Curiosity Chronicle
Curiosity Chronicle is a podcast that delivers curiosity-inducing content every week. It is the audio version of a newsletter, encouraging listeners to explore new ideas and perspectives. The host, Sahil Bloom, shares insights and stories designed to spark curiosity and personal growth.
Episodes
Why You Need to Subtract: The Vasa Effect)
In 1628, Sweden's mightiest warship sank less than a mile into its maiden voyage -- not because of an enemy attack, but because a king couldn't stop adding to it. I call it the Vasa Effect: the addition of individual positives can eventually create a catastrophic negative.In this week's piece, I break down why our bias for addition is holding us back and how creative subtraction might be
Why You Need a Side Quest in Life
The seat you randomly chose on day one is the seat you'll sit in for the rest of the term. My college professor said that, and he was right -- not just about lecture halls, but about life. Your life has gravity, and most people never even feel it building.This week, I break down the two types of gravity keeping you stuck and the simple answer to making sure you can always escape.•••This e
The Scarlet Robe Effect
A fancy robe nearly destroyed a philosopher's life.In 1765, Denis Diderot's financial means went from meager to extravagant. Soon thereafter, he came to own a fancy scarlet dressing robe.Diderot liked the status that the fancy robe conferred on him but quickly felt the remainder of his possessions could not compare.So, in quick succession, he purchased a new leather chair. New shoes. An e
The Traffic Jam Theory of Success
Everyone's asking: how do I stand out in the AI era? A 1968 German mathematician's traffic paradox holds the answer.When everyone floods the new shortcut, the fast lane becomes the slow lane.Here's how to find the open road... •••This episode brought to you by:DeleteMe - DeleteMe makes it quick, easy, and safe to remove your personal data online. Origin Financial - Your personal AI Financ
A Japanese Ritual to Improve Your Habits
In the early 1900s, an aging Japanese steam train engineer named Yasoichi Hori was growing increasingly concerned about his deteriorating eyesight.Hori's job relied on his ability to quickly read small track signals at a distance while moving at a high rate of speed. The cab he worked in was at the back of the locomotive, behind a large boiler, which meant that he often had to lean out a
I Think I'm Having a Reverse Midlife Crisis
I think I'm having a midlife crisis."That's what my friend, who I'll call Joe, said to me at dinner a few weeks ago. Joe is in his early-40s. He's had a good career on a steady rising track in the world of finance. He's married with two kids, ages 7 and 4. He lives in the suburbs outside New York and commutes into the city for work.In many respects, I think of Joe as something of an arche
The IKEA Effect: Why Effort Still Counts
Why do you value the things you build yourself so much more than anything you can buy?In this episode, I share a personal story from my first apartment and break down the fascinating science behind why effort is the secret ingredient to a meaningful life.•••This episode brought to you by:DeleteMe - DeleteMe makes it quick, easy, and safe to remove your personal data online. Origin Financi
Stop Making a 5-Year Plan (Do This Instead)
"So, what's your 5-year plan?"That was the question posed to me by a mentor in January 2021. At the time, I was about seven years into my career, on the "track" in finance.Climbing slowly up the mountain, I had started to wonder if it was the wrong one. I just didn't seem to have the same energy for the work as most of my colleagues.All of the future mountains I envisioned were (at most)
How to Avoid Catastrophe: The Normalization of Deviance
On January 27, 1986, just 16 hours before the Space Shuttle Challenger was set to launch, an engineer named Roger Boisjoly presented data showing a catastrophic risk with the shuttle's O-rings in cold temperatures.His warnings were overruled. The next morning, 73 seconds into its flight, the Challenger exploded, killing all seven crew aboard.Sociologist Diane Vaughn coined the term Normal
A Few Things I've Changed My Mind On
I’m increasingly convinced that the willingness to change your mind is the ultimate sign of intelligence.The most impressive people I know change their minds often in response to new information or evidence. It's not that they lack conviction in their beliefs, but more so that they've developed enough self-awareness to understand what it would take to change them.The world will pressure y
How Old Will You Be If You Don’t?
