The Adaptable Chameleon Podcast

José Fernando Costa
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For overthinkers ready to experiment. I'm documenting my journey testing frameworks from psychology, philosophy, and personal development - showing what works, what's bs, and what I'm still figuring out. This started as an experiment itself: turning my essays into podcast conversations using Google's NotebookLM. Now, it's time to bring more humans into the loop. New episodes weekly.

  1. #63 - Distraction corrupts meaningful work before you notice

    6D AGO

    #63 - Distraction corrupts meaningful work before you notice

    Most people assume distraction is just about lost time, but today we’re exploring how it slowly rewires your brain to prioritize immediate validation over meaningful work. We break down the four subtle ways this corruption happens beneath your awareness, from rationalizing dopamine hits to creating misaligned incentives, and how a simple audit can help you reclaim your focus. The original essay is available in ⁠The Adaptable Chameleon Substack⁠.

    13 min
  2. #62 - Tracking stops you from quitting habits

    FEB 16

    #62 - Tracking stops you from quitting habits

    In this episode, we explore how simple binary tracking acts as objective proof to interrupt the emotional narratives that usually lead us to abandon our goals. We discuss why your mood is an unreliable narrator and how keeping a visible record of showing up creates the accountability needed to sustain effort when motivation fades. Read the original essay on The Adaptable Chameleon Substack.

    16 min
  3. #61 - Basics people skip when systems collapse

    FEB 9

    #61 - Basics people skip when systems collapse

    In today's episode, we explore how our obsession with elaborate productivity systems often serves as a disguise for avoiding the uncertainty of starting actual work. We'll discuss why true progress isn't about finding the perfect framework, but rather returning to the unglamorous basics, like naming your emotions and writing a bad first draft. The original essay is available in The Adaptable Chameleon substack.

    16 min
  4. #60 - Victor Varnado: Comedy, Business, and Building with AI

    FEB 5

    #60 - Victor Varnado: Comedy, Business, and Building with AI

    In this episode, we sit down with Victor Varnado, a veteran comedian and entrepreneur who's built a thriving business at the intersection of comedy, content creation, and AI technology. Victor shares his unique journey from comedy to entrepreneurship, revealing the psychological principles behind great comedy and how he's leveraged online platforms to scale his career beyond traditional comedy clubs. We dive into Victor's creative process, his approach to online content for scaling his reach, and how he's using AI to build innovative storytelling apps. Victor also unveils his most exciting experiment: the Worldwide High Score League, a global gaming competition designed to be accessible to players anywhere in the world. About Victor Victor is a New Yorker cartoonist, filmmaker, and has performed as an award-winning comedian on Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Kimmel Live, with writing credits for Marvel, Vice, and Salon. Victor was awarded an NSF grant for his accessibility technology and is now shaking up creative AI with his tool, the Writing Coach (inside Magic Bookifier), which has made a major difference for first-time authors and educators. He’s currently collaborating with Rising Tide Educators on BrightWrite, an educational initiative bringing these tools to neurodivergent students. His approach to blending humor, empathy, and technical creativity is rare, and his studio, Supreme Robot, reaches 25,000+ creators and comedy fans. Connect with Victor: Victor’s Instagram: instagram.com/robotosupremoSupreme Robot (Victor's Company): supremerobot.comWorldwide High Score League: worldwidehighscore.com Key Topics Discussed Comedy & Creativity The psychology of laughter and the "ABD joke" structureWhy the best jokes require audience participation in the punchlineOvercoming social anxiety while performing on stageThe difference between talking about comedy vs. doing comedyBusiness & Content Strategy Why Victor stopped doing live shows unless they are recordedThe scalability advantage of online content vs. live performancesHow one 2-minute clip can reach 700,000+ views across platformsBalancing data-driven decisions with creative authenticityThe danger of chasing the algorithm vs. following your passionCareer Inflection Points How hiring the right person increased the number of meetings with key decision-makersGoing from one high-value meeting every 6 months to multiple per weekThe importance of having a high conversion rate with decision-makersAI & Technology Building storytelling apps that guide users through creative processesCreating a screenplay writing app that teaches proper script structureThe shift from coding to "thinking" and architecture roles in the AI eraModel-agnostic approach: focusing on how to use AI rather than which modelThe critical skill of asking AI the right questionsThe "42 answer" from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy applied to AI promptsThe Worldwide High Score League Creating a truly global, accessible gaming competitionDesigning for web browsers to ensure access for players with less powerful devicesBuilding fair competition infrastructure with centralized score trackingPlans for expanding the arcade with more games and daily prizes Notable Quotes "The thing I like about doing comedy the most is being funny and talking about comedy is not super funny at all.""If I just put out recordings of myself performing, way more people in the industry see me, and I also could pick and choose what they see.""It's gotta be a combination of both. Like what do you love and what is working? Where's the Venn diagram where that works best?""The job was never coding. It was thinking.""All you have to do is tell AI what you want and then say to AI 'What information do you need from me so that you can help me with that?'"

