what i learned from meeting Chris Williamson

up until recently, the only live events i had ever paid to attend were sports games, comedy shows, & an Elton John concert.

but when Chris Williamson, my favourite podcaster, announced that he was coming to Toronto for his Self Discovery tour, i got curious.

so, i paid for a front-row seat with meet & greet access.

the event was on Sunday night, & now that i’ve given myself some time to think about it, i have to say…

it was great.

but not for the reasons i would’ve expected.

here are 5 takeaways that you might find helpful:

1. you can’t podcast your way to presence

this sounds like a critique, but it’s actually the highest praise i have for Chris after that night.

i’m 24 & somewhere between genZ & unc status, so please just bear with me here:

Chris Williamson had “aura.”

the way he delivered his rehearsed set was great, but i was genuinely blown away by the Q&A period at the end of the show, as well as the meet & greet after.

simply put, he’s probably the best conversationalist i’ve met.

he found a way to make each fan’s question sound like the best question ever, & he did so without saying “good question” once. it felt authentic.

his answers were so thoughtful & well-structured that it was like he had a teleprompter in his brain. still, it felt natural.

but the real kicker was his meet & greet.

it wasn’t just a quick photo-op. Chris didn’t rush anybody. when it was my turn, we chatted for more than a minute, which my girlfriend told me “doesn’t ever happen.”

it got to the point where the venue’s staff started going home — i guess because the meet & greet lasted way longer than they usually do — & when Chris saw that, he offered to finish it on the sidewalk so that all of the remaining staff could leave.

it’s little things like that where, despite having no ‘real’ media presence around, his actions aligned with those of the person i had hoped for him to be.

i respect that a lot.

2. nobody is gonna save you — heroes don’t exist

leading up to the event, i kept asking myself, “why am i even going? what do i want from this?”

i had no real answer.

at the event, i realized that i wanted to meet the guy who i’ve spent hundreds of hours listening to, just to confirm that he is who i thought he was.

it came down to pure curiosity.

but i didn’t get that vibe from most of the people i spoke to.

i couldn’t help but feel that so many people in the crowd were looking for a ‘cure.’

it was like they were waiting for a big break, where Chris would notice them in the crowd & speak to them & tell them the secret that they needed to hear to reach their full potential.

people in the meet & greet were literally falling over themselves, trying to be the one Chris would remember most.

& who am i to judge? i was in that line with them.

i wrote him a fucking wax-sealed letter.

so i say this kindly:

Chris Williamson is not going to save you.

nobody will.

except you.

as much as i respect Chris & admire the work he does, i also remind myself often that he’s literally just another guy.

nobody has anywhere near as much context or high stakes in your life as you do.

that’s a good thing.

other people can help you, but only you can solve your own problems.

other people can inspire you, but only you can keep yourself ‘on it’ when the motivation melts away.

other people can want what’s best for you, but only you can know what that really is.

Chris Williamson has been an incredibly helpful guide along my path of self-improvement, but it’s important to see him (& any ‘hero’) as just that — a guide — & not much more.

3. the people i met were worth the cost of the ticket

despite my last comment, i was actually blown away by the quality of individuals at the event on Sunday.

within 30 seconds of being in line outside, i was in a deep conversation with the guy in front of me, Nick, talking about self-development & how we ended up there.

i spoke with other entrepreneurs, high performance athletes, content creators, etc. — it was just a nice group of 1200 genuinely cool people.

hell, i was even driven home by the guy who sat next to me, Omar, after we chatted for 2 hours straight about “stuff my day 1 friends don’t know about me.”

it’s rare for weirdos like me to find other weirdos who are on the same wavelength.

it’s even rarer to be surrounded by 1200 of them.

which ties in with my next point:

4. it was the first time i’ve ever seen my ‘online world’ in the real world

this is a hard one to describe, but it’s basically like what i imagine a Harry Potter fan would feel when attending that Harry Potter theme park.

like, this whole world of self-improvement has only ever existed in my life internally, or on my social media feed.

but when i got to the event, i was immersed in it.

this might seem like a minor point, but i can’t stress enough how nice it was to take a night off from ‘the lonely chapter,’ & to even meet someone (Chris) who made it to the other side.

& that leads me to my final point:

5. i’m so close, but so far away

it’s hard to rationalize the feeling i left with yesterday, but i’ll try.

as nice as it was to meet someone like Chris who’s at the top of their game & just crushing it on every level, part of me couldn’t help but think:

what’s stopping me?

there’s only 1 real difference between paying to hear a guy speak & being the guy people pay to hear speak:

consistency.

i’m not saying it’s easy to get to where Chris Williamson is — on the contrary, it takes years of obsessive focus, discipline, & glass-eating that most people underestimate.

all i’m saying is, why not me?

& why not anybody else in that 1200-person theatre?

i got home from the show at around 2am, & an hour later, i was still wide awake in bed, full of excitement for what my future has in store.

how high will i go? how high do i even want to go? what’s it gonna take?

why not me?

if that’s not self-discovery, i don’t know what is.

some things i learned

1. the secret to high energy

   

2. the best F1 partnership ever
   in the 90s, Ferrari’s F1 pit crew partnered with a children’s hospital to improve their hand-off process in the ICU. simple changes like changing the layout & remaking checklists reduced error rate from 30% to 10%. man, if only Ferrari remembered how to win F1 races again.

3. an idea: gen Z insults tend to assume there’s an audience watching & judging you, while boomer & millennial insults are more first-person.
   this is a pattern, not a rule. but when i hear stuff like ‘cringe’ or ‘he thought he ate’ or ‘chat are we cooked?’ it just feels… different. is it a result of social media blurring the line between private & public life? is it even a real pattern? idk. but i thought it was worth pointing out.

cool stuff i found

1. an amazing website full of “well-designed, carefully curated products”
   i can’t afford 90% of items on this website yet, but it’s so fun to browse. design plays a massive role in everything, from furniture to digital products to lifestyle (seriously). i appreciate when it’s given the attention it deserves.

2. the best free video editing software
   i had to get a new laptop after my 2015 MacBook Pro basically melted, & that also meant i had to upgrade from my cracked 2016 version of Premiere Pro. enter, Da Vinci Resolve (free version). it’s more capable than most paid options i’ve looked at, & after putting in my custom keybinds, i’m editing as fast as ever. this tutorial (plus ChatGPT) helped me get started.

3. Saudi Arabia wants to build a stadium on top of a skyscraper
   these guys basically have a money printer below their feet (oil) & are using it for the most random side quests they can think of. look at this shit:

   

that’s all i’ve got for you this week.

i know the ‘big idea’ wasn’t like my usual work, but i felt compelled to talk about my experience at Chris Williamson’s show because of how impactful it was for me.

i’m not gonna lie, it’s been way harder than i expected to get on a consistent upload schedule.

life happens fast, & i’m working on the skill of managing my time so it reflects my priorities more closely.

i’m not happy with the rate of my progress, but i am happy that i still show up every day, no matter what.

it feels like a matter of time before i reach escape velocity with my work.

thank you for sticking around!

go make yourself proud this week.

~ liam (:

PS — i opened up a brand new account for short-form public interview content (with a twist). it’s @BIGREDTELEPHONE on all platforms! more details to come.