Pirates Of The Caribbean film, how we think the world will end, Jonny starting CrossFit, Netflix's Our Planet and lots mo...