    1 hr
  5. #59 - Blaming others gives them control over you

    FEB 2

    #59 - Blaming others gives them control over you

    In this episode, we explore the hidden cost of attributing your struggles to external forces, such as a difficult boss, a tough economy, or past parental decisions. While your observations about these unfair constraints may be factually correct, using them to explain your situation effectively hands control of your life over to them, forcing you to wait for the world to change before you can make progress. We discuss how this dynamic creates a dependency structure where specific people and circumstances become the gatekeepers of your success, leaving you powerless until they behave differently. Discover how shifting your mindset from blame to responsibility allows you to reclaim your agency and multiply your available options. We examine why taking responsibility is not about accepting fault for your circumstances, but rather about identifying the actionable levers you can pull to move forward from your current position. Tune in to learn how to stop acting as a passenger waiting for perfect conditions and start navigating your reality by asking the empowering question: 'what can I do about this?'. Read the original essay on ⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠. Sign up as a podcast guest ⁠⁠here⁠⁠.

    11 min
  6. #58 - Your feelings are not the problem

    JAN 26

    #58 - Your feelings are not the problem

    In this episode, we explore the mental trap of turning behavioural challenges, like procrastination, into character flaws. We discuss the common spiral that occurs when we judge our own emotions against an imagined standard of competence, often adding a layer of shame or frustration on top of our original feelings. By identifying as our emotions when thinking "I am an anxious person" rather than "I am experiencing anxiety", we risk turning temporary states into permanent identity defects. We then break down the crucial shift from acting as a "Judge" to becoming a "Scientist" of your own nervous system. While a Judge asks what is wrong with you for feeling a certain way, a Scientist views emotions as data, asking simply what the feeling is responding to. Listeners will learn why mere self-awareness is often insufficient for change and how to move from passive acceptance to active experimentation to understand and regulate their triggers. Read the original essay on ⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠. Sign up as a podcast guest ⁠⁠here⁠⁠.

    14 min
  7. #57 - Designing Consciousness: Beyond the Ego's False Reality with Christopher Zdenek

    JAN 23

    #57 - Designing Consciousness: Beyond the Ego's False Reality with Christopher Zdenek