Last week, I wrote a piece about reinvention. Specifically, the myth of too late and how to reinvent your life at any age or life stage.It clearly struck a chord.I received thousands of replies in the days following the piece. One reader reply referenced a two-decade-old newspaper advice column segment that had resonated on the subject.Me being me, I decided to try to find the column. A
The Cobra Effects of Life
In colonial India, a bounty on cobras was supposed to reduce the snake population. Instead, people started breeding cobras for profit — and when the policy ended, they released thousands into the streets. The result? More cobras than ever. This is Goodhart's Law: when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. And it's not just a business problem — it's happening in your
The Life-Changing Magic of Active Optimism
There’s an old children’s fable I recently retold to my son about a farmer whose wagon wheel gets stuck in the mud.He calls on Hercules to come to his aid. Hercules appears, but rather than lifting the wagon, he speaks: "Do you think you can move the wagon by simply looking at it? Put your shoulder to the wheel."The farmer did so, and the wagon lurched forward as the wheel easily came uns
How to Reinvent Your Life in 30 Days
Every single week, I invariably get a handful of emails from readers around the world with a similar general message.Stuck on a path. Living a life they didn’t really choose. Scared it’s too late to make a change.Given the frequency of these messages, I decided it warranted a deeper, more tactical guide.Here’s exactly how I would approach reinvention (at any age or life stage):•••This epi
The Frog Pond Effect
Have you ever noticed that growth feels like destruction?That getting better feels like getting worse?You're not doing something wrong. You're just experiencing something nobody told you about...•••This episode brought to you by:DeleteMe - DeleteMe makes it quick, easy, and safe to remove your personal data online. Origin Financial - Your personal AI Financial Advisor. Track your spending
Why Are You In Such A Rush?
There’s a beautiful Zen parable that goes something like this:A man is walking across a field when a tiger leaps out from the trees and runs toward him.Fearing for his life, the man sprints away but quickly halts at a steep cliff. Facing a terrifying drop, with the tiger bearing down on him, he grabs hold of a single vine and lowers himself over the cliff’s edge.Looking up, he sees the ti
The Zipper Test: How to Stop Fooling Yourself
My son just turned four. One of the things I love most about the age is the unbridled curiosity with which he explores the world.He's deep in the classic "why" phase, taking me down explanatory rabbit holes that go long past my point of comfort.But one of the most interesting prompts he asked recently was this one:"Tell me all about zippers."On any given day, zipper is replaced by some ba
7 Lies I Finally Stopped Telling Myself
A few years ago, as part of the research for my first book, I asked a group of centenarians for the advice they'd most like to give to their younger selves.One of them offered this piece of wisdom:"The most damning lie you can tell is the lie you tell to yourself."Those lies dilute your attention, pull you toward distractions, and cut into your confidence. They give you an easy out when
The Helsinki Bus Station Theory
In 2004, a Finnish-American photographer named Arno Minkkinen gave the commencement speech at the New England School of Photography.In the speech, he offered a powerful thought experiment:Imagine for a moment that you find yourself at the large bus station in the center of Helsinki.There are two dozen platforms at the station, each with several different bus lines departing from them boun
The 2 Types of Knowledge: Real vs. Surface
In 1918, German theoretical physicist Max Planck won the Nobel Prize for his discovery of energy quanta.After winning the prize, he went on a tour, giving lectures at universities and institutions around the country on his findings.There’s an apocryphal story from that tour that I first came across while reading the transcript of Charlie Munger’s 2007 commencement speech at USC Law School
Winner's Game vs. Loser's Game
"No unforced errors."At a recent speaking event, I was asked by an audience member to share one piece of advice I wish I could tell my younger self.Specifically, they asked for the non-obvious advice I've found most difficult to internalize and live by, despite knowing its importance.My response:No unforced errors.Three words. And I've spent years learning why they're so hard to live by..
