#998 - Zack Telander - Everything You Want Is On The Other Side Of Cringe

Modern Wisdom

Chris Williamson

Society & Culture, Health & Fitness

4.7 • 4.6K Ratings

🗓️ 25 September 2025

⏱️ 108 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Zack Telander is a musician, weightlifter, coach & YouTuber. Why are we so afraid of being cringe? If being cringe online is the price of success, why don’t more people pay it? So how do you train yourself past criticism and actually do what needs to be done in your life, whether people are watching you or not? Expect to learn why getting over being cringe is the key to unlocking the things you want in life, what it actually means to be “cool”, why using irony may be an overrated conversational tool, the importance of taking pleasure in the little things in life, Zack’s reflections on what it was like running for 100-days straight, the reason the health community pushes back on GLP-1's so much, why so many grifters drive critique online, and much more… Sponsors: See discounts for all the products I use and recommend: https://chriswillx.com/deals Get 35% off your first subscription on the best supplements from Momentous at https://livemomentous.com/modernwisdom Get 5 Free Travel Packs, Free Liquid Vitamin D, and more from AG1 at https://ag1.info/modernwisdom Get a Free Sample Pack of LMNT’s most popular flavours with your first purchase at https://drinklmnt.com/modernwisdom Get $100 off the best bloodwork analysis in America at https://functionhealth.com/modernwisdom Timestamps: (0:00) Why Being Cringe is So Ironic (10:51) We Need to Take More Pleasure in the Little Things (18:17) How Has the Comments Section Changed Us? (23:18) Zack’s Opinion on Getting Out Over Your Skis (37:25) Grifters are Driving Critique Online (42:43) Does Trying to Be Cool Make You Cringe? (55:22) Why Zack Thinks It’s Becoming Harder to Be Your Authentic Self (01:03:51) Performance Massively Enhances GLP-1 Use (01:12:33) What Zack Learnt From Running For 100 Days (01:20:52) Chris’ Thoughts on What Makes Sport Compelling (01:29:15) Why Chris Wishes He Cared Less About Judgement (01:38:49) Human Connections Fill Us With Gratitude (01:45:15) Zack’s Gratitude Towards Chris Extra Stuff: Get my free reading list of 100 books to read before you die: https://chriswillx.com/books Try my productivity energy drink Neutonic: https://neutonic.com/modernwisdom Episodes You Might Enjoy: #577 - David Goggins - This Is How To Master Your Life: https://tinyurl.com/43hv6y59 #712 - Dr Jordan Peterson - How To Destroy Your Negative Beliefs: https://tinyurl.com/2rtz7avf #700 - Dr Andrew Huberman - The Secret Tools To Hack Your Brain: https://tinyurl.com/3ccn5vkp - Get In Touch: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chriswillx Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/chriswillx YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/modernwisdompodcast Email: https://chriswillx.com/contact - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Zach Tallander, welcome on the show.
0:01.5	It's been a while since I have been on this show.
0:12.5	You've been busy.
0:13.8	I have been busy, dude.
0:15.4	I've been very busy.
0:16.6	I just want to say also that this is a perfect representation of you and I, like the autism
0:23.4	architects, and then like the degenerate kind of cowboy Waylon Jennings right here.
0:30.4	I'm trying to subliminally change people's music choices through what I wear as a t-shirt.
0:36.4	I don't think it's working.
0:40.3	I don't think anybody is listening to any of the bands. I feel like they are. I don't know. Yeah, but I'm not going to give you, I'm not going to allow you to be the only person that wears a band t-shirt in here. That's true. I bought this purposefully for this episode. Oh, nice. Yes. I do love Waylon Jennings.
0:52.8	Sick.
0:53.7	Everything you want is on the other side of cringe.
0:57.3	Yeah, so... Oh, nice. Yes. I do love Waylon Jennings. Sick. Everything you want is on the other side of cringe.
0:57.3	Yeah.
0:57.7	So I saw, actually, I made this post about cringe.
1:04.7	And a lot of times people say, if you want to, like, defeat cringe, you just have to, it's like a muscle you have to flex.
1:12.8	You just have to keep going for whatever it is and like learn how to take failure.
1:16.9	And it's almost as if failure and cringe are kind of like aligned.
1:20.9	But my nuanced take from it was the people who are calling you cringe or like the critics, like everyone has hopes and
1:31.4	dreams, everyone.
1:33.2	You know, it's not like there are some people who are born and they're just like, I don't want to do anything with my life ever, right?
1:39.3	But the critics and the people calling you cringe, essentially what they're doing is saying like,
	...

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