Yoghurt Lid Effect, Material Desires, You Are The Best You

Yoghurt Lid Effect

A term coined by Chris Williamson, the Yoghurt Lid Effect describes moments that make you realise the people you idolise, or think are perfect, do imperfect things just the same as you do.

The name comes from a specific example where one of Chris's mates was about to interview an author. The author had been idolised by Chris's mate for years and it was a real privilege to be able to interview him for a podcast. The recording was happening at the author's house and just before the recording started the author asked if they had time to eat a yoghurt. After being told they did they went into the kitchen and brought back a yoghurt and spoon, opened the yoghurt pot and proceeded to lick the yoghurt lid. In that moment, Chris's mate had a ground shaking realisation that the author they had idolised had the same idiosyncrasies as them and actually didn't need idolising for every aspect of their life, maybe just the things that make them a good author.

The use case for this effect doesn't stop at yoghurt lids, it can also be things such as someone taking an extraordinary amount of time to pick a jacket to wear out of tens of jackets that are similar shades. The key is to realise that the things you believe are silly and think "I bet other people don't do this", the chances are they probably do, they just might not do it in front of you.

Material Desires

Naval Ravikant says "it's far easier to achieve our material desires than to renounce them". I believe the acquisition of material desires and their effect on our lives is another Unteachable Lesson that you must experience before you can understand it. What Naval means is that we can spend years trying to renounce our desires, claiming we don't need material possessions to make us happy but the truth is we still believe they will. The only way to truly believe that they won't make us happy is to get the material desire and live with it. Shortly after purchasing the Hedonic Effect will take place and your life goes back to a similar level of enjoyment as before you made the purchase.

You Are The Best You

In the modern world, surrounded by social media and highlight reels it is very easy to compare yourself with other people. Especially with the rise of social media entertainers, we get more of a look into people's lives than we've ever had before. I have previously spoken about Parasocial Relationships and their effect on us and our perception of others but today I want to talk more about how that affects how we view ourselves.

When you constantly compare yourself to others it becomes difficult to see what truly makes you tick. You often look through a lens of "well I don't do this as well as that person" or "I wish I could be better at this", but rarely do we say "I'm really proud that I can do that", or "this activity really makes me tick, even if it isn't interesting to anyone else". The truth is that if you wish to be just like someone else, you are only ever going to be second best, because you can't beat them at being who they are. The positive side to this of course is that no one else can beat you at being who you are! Find the things that make you tick, find the things that excite and energise you, lean into them and learn more. Lean into them and explore further avenues.

There's a popular thought that if you can scramble together a unique set of skills that are useful together you can become the world's No. 1 in those things. You are, and will always be the best you there ever has been, and ever will be. So stop trying to be other people, just try to be you.