The 4 Types of Professional Time
Most people end the day exhausted but can't point to a single thing they meaningfully moved forward.The problem isn't how much you're working -- it's the type of work filling your hours.In this piece, I break down a simple framework that fundamentally changed how I work: The Four Types of Professional Time...•••This episode brought to you by:DeleteMe - DeleteMe makes it quick, easy, and s
The Goal Gradient Hypothesis
105.5.That's how many laps you have to run around the first lane of a regulation outdoor track to cover the 26.2 miles of a marathon.And, when I arrived at my local high school track last Friday at 4:45am, that was exactly what I planned to do.I wish I had a thoughtful answer to the obvious "um, why?" this opener no doubt sparks in your mind.The truth is that every now and then, I like to
The ABC Goal System
"Just be consistent."By now, you've undoubtedly heard this advice countless times. So much so that it may even induce an eye roll or sigh.Yes, it’s true, consistency is the difference maker. The common thread behind every major success story.Everyone tells you to be consistent, but no one ever tells you how to be consistent.And let’s be honest, it’s (much) easier said than done. Life gets
The Pratfall Effect
In 1966, a University of Texas psychologist named Elliot Aronson ran an experiment to examine the role of imperfection on human connection.Aronson recruited 48 college students and had them listen to an audio recording of a candidate supposedly auditioning to be on a "College Quiz Bowl" team (a popular TV format at the time).The recordings were, in fact, staged. The candidate was just an
5 Life Learnings From 5 Years of The Curiosity Chronicle
A few days ago, I was reminded by a reader that May 14 was the five year anniversary of my first Curiosity Chronicle newsletter.Sending that first newsletter, which went out to a few thousand people who had been receiving my tweet threads in email format each week, felt like something of a leap of faith at the time.Fast forward five years and what started with that tiny leap of faith has
The Eject Button Mentality
In 2002, Harvard psychologists Daniel Gilbert and Jane Ebert designed a series of studies to test the role of optionality on happiness and human satisfaction.In the first study, the students in a Harvard photography class were asked to make prints of their two favorite photos from the semester.After creating the two prints, they were told to select one that they would get to keep, while t
The Most Powerful Decision Making Razors
A razor is a rule of thumb that simplifies decision making.The term comes from philosophy. A principle that let you quickly cut away unlikely explanations or unnecessary steps was called a razor.Razors aren't perfect. They're shortcuts. But used well, they can be the highest-leverage tools you carry through life. In an age of infinite information, razors can help you stop overthinking and
The Powerful Art of Negative Capability
In 1902, a 19-year-old cadet in an Austrian military academy was silently becoming a bystander in his own life.Franz Xaver Kappus felt trapped. On the track for a life as a military officer, but unsure if he wanted it in the first place. His heart felt pulled in a very different direction.To poetry.When Kappus learned that one of his teachers had taught the famed poet Rainer Maria Rilke w
Dear Son - A Letter to My Son on His 4th Birthday
My son turns four years old this week.And if I'm being honest, I don't know where the time went.Everyone says this, and I spent most of my life rolling my eyes at it, but my goodness, it goes by fast. With parenting, perhaps more so than most things in life, the days are very long but the years are painfully short.Last year, I started a practice of writing him a letter each year on his bi
The Styrofoam Cup Theory
Last weekend, I had the joy of catching up for a quiet dinner in Omaha with a mentor and friend, Apple CEO Tim Cook.He recently announced that he would be transitioning out of the CEO role at the company after a 15 year tenure.When the news first broke of his announcement, several people asked me how I thought he would handle the major life change and identity shift.My answer was a story
How to Be More Magnetic
Over the weekend, I made what has become an annual pilgrimage to Omaha, Nebraska to attend the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting.The event, which is nominally a business update on Warren Buffett's famed holding company, has become a staple in my annual calendar, mostly due to the incredible density of deep thinkers who drop into the midwestern city for a short window of time.Every year, I
The Streetlight Effect: Why Smart People Look In The Wrong Places
We all fall into the same trap: measuring what's easy instead of what's meaningful, clinging to routines we know instead of adapting ones that work, and asking the questions we can answer instead of the ones we're avoiding.In this podcast, I break down the street light effect — the tendency to search where there's light rather than where there's truth — and share how it showed up in my ow
The High Shoulders Theory
When I was 12 years old, I tried out for a baseball all-star team in our area.I really wanted to make this team. The tryouts were my first adventure beyond the confines of my small town. An opportunity to see how I stacked up against kids from all around the state.When the results came out, the coaches called my house.They were taking 16 players for the team...and I was the 17th on the li
The Michelangelo Phenomenon
The most famous sculpture in history was almost never created…In 1464, the Opera del Duomo—the committee overseeing the cathedral in Florence—commissioned a massive statue to adorn the cathedral’s roofline.They sourced a single, 17-foot block of marble from the quarries in Carrara, Italy.A sculptor named Agostino di Duccio began work on the project, but after a short stint, he backed out.
