Podbit · Modern Wisdom
Needing to bounce decisions off others isn't a character flaw — it's a deeply wired social instinct. Humans didn't leave their tribes solo 30,000 years ago; they got group sign-off first. The real skill is learning to use your gut for small decisions as exposure therapy.
Where this was said
At 26:40 · chapter starts 26:38
A listener asks why they always need to check with others before making decisions. Chris skips the judgment and goes straight to the mechanism: it's a lack of self-assurance, a need to have decisions legitimised externally. But he's quick to normalise it. In his nightclub business, he and his partner used each other as sounding boards constantly — not because they didn't know the answer, but because hearing agreement from someone else made them confident enough to act. More importantly, he traces the instinct back 30,000 years: humans didn't leave their tribes on a whim. Group consensus wasn't politeness — it was survival. The prescription is gentle: start making small decisions solo, treating it as exposure therapy, gradually trusting the gut over the need for external sign-off.
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