Alpha Grindset

Yeah I'm pretty much addicted to my cold plunge

I don’t know what had gotten over me during my senior year of college. I was obsessed with the alpha grindset lifestyle. You know like cold showers, protein shakes, and finding ways to make money on the internet type phase. These symptoms were caused by an abundance of time, too much Joe Rogan, and a lack of financial obligations. 

Thankfully I didn’t join a pyramid scheme or a cult. I instead made it my life’s purpose to grow UCSB’s Laughology Comedy Club. We put on comedy shows and open mics, and as the newly elected (appointed) Vice President, I funneled my alpha rage into this organization. We had a modest 100 email addresses and about $50,000 from the University of California at Santa Barbara. But nobody was coming to our goddamn shows. 

A bit of background about the place I was in mentally during this timeframe. I was checked out of school and had kind of given up on Engineering. I would often think to myself that I just don’t have the affinity for science and technology. Graduation was right around the corner, I hadn’t applied to many jobs and I was procrastinating on making any future plans for my life. Instead, I’d just listen to Joe Rogan and lie to myself about how I was gonna start some stupid internet marketing business and not have to work a real job. 

I’d spend my time playing FIFA, doing comedy, going on runs, and listening to lots of podcasts. It was a weirdly odd, yet beautiful era in my life. I’d get really hyped up about the smallest wins, and I had truly blocked out the haters as my podcast hosts suggested I do. The only thing I cared about was being the VP of Laughology. There was one problem though, even though I cared, I didn’t really know what I could do to help. 

I was on a run, listening to My First Million, a half funny half serious podcast about starting and growing your business. The two cohosts, Sam and Shaan, are entrepreneurs who preach their gospel on how to start and grow businesses. My naive college self pondered, Laughology is like my business. I can’t make any money off it (legally), but I can use it as a testbed to see how good I am at this business thing. 

Sam and Shaan often talk about email newsletters, specifically about how they are an underrated tool to build and engage an audience. Jackpot, I thought to myself: and that’s how the Laughology Comedy Newsletter was born.

I did some homework on launching email newsletters and dug up the 100 email addresses that Laughology had collected over the years. I painstakingly entered all my friends’ emails into the software to boost the number up to like 120. Then, I started writing. 

My first article was about Jewish people, and why they are so good at comedy. It was overkill, I talked about how the tradition of Passover embeds storytelling into them at a young age. I’ve spoken to countless Jewish people, all of whom read that article and said, “Bro it’s not that deep, Jews r just funny”.

We had a big show planned, NYC comics Lucas Zelnick and Jamie Wolf were coming to campus. I was a fan of theirs and I wanted more than our usual 20 people to be in the crowd. I invited all my friends, sent out my Jew email, set up a table at the Arbor (UCSB’s version of a quad), and pestered innocent bypassers with details of the show. “8pm Saturday at Embarcadero Hall !” the club officers would shout. The big day finally rolled around; Lucas and Jamie arrived and it was weird yet cool to see internet-famous people in the flesh. Our club president Evan told them, “We’re expecting 50” to which they seemed visibly dejected. My anxiety kicked in because I couldn’t even be sure that 50 people would show up. 

Our 10 regulars took their spot. Then I saw my friends walk in. I counted the number of heads in the audience, 22, 23, 24. It was 7:55 and the show was set to start at 8; I couldn’t make eye contact with anyone. My Jew email was stupid,  My First Million is a scam, and I’m not just bad at engineering I’m bad at everything. 

And then like 7 more people came. And then another 8, and then 15 more and eventually I couldn’t count the people as they entered. I turn to Evan, “Holy shit there are like 100 people here”. My poor performance on stage that night failed to bum me out, I was beaming from the fact that there were more than 20 people in the auditorium. The show went really well, and Lucas and Jamie were hilarious. Lucas posted a clip of some crowdwork he did that night and it went mega viral.

Let’s keep it going I told myself. Next week’s article was about Lucas and Jamie, their podcast, and how they are also Jewish ( Jews r funny man what can I say ). We had one week off and then another show. A bit of a reckoning, because it would tell us if we were a one-hit wonder or a consistent act. The new headliner, Brent Weinbach, was much less social media popular than Lucas and Jamie so it would indeed be a good litmus test. 

The Brent Weinbach show rolls around and like 80 people show up. Nice. I walk around with a clipboard asking people to subscribe to our email newsletter. Very shameless I know.

Before I knew it we were in a bit of a groove. Posting cool photos to Instagram, tabling at the Arbor, and sending emails. The meetings on Sundays became less stressful and more enjoyable. The people that came became my close friends. We’d workshop jokes together, drink coffee, and play chess.

Laughology Sunday’s

I had a new goal, pack the fucking room. I wanted the fire marshall to bust down our door because we had done such a good job advertising this show.

The blowout show was supposed to be with, as seen on Netflix, headliner Moshe Kasher: but he dropped out at the last minute. Evan booked Asif Ali, an Indian comic who also appears on the TV show Wanda Vision. The gears in my head started turning, Indian headliners, and multiple Indian Laughology members, “Why don’t we make it an all-Indian show?”, I thought to myself. 

And that’s what we did. Here is the email I wrote.

I reached out to all the Indian organizations on campus, and they did a good job of getting the word out on their socials. UCSB Indus, Dhadkan, and the AS Student Union reposted our flier. Our show always started at 8pm on Saturdays. Normally the comics would come by at 730, and we would anxiously wait around the back of the auditorium hoping for a good turnout. The first audience members arrived no earlier than 740. That was until the Indian show.

This nerdy kid walks in and I snapped at him, "Dude the restroom is to the left". He timidly replied, "No I’m here for the show". I glance at my watch: it’s 732. “Sit anywhere you’d like!” I shout. By 8pm it was packed. We didn’t have the fire marshall at the door, but we sure as hell were close to hitting capacity.

For weeks after the show people would come up to me on campus telling me how awesome the show was. As a bonus I didn’t fumble my set this time around, allowing me to hold my head up high during those conversations.

What did I learn? Growth is addicting. It feels really good to grow an organization. Like really good. I wasn’t really passionate about marketing and advertising, but I stepped into that role and really did my best trying to deliver. I know I made it sound like I did this fantastic job, but our outcomes were mediocre at best. We made a well funded funded college club work? Congratulations. In retrospect doing more Instagram and TikTok would have been smarter than email, and we probably should have spent more money on ads. But nevertheless, some action is better than no action.

It’s also such a seratonin hack to be a part of something bigger than yourself. When you have this ‘greater calling’ you don’t think twice before doing embarrassing stuff like asking strangers for their email addresses, soliciting on public property, or writing stupid articles about Indian people. You just feel warm and cozy. Because you know that on Sunday morning, you and the squad are going to crack jokes, drink coffee, and figure out how the hell to get the fire marshall to show up to Embarcadero Hall. 

I’m thankful to Sam and Shaan from MFM, Joe Rogan, and all the other alpha grindset podcasts that I listen to. They’re in my ear day in and day out filling my head with ideas, good and bad inspiring me to take action in my daily life. I’m lucky that my Alpha Grindset phase led me to complete this specific sidequest, as opposed to substituting Ivermectin for the COVID-19 vaccine.

Going forward, I'm gonna keep listening to podcasts, but more importantly, I'm gonna try taking action based on my learnings. Cause what's the point otherwise?

-Raj