The New Opportunity Razor
A few weeks ago, I had the unique opportunity to attend a small author’s retreat hosted by Atomic Habits author James Clear.To be honest, it was a bit of a ”pinch-me” moment.I was in a room with a group of 15 authors I’ve long admired, who had collectively sold tens of millions of books and left an indelible mark on the world with their ideas and insights.We were each asked to share somet
The Tinkerer's Mindset: How to Win More
A group of kindergarteners outperformed the CEOs, lawyers, and MBAs.The way they did it has a lesson I've never been able to forget.While in college over a decade ago, I watched a TED Talk by a famed designer named Peter Skillman about an experiment he conducted in which groups of participants were given a challenge...•••This episode brought to you by:DeleteMe - DeleteMe makes it quic
The Real Price of Success
My entire life changed when I realized that I would never want to trade lives with the people I read books about.Allow me to explain with a story about the richest man who ever lived.In the early 1500s, an enterprising German financier named Jakob Fugger rose to prominence on the European continent...•••This episode brought to you by:DeleteMe - DeleteMe makes it quick, easy, and safe to r
Black Coffee Theory
A few weeks ago, I shared a piece on my Anti-To-Do List and the general merits of using inversion to improve your life.The idea was straightforward:Write down what you want to avoid doing.Avoid doing those things.I've gotten a lot of value from using inversion like this as a tool to provide clarity on my actions and avoid painful mistakes.As the late Charlie Munger famously said, "All I
Just Make the Coffee
A few years ago, I came across a beautiful story written by a woman named Pam Kearney in a local newspaper.I set a calendar reminder to re-read it every single year.Take 6 minutes and give this a listen. Trust me, it's worth your time...•••This episode brought to you by:DeleteMe - DeleteMe makes it quick, easy, and safe to remove your personal data online. Origin Financial - Your personal
The Spotlight Effect
For the last decade, I've had a recurring nightmare that I can trace back to my days as a Division 1 baseball player at Stanford...I'm on the mound in a critical situation. All eyes are on me. The entire stadium waits for my pitch.But as I start my motion, I realize I've completely forgotten how to throw the ball. My body moves like it's stuck in mud. Completely paralyzed.Inevitably, I wa
The Personal Quarterly Review
It's hard to believe that we’re already 25% of the way through 2026.This is an important time of year. The excitement and motivation of your new year planning has likely worn off. You’ve faced the realities of life, probably encountered a few challenges and storms, and developed in your thinking.The ultimate life hack is the ability to reset and adjust.You have new data. New experiences.
The 85% Rule: A Secret of the World’s Best
The 85% Rule says that you can achieve more by pushing less.Carl Lewis won nine Olympic gold medals with this strategy.And as it turns out, the general principle here is one that has been recognized throughout history...•••This episode brought to you by:DeleteMe - DeleteMe makes it quick, easy, and safe to remove your personal data online. Origin Financial - Your personal AI Financial Adv
The Deathbed Regret List
In 1888, Alfred Nobel was best known as the inventor of dynamite. He had been issued over 300 patents and his business had built more than 50 explosives and armament factories all across Europe.That year, while traveling in Cannes, France, Nobel's brother, Ludvig, suddenly died of a heart attack.A French newspaper misreported the incident, penning an article that claimed Nobel himself had
The Empty Cup Mindset
In the mid-19th century, a physician named Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis was working as an assistant in Vienna General Hospital when he noticed something curious.The hospital had two maternity clinics right next to each other, one staffed by doctors and medical students, the other by midwives.The mortality rate of mothers at the clinic staffed by doctors and medical students was a shocking (even f
Dear Parker: A Letter to a 17-Year-Old Reader
Last week, I got an email from a reader that stopped me in my tracks:Dear Mr. Bloom,My name is Parker and I am 17. I am reaching out because I would like some advice.I have had a goal and dream since I can remember, being rich and owning some sort of business but I do not know where to start. I don't want to be rich for the wrong reasons. I want to use my money as freedom for myself and t
The Motivation Triangle: The Science of Progress
In this episode, I explored a framework from Nir Eyal's new book, Beyond Belief, called the Motivation Triangle. Most people think motivation is about behavior and benefit—the actions you take and the outcomes you want. But that misses the most critical component: Belief. Without it, the other two collapse.The lesson? Take a few minutes this weekend to audit your core beliefs about who yo
How to Break Your Phone Addiction (3 Painfully Simple Steps)
Six weeks ago, I shared an embarrassing confession on my phone addiction.It all began at my Think Week retreat in January, when I pondered a single question:If you were the main character in a movie of your life, what would the audience be screaming at you to do right now?The answer, in this case, felt blindingly obvious:Get off the damn phone...•••This episode brought to you by:Delete
AI Negativity Bias: Why You Only Hear About AI Doom
I feel like I need to say something...Over the last few weeks, it seems like I can't go ten minutes without having a new "AI Doom" story hit my feed.The extraordinary virality of the AI Doom narrative is notable. It spreads rapidly to every corner of the internet. It's shared, talked about, and clicked on, millions upon millions of times.And as it turns out, cognitive science shows us why
The Most Powerful Paradoxes of Life
It's tempting to view the world in black and white.Everyone wants you to do that. It's easier to do that. It's more comfortable to do that.But the world is more complex than that.Many of life's most powerful truths appear entirely contradictory on the surface.They are paradoxes.Seemingly absurd or self-contradictory ideas that, when investigated or explained, prove to be true.Over the yea
The Paradox of Effort
Carlos Alcaraz is a tennis phenom.The 22-year-old is the number one player in the world, having won 25 singles titles and 7 Grand Slams in his career. He is the youngest player in history to have completed the Career Grand Slam, winning all four major championships.If you're a fan of the sport—or just spend enough time on the internet—you've undoubtedly seen clips of Carlos Alcaraz doing
The Anti-To-Do List: A Major Life Hack
In the 19th century, a German mathematician named Carl Jacobi developed an interesting insight:Many hard math problems become easier to solve when you flip them around and work backwards.He famously preached to his students, "Man muss immer umkehren."Translation: Invert, always invert.As it turns out, this idea echoes across history, showing up in a variety of places before and after Jaco
The Noise Bottleneck: The Subtle Trap of More Information
This is one of my favorites:"If more information was the answer, then we'd all be billionaires with perfect abs." - Derek SiversHumor aside, it's a critical idea for modern life:Dopamine from information gathering is a dangerous drug...•••This episode brought to you by:DeleteMe - DeleteMe makes it quick, easy, and safe to remove your personal data online. Origin Financial - Your personal
Solomon's Paradox: Why You Can't Take Your Own Advice