    Christopher Zdenek is an architect of consciousness, author, and founder of Soma Ergonomics. With a background in architecture that led him from building design to urban planning and ultimately to understanding human consciousness itself, Christopher has developed a comprehensive framework for understanding human behavior, cultural evolution, and the driving forces of history. His academic paper "The Fractal Nature of Consciousness, The Evolution of the 'Global Human', and The Driving Forces of History" presents a unified theory of human development that explains everything from the rise and fall of empires to individual psychology. This conversation covers various topics including: The fractal nature of consciousness: How self-similar patterns repeat across individual development, cultural evolution, and historical movementsCritical developmental windows: The two most important periods that shape your "operating system" - perception of separateness (6 months to 3 years) and the cognitive shift (7 to 11 years)Developmental stages as cultural memories: Why Aboriginal peoples, Chinese culture, and modern America represent different stages of human consciousness and how to understand themThe formula for human events: Developmental state + Environmental conditions = Events, and how this explains history, politics, and social changeMasculine vs. feminine cultures: Understanding East vs. West through the lens of developmental biology and language structureBrainwave states and peak performance: How theta, alpha, beta, and delta states affect creativity, decision-making, and accessing subconscious wisdomThe ground fault interrupt switch: How trauma shuts down feeling as a survival mechanism and leads to maladaptive strategies like narcissism and sociopathologyMetacognition as the key to being human: Why developing the "third-party observer" function is essential for optimal performance, scientific thinking, and emotional regulationThe most important chart in the world: Understanding the transition from high adolescence to mature self and why every empire in history has failed without making this shift successfullyPractical tools for development: Vipassana meditation, breathing techniques, brain training methods (Jose Silva), and ergonomic design for optimal consciousnessPeople of the Lie: How false selves develop, why defending false reality leads to pathology, and the importance of feeling for empathy and compassionStage theory breakdown: From early childhood (feeling/kinesthetic) through adolescence (self-authorship) to mature integration (second-tier thinking)Applications for leaders: Why executive teams with second-tier metacognitive thinking dramatically outperform those at lower developmental stagesGet in touch with Christopher: Website: somaergo.com (ergonomic chairs designed for optimal breathing and consciousness)LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlchristopherzdenek/Christopher's paper on the Fractal Nature of Consciousness: https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1043&context=cejournalBooks referenced: People of the Lie by M. Scott PeckComing to Our Senses Body & Spirit in the3 Hidden History of the West by Morris BermanTaken In (analysis of effect of child rearing styles on the development of adults and American culture and politics)The Master and His Emissary by Iain McGilchrist (Oxford professor on right/left brain hemispheres)The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der KolkThe Structure of Scientific Revolutions by Thomas Kuhn (1962)The Prince by Nicolo MachiavelliTechniques and models discussed: Vipassana Meditation (Buddhist mindfulness practice)Spiral Dynamics Model as a developmental stage model for humansJosé Silva’s brain training method

    1h 37m
  8. #56 - Reading reality through reflection

    JAN 19

    #56 - Reading reality through reflection

    Have you ever looked at a couple in a coffee shop and known something was wrong, even though their words were perfectly mundane?. That is because while most of reality is invisible, its effects are always on display, if you know where to look. In this episode, we explore the concept of "reading reality through reflection". We discuss why direct communication is often unreliable and how the "Mirror Principle" allows you to uncover the truth by observing automatic reactions rather than listening to curated words. Whether you are navigating office politics or entering a new social circle, this episode reveals how to see the invisible systems that actually run the show. You will learn: The Two Conversations: Why every interaction contains both a spoken and an unspoken element, and why automatic responses—like a voice changing when a boss walks by—are the only honest data points.Strategic Observation: Why the best approach to a new job or environment is to resist the urge to contribute immediately. Instead, learn why you should "talk half as much" and "watch twice as much" to understand the rules that aren't in the handbook.Mapping Power Dynamics: How to identify who holds real authority by watching who people defer to, rather than who holds the official title.Reading Transitions: How to spot the truth in the "gaps" between what is stated (e.g., "the project is on track") and what is revealed through body language and tension.Comprehension, Not Manipulation: Why reading the room isn't about exploiting others, but about utilizing our natural social instincts to navigate environments successfully. Read the original essay on ⁠Substack⁠. Sign up as a podcast guest ⁠here⁠.

    11 min
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About

For overthinkers ready to experiment. I'm documenting my journey testing frameworks from psychology, philosophy, and personal development - showing what works, what's bs, and what I'm still figuring out. This started as an experiment itself: turning my essays into podcast conversations using Google's NotebookLM. Now, it's time to bring more humans into the loop. New episodes weekly.

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