Hey there! Back with another issue of this, hitting number 11 today!

Today I’m in the middle of hosting my 3rd annual Racketlon tournament here in Rotterdam and playing in it myself, going to make sure I win 🦾. In my piece below, I’ll be talking about how you can take over the world.

Juan got back from his Asia trip to become Irish. And he’ll talk about how everyone lies to you.

Hope you’re able to find something useful :)

CHARACTER

How to Take Over the World

There's this podcast that I’m a big fan of called How to Take Over the World. And as much as it sounds like something with the aim of giving you some quick tips on how to improve your world domination strategy. It’s actually a history podcast.

From conquerors like Napoleon and Alexander the Great to innovators such as Frederick Douglass, Lazlo Polgar, and Walt Disney, this podcast explores how they were able to reshape the world according to their own vision. They are all people who have taken over the world in their own way. Created a change that they desired, and left their mark on humanity.

The goal of this podcast is to analyze these figures, find out what the different commonalities that they have are, and see what we can learn from them. Here’s a glimpse into some of the traits that they show.

• Ignoring Social Norms: They weren't afraid to challenge and deviate from the status quo, understanding that true innovation often requires breaking away from established norms.

• Obsession: A deep, consuming passion for their goals drove them to dedicate their lives to achieving their vision, often at great personal sacrifice.

• Sense of Urgency: They operated with a compelling urgency, a recognition that time was limited and the moment to act was always now.

• Unusual Eating Habits: Many of these figures exhibited unique eating patterns, showing their tendency to further ignore convention in all aspects of life.

• Clear Vision: They possessed a crystal-clear understanding of what they wanted to achieve, which guided their decisions and helped rally others to their cause.

• Charisma: Their ability to inspire, persuade, and lead was crucial in amassing the support necessary to realize their ambitions.

• Resilience in the Face of Failure: Rather than being deterred by setbacks, they viewed failure as a stepping stone to greater achievements.

Looking into these figures can inspire you, and make you realize which areas of your life you can work to improve so that you can do your best to fulfill your potential, and achieve great things.

"To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time." – Leonard Bernstein

— Michael

PEOPLE

How to know if someone is lying to you

We are all liars. Not all lies are harmful. Sometimes we lie for the sake of social dignity: “No honey, you don’t look fat in that”.

• Strangers lie 3 times within the first 10 minutes of meeting each other.

• Extroverts lie more than introverts.

• Men lie 8 times more about themselves than about others.

• Women lie more to protect other people.

• Married people lie to each other 10% of the time.

• Unmarried couples lie to each other 33% of the time.

Four common behaviours found in liars:

🤺 Fight or Flight
When confronted, our primal brain wants us to stand and fight or run away. Either way, it sends extra energy to our limbs, which can be seen as fidgeting or even drastic body movements.

When Jodi Arias was interrogated about the murder of her boyfriend, she did a handstand for several seconds to burn off that nervous energy.

🫵 Minimal self-references
Liars reference themselves less to distance themselves from their lie.
Instead of saying: “I did not host a party here.”
A liar might say: “Absolutely no party took place at this house?”

💩 Liars tend to be negative
On a subconscious level, they feel guilty about lying.
“Sorry I took so long to reply. My stupid phone battery died. I hate that thing.”

🙊 Oversimplify stories
Our brains struggle to build a complex lie. We tend to only lie about two senses: what we hear and what we see. We don’t usually lie about smell, spatial relationships, or interactions with other people. If you dig for more information, they might start to fall apart.

🤨 Use convoluted sentences
Even though liars keep descriptions simple, they tend to insert unnecessary words to pad the lie.
Here is an example from a former presidential candidate John Edwards:

“I only know that the apparent father has said publicly that he is the father of the baby.”
He could have just said: “The baby isn’t mine”

What makes a good liar?

Bad liars talk a lot. Good liars talk a little. The more you talk, the more you run the risk of undermining your own life.

Bad liars make a lot of statements. Good liars ask a lot of questions. If you’re asking questions, you’re not disclosing anything about yourself.

Have you ever gone to a party or a date and you met someone that made you feel so interesting, but you never knew anything about them? You were probably talking to a very good liar.

“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.” - Winston Churchill

— Juan

TAKING ACTION

Sign up to our Accountability Clubs

Want a community to keep you accountable? Willing to put your money where your mouth is? 😂

How it works:
💸 Everyone makes the same deposit at the beginning of the month.
✅ Every day you succeed, you get paid back a small amount from your deposit PLUS the money from others who failed that day.
❌ Every day you fail, your money for that day goes to people who succeed.
🗓️ It is 5 times a week. Month-to-month contract. You can join or leave at the beginning of each month.

April Clubs you can join:
🏋️ Exercise 5 times a week.
⏰ Wake up early during weekdays.
📵 Digital minimalism during weekdays.
📝 Signup to join for April

Updates from this week:

We want to start some new accountability groups! So if you have some ideas for what you’d like to be held accountable for getting done, let us know 😉.

Exercise: Jaq has gotten over a potential spurt of Covid, so she was out for a bit, and now she’s making a plank challenge within the group which, Juan is the current plank king for. I’ve started going to a new gym that’s basically a giant warehouse with gym equipment in it. Danae has done some hiking. Seba doing his football and handstands. And Nirmay has been doing some pull-ups.

Wakeup: Aigerim and I have been struggling hard with waking up haha. Vitalii and Max are killing it though.

Highlights from Exercise Club: