Three Minute Monday — 6 April 2026
This is a saved copy of Chris Williamson's Three Minute Monday email newsletter, which lands in my inbox every Monday. All credit to Chris — subscribe at chriswillx.com.
I’m back from tour after 31 hours of travel to avoid an active war zone. It was the best tour I’ve ever done — Australia, New Zealand & Bali absolutely ruled.
This quote has been in my head so much over the last few months:
“The rise of social media as the primary form of social interaction changed the way that we judge people. We once used to judge people mostly based on their deeds, but in the age of social media we judge people mostly based on their words and opinions because that’s really all we see of them. Since we’re defined by our opinions, there is a pressure to have an opinion on everything. Problem is, people generally don’t have the time or the will to research everything they are expected to have an opinion on, so they copy the opinions of others. And the result of this is that there are precious few original thinkers. In this way, the culture war is largely two armies of NPCs being ventriloquised by a handful of actual thinkers.” — Gurwinder Bhogal
It’s the first half of that which has been so impactful on me.
The gap between words and actions has never been bigger.
You can be the least virtuous, meanest, most dishonest human on earth, but if you say the right things on social media, the world will be unaware.
No one stress tests the words coming out of most people’s mouths.
Which means that appearing good becomes more important than being good.
Performative empathy is more rewarded than genuine empathy.
Posting about mistreated groups is more incentivised than helping mistreated groups.
Words have become more important than actions, because you can tweet the words without needing to do the actions.
It’s the path of least resistance for everyone.
This isn’t me saying that you can’t do good whilst posting about it online.
But that many (maybe even most?) of the people who proselytise about how virtuous and caring they are, and how it’s everyone else who is evil/malignant/the enemy, are allowing their morality to stand on the shoulders of limited scrutiny.
Beware the people who only say good things, but don’t do good things.
Modern Wisdom
I do a podcast where I pretend to have a British accent.
This week’s upcoming episodes:
Monday. Erica Komisar - what is the psychological impact of divorce on children? How should custody work? How can couples separate while minimising damage on kids? So fascinating. Listen now on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Thursday. Eric Jorgenson - the author of The Almanac of Naval Ravikant has written a new book - this time about Elon Musk’s biggest thinking tools, approaches, productivity philosophies and life hacks.
Saturday. Michael Smoak - how to overcome challenges, improve your resilience, move past your fear and work out if your friends are degenerates.
Things I've Learned
1. The UK housing crisis is not going well.
In order to alleviate its acute housing affordability crisis, London has been set a target of building 88,000 new homes per year over the next decade.
Last year construction started on just 5,891 - 94% below target, a 75% year-on-year decline, the steepest drop in the country, the lowest tally since records began almost 40 years ago and the lowest figure for any major city in the developed world this century.
2. No one cares, and that’s amazing.
“Nobody is coming to save you also implies that nobody is coming to stop you.”
3. Why so many people throw vitriol around online.
“The key to understanding most online debates is that a lot of people take joy in being angry. It's their preferred mindset because it makes them feel morally superior to the other side.” — Morgan Housel
Life Hack
Tell your partner your thoughts early.
Unspoken expectations become premeditated resentments.
Big love, Chris x
Try my productivity drink Neutonic.
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PS I got nominated for a Webby Award! Let's annihilate the voting please. It will take you 30 seconds.