Chris Williamson
Host · Modern Wisdom
Host of Modern Wisdom, a long-form interview show covering psychology, performance and modern life. A former club promoter turned self-described "life audit" case study, he talks openly about quitting alcohol, training and the reading habit behind his monthly book list. His stack is a distillation of the guests he interviews.
- Entries
- 37
- Does
- 28
- Recommends
- 8
- Discusses
- 1
Gear
7 pieces of gear in this stack
- GearDoes it$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.
Kindle e-reader
Does most of his reading on a Kindle, and the exported highlights become the notes behind his book recommendations.
Source: chriswillx.com: 3 Minute Monday, Murder, Fame & ReadingView item: Kindle e-readerOn record from 6 of 62 tracked people: 6 do it - GearDoes it$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.
WHOOP
Calls it the only tracker he has ever stuck with, four years in at the time of writing, and rates the sleep staging, resting heart rate and workout tracking. The write-up sits in the life hack slot of his newsletter and links to a WHOOP page set up for Modern Wisdom, with a free first month attached.
Source: chriswillx.com: 3 Minute Monday, Intrasexual Competition, Landlords & CitadelsVisit whoop.com (opens in a new tab)On record from 6 of 62 tracked people: 4 do it, 1 recommends it, 1 has discussed it - GearDoes it$$$Expensive: Several hundred dollars and up.Sponsor, disclosed
Eight Sleep
Sleeps on a temperature-controlled mattress cover. Eight Sleep is one of the partners listed on his own deals page.
Source: chriswillx.com: partner deals pageVisit eightsleep.com (opens in a new tab)On record from 3 of 62 tracked people: 3 do it - GearDoes it$$$Mid: Roughly $50 to $500, or up to $50/month.
Flat-sole training shoes
Trains in Reebok Nanos and says he has worn nothing else since trying a pair of Nano 8s three years earlier. His reasoning: soft running foam is unstable under a bar, while a flat profile with a slight heel drop holds up. The newsletter write-up carries his discount code.
Source: chriswillx.com: 3 Minute Monday, Opportunity Cost, Kangaroos & HappinessView item: Flat-sole training shoesOn record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it - GearDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Phone lockbox
Bought a timed box to lock his phone in, and calls that plainly where he has ended up. The one he settled on charges the device inside and leaves holes in the lid so an emergency call still gets through.
Source: chriswillx.com: 3 Minute Monday, Regrets, Extinction & AddictionView item: Phone lockboxOn record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it - GearDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Printed guided journal
Journals each morning with the 6-Minute Diary, three minutes on waking and three at night, and reckons he has been through ten copies in five years. He has used a few of the same publisher's success journals, which cover the day's tasks. Formal gratitude, he says, is the foundation of positive psychology.
Source: Ben Greenfield Life podcast transcriptView item: Printed guided journalOn record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - GearDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Sunrise alarm clock
Says a sunrise alarm clock is the first thing that happens in his day. It wakes him to a Houston radio station that broadcasts sermons, because he would rather wake to people speaking than to music. His phone spends the night outside the bedroom.
Source: Ben Greenfield Life podcast transcriptView item: Sunrise alarm clockOn record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it
Books
6 books in this stack
- BookRecommends$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Why We Sleep
Credits it with making him take sleep seriously, points listeners to it, and has hosted sleep researchers on the back of it.
Source: Modern Wisdom Reading List, Volume 1View item: Why We SleepOn record from 8 of 62 tracked people: 5 recommend it, 3 have discussed it - BookRecommends$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Atomic Habits
Called it his most recommended book of 2019 and hosted its author on the show.
Source: Modern Wisdom episode 64 with James ClearVisit jamesclear.com (opens in a new tab)On record from 6 of 62 tracked people: 5 recommend it, 1 has discussed it - BookRecommends$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Deep Work
Rates it for the argument that sustained concentration is a trainable and increasingly rare skill.
Source: Modern Wisdom Reading List, Volume 1View item: Deep WorkOn record from 6 of 62 tracked people: 5 recommend it, 1 has discussed it - BookRecommends$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Man's Search for Meaning
Recalibrates ordinary complaints quickly, which is why it is a standing recommendation on his lists.
Source: Modern Wisdom Reading List, Volume 1View item: Man's Search for MeaningOn record from 4 of 62 tracked people: 2 recommend it, 2 have discussed it - BookRecommends$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
The Daily Stoic
Pitches it as a daily ritual book rather than a straight-through read, and has hosted its author repeatedly.
Source: Modern Wisdom Reading List, Volume 1View item: The Daily StoicOn record from 4 of 62 tracked people: 3 recommend it, 1 has discussed it - BookRecommends$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
The Almanack of Naval Ravikant
Returns to its ideas frequently on the show, and recommends it for the sections on specific knowledge and on what multiplies a person's output.
Source: Modern Wisdom Reading List, Volume 1View item: The Almanack of Naval RavikantOn record from 3 of 62 tracked people: 3 recommend it
Apps
5 apps in this stack
- AppDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Readwise
Uses it to pull his Kindle highlights out automatically, then shares one on Instagram daily. He points to the email of random highlights, the spaced repetition option, and the fact that it also collects saves from read-later apps such as Pocket and Instapaper.
Source: chriswillx.com: 3 Minute Monday, Groupthink, Kings & ReadingVisit readwise.io (opens in a new tab)On record from 4 of 62 tracked people: 3 do it, 1 recommends it - AppDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Website and app blocker
Cold Turkey runs on his laptop through the morning block he keeps for guest prep, blunt enough that he cannot get round it, with a message set to remind him what he is meant to be doing. He is open about the tension in needing software to do a job self-control ought to.
Source: Ben Greenfield Life podcast transcriptView item: Website and app blockerOn record from 4 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it, 2 recommend it - AppDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Alfred
Downloaded it in November 2017 and reported 16,954 uses of it since. What he gets out of it: system-wide search, a clipboard history a couple of hundred items deep, and text expansion snippets for sentences he writes over and over.
Source: chriswillx.com: 3 Minute Monday, Confidence, Problems & ThoughtsVisit alfredapp.com (opens in a new tab)On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - AppDoes itFREE, no cost
Insight Timer
Meditates with it unguided, straight after his morning breathwork, using the timer and its interval bells rather than a voice track. He rates it the most-used meditation app by hours.
Source: Ben Greenfield Life podcast transcriptVisit insighttimer.com (opens in a new tab)On record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it - AppDoes itFREE, no cost
Send to Kindle
The browser extension he rates above every other Chrome add-on. One button drops a web article into his Kindle library with the formatting intact, which is how he turned the e-reader into a read-later device instead of running a separate app for it.
Source: chriswillx.com: 3 Minute Monday, Presence, Jordan Peterson & Screen TimeView item: Send to KindleOn record from 1 of 62 tracked people: 1 does it
Supplements
2 supplements in this stack
- SupplementDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Creatine monohydrate
Creatine sits in the middle tier of his supplement routine, taken daily alongside an afternoon protein shake, and he has used it for around a decade.
Source: chriswillx.com: 3 Minute Monday, Imposter Syndrome, Cocaine & WaistsView item: Creatine monohydrateOn record from 12 of 62 tracked people: 10 do it, 2 recommend it - SupplementDoes it$$$Cheap: Roughly under $50, or under $15/month.
Electrolyte supplementation
First item of a fixed morning routine is an electrolyte mix in cold water.
Source: Ben Greenfield Life podcast transcriptView item: Electrolyte supplementationOn record from 12 of 62 tracked people: 12 do it
Protocols
10 entriesStructured routines and practices with a defined method.
Began lifting at eighteen, obsessed with gaining muscle, and has trained ever since. He now describes it as identity rather than discipline.
Source: chriswillx.com: 3 Minute Monday, Obsession, Time & LoveCold plunges go in regularly, and he talks about them as much for the discomfort tolerance as for the physiological effect.
Source: Modern Wisdom podcastBuilds meals around a high protein target for training, and talks about how much higher it is than most people assume.
Source: Modern Wisdom podcastStays fasted until early afternoon most days, usually eating from around one or two o'clock.
Source: Ben Greenfield Life podcast transcriptPairs sauna with cold as a standing part of his week, and has repeatedly hosted researchers on the heat literature.
Source: Modern Wisdom podcastBefore touching his phone, he looks outside for at least five minutes; the day goes noticeably worse when he skips it, he says.
Source: chriswillx.com: 3 Minute Monday, Advice, Fathers & TRTStuart McGill's Big 3 and Foundation Training exercises run every morning, as maintenance rather than part of a lifting session.
Source: Ben Greenfield Life podcastNo caffeine within ninety minutes of waking and none after 1pm is the rule, and he has gone long stretches with none at all.
Source: chriswillx.com: 3 Minute Monday, 2024 Candidates & ButterfliesEmphasizes a cold, blacked-out bedroom as the foundation, before spending on sleep technology.
Source: chriswillx.com: 3 Minute Monday, Sleep, Sex & PlasticRepeats weekly aerobic targets from guests, with no settled easy-cardio routine of his own.
Source: chriswillx.com: 3 Minute Monday, Dreamers, Buttons & Orgasms
Habits
7 entriesRecurring behaviors recorded in public statements.
Ten minutes of reading a day is the floor, which he lists among the highest-return resolutions he has kept, and he publishes a hundred-book reading list.
Source: chriswillx.com: 3 Minute Monday, 2024 Candidates & ButterfliesUnguided meditation on Insight Timer is part of the morning routine.
Source: Ben Greenfield Life podcast transcriptWalks fifteen minutes every morning, for the daylight and for thinking time.
Source: chriswillx.com: 3 Minute Monday, 2024 Candidates & ButterfliesSplits the 6-Minute Diary across the day as a fixture, three minutes in the morning and three in the evening.
Source: Ben Greenfield Life podcast transcriptLeft a career in club promotion and stopped drinking, and describes it as the single change that improved his sleep and mood most.
Source: chriswillx.com: 3 Minute Monday, Monk Mode, Sleep & BraveryCharges the phone outside the bedroom overnight, one of the resolutions he has kept.
Source: chriswillx.com: 3 Minute Monday, 2024 Candidates & ButterfliesScreens go off ninety minutes before bed, with e-readers exempted: he says they do not hit sleep the way phones and televisions do.
Source: chriswillx.com: 3 Minute Monday, Sleep, Sex & Plastic
In their own words
Checked word for word against the linked source
“I’ve cut out alcohol for over 2000 days in the last 8 years. Gone 500 days without caffeine. 1500+ sessions of meditation. 5+ years of daily journals filled, 300+ sessions of yin yoga, probably 500+ hours of Stu McGill’s Big 3.”
chriswillx.com: 3 Minute Monday – Monk Mode, Sleep & Bravery (opens in a new tab) · 2 Feb 2026 “4 years ago, I wanted to read more. … Buying a Paperwhite was one of the best hacks for making reading more convenient & frictionless.”
chriswillx.com: 3 Minute Monday – Murder, Fame & Reading (opens in a new tab) · 28 Sep 2020 “Darken your room & make it cooler than you think it needs to be. … But the most important hack is to actually prioritise your sleep.”
chriswillx.com: 3 Minute Monday – Sleep, Sex & Plastic (opens in a new tab) · 21 Sep 2020
Episodes from the feed
Show archive, Modern Wisdom (opens in a new tab)Last fetched . A title without a link is an episode the feed publishes no page of its own for.
- Why You Feel Everything So Deeply (and how to survive it) - Dr Sasha Hamdani - #1147 (opens in a new tab) · 1h 24m
- Couples Therapist: “The One Rule Every Relationship Must Live By” - Stan Tatkin -#1146 (opens in a new tab) · 1h 9m
- Why Working Harder Won’t Make You Rich - Codie Sanchez - #1145 (opens in a new tab) · 1h 33m
- WW3 DEBATE: “We’re On the Brink of Global Collapse” - #1144 (opens in a new tab) · 3h 6m
- Mexican Batman, Britain’s Downfall, Mr Bean’s Comeback & Jimmy Carr - Rabbit Hole #5 - #1143 (opens in a new tab) · 2h 10m
Stack notes are paraphrased. Anything in quotation marks is a short excerpt copied from the transcript it links to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.