James Smith: Become Confident In 100 Minutes | E174

James Smith returns to argue that confidence is not an innate trait or superpower but a set of values and beliefs built on evidence you gather by taking action. He explains why everyone has gaps in their confidence, how pain points motivate change, and why audacity and a healthy relationship with failure matter more than success. The conversation ranges across dating, monogamy, alcohol, masturbation and 'utility of deprivation', work-life balance, purpose, and the danger of boredom. Smith recounts his lowest point in Sydney in 2017 that led him to buy a whiteboard and go live on Facebook, sparking his online career. The episode closes on small daily disciplines, incompletable goals, and the power of simply asking.

• Liver King privately told Bartlett that speaking in front of people cripples him so badly he can't sleep, and that he was bullied and beaten daily from age 10 to 14.
  00:05:42
• Smith names 13th March 2017 in Sydney as the worst day of his life, when he was failing as a trainer and borrowing 500 pounds from his dad to buy a sofa.
  01:09:40
• That same day he walked to Officeworks, bought a whiteboard and markers, and went live on Facebook to 3,000 followers, starting his online business.
  01:11:42
• Bartlett reveals the first email he ever sent asking for investment landed his first investor, who gave him 10 grand when he was stealing pizzas to feed himself.
  01:24:38
• A stranger working on a laptop in a Croatian minivan recommended The 4-Hour Workweek to Smith, and within three weeks he flew one-way to Australia.
  01:25:42
• Smith's actionable confidence exercise, credited to Tim Ferriss, is asking for a 10 percent discount on a coffee purely to practice tolerating discomfort.
  01:19:27
• Bartlett's earlier episode inspired Smith to upgrade his microphones, cameras and editing for his own podcast.
  01:34:27

• In a study from The Expectation Effect, people falsely told they had a gene hindering oxygen turnover still performed worse, showing priming changes physical output.
  00:15:57
• Up to 50 percent of patients given sham surgeries, cut open and stitched with nothing done, reported feeling better.
  00:17:31
• Smith frames confidence and anxiety as a spectrum: anxiety predicts failure, confidence predicts success.
  00:14:24
• 93 percent of people say they are above-average drivers, a statistically impossible figure illustrating human overconfidence.
  00:57:45
• Most exoneration cases stem from faulty eyewitnesses, showing how confidently wrong people can be.
  00:58:16
• People fear flying and shark attacks more than driving or drowning, despite the latter being far more deadly, due to availability bias.
  00:59:50
• Mark Manson's line that people would care less about others' opinions if they realised how seldom they happen, plus studies showing people overestimate how much others notice them.
  01:21:32
• Ashley Madison, a dating site for married people with millions of users, was brought down by hackers.
  00:38:44
• Smith discusses Jordan Peterson's 'utility of deprivation' and how modern porn access exceeds what a man could see in decades.
  01:02:26