In the 10th century B.C., a young king was called upon to settle a seemingly impossible dispute.Two women stood before him with a single child, both claiming to be its rightful mother. There were no witnesses. No evidence on which to base a judgment.After hearing their case, the young king spoke...•••Mel Robbins called my first book "a powerful wake-up call that will push you to rethink e
The Doorman Fallacy
In his 2019 book, Alchemy, legendary British advertising executive Rory Sutherland offered an interesting lens on the perils of automation:Imagine you are the owner of a five-star hotel and you hire a consulting firm to come in and propose opportunities for efficiency improvements.The consultant observes the operations of the hotel and suggests that the role of the doorman can be automate
The Think Week Playbook: A Step-by-Step Guide
The Think Week (or Day) is a ritual that will change your life.The concept was first popularized by several world-renowned entrepreneurs and innovators in the 1980s and 1990s, but its underlying foundation has been around for thousands of years.History’s greatest leaders, thinkers, and builders have all believed in the power of space to create asymmetric outcomes. It allows you to slow do
The Dangers of Survivorship Bias
In the early days of World War II, the U.S. military was losing too many of its planes in battle. To stem the tide, analysts started mapping the bullet holes on the returning planes.Their plan was to add armor to the specific areas of the planes identified by the exercise.Based on their analysis, they came to the conclusion that reinforcement to the tail, body, and wings would improve the
Are Low Expectations The Key To Life?
The late investor Charlie Munger was known for his prolific wisdom.Perhaps his wisest insight of all came when he was asked to reflect on the source of his own happiness:“The first rule of a happy life is low expectations. If you have unrealistic expectations you’re going to be miserable your whole life.”His words echo an old aphorism, which says that low expectations are the key to life.
The Pygmalion Effect: How Expectations Create Outcomes
In an ancient poem written by the Roman poet Ovid, a sculptor named Pygmalion grows disillusioned with the women of his society.Rather than compromise on a relationship, he dedicates himself to his work.One day, he crafts a sculpture of a woman from ivory. His work is so vivid and lifelike that the sculpture surpasses the beauty of any woman he has ever known...•••Andrew Huberman called m
9 Reflections From My "Think Week" Retreat
Two weeks ago, I went on a “Think Week” retreat.The plan for the retreat was simple:3 daysLimited connectivityUnstructured schedule, no meetingsQuestion prompts as catalysts to zoom outFocus on deep conversations, journaling, thinking, and reflectingTo say the experience was transformative would be an understatement.Here were my 9 most important reflections and learnings...•••Apple CEO Ti
The Archimedes Principle: The Science of Sudden Insight
In the 3rd century B.C., a man named Archimedes steadily built a reputation as one of the greatest scientific minds of the era.Archimedes, who lived in the powerful Greek city-state of Syracuse, on the island of Sicily, was known by all the region’s kings and generals for his pragmatic problem-solving that went far beyond mere theory.Today, Archimedes is often mentioned as one of the grea
How to Thrive (A Science-Backed Approach)
In your life, there will always be someone standing on the side of the road waiting to tell you that you’re doing it wrong. Telling you to change. To be realistic. To scale back your ambitions. To blend in.But remember: You are not responsible for the narratives that other people have about you, your growth, or your journey...•••Andrew Huberman called my first book "An important clarifyin
How I’m Breaking My Phone Addiction In 30 Days
I have an embarrassing confession to make…I’ve developed an unhealthy addiction to my phone.Honestly, it’s a bit embarrassing for me to admit. I’m someone who self-identifies as disciplined. I pride myself on my ability to consistently act in alignment with my core values and priorities.And yet, here I am.If I’m being honest, the signs of it have been pretty clear...•••Apple CEO Tim Cook
Amara’s Law: The Invisible Force That Shapes Your Life
In 1978, an American futurist named Roy Amara offered a reflection on the progression of technology:“We tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.”The statement—which later became known as Amara’s Law—was, in many ways, a reaction to the unique period of change that the technological world was experiencing...•••Apple CEO
The End of History Illusion
In 2013, a group of Harvard researchers conducted a study with over 19,000 people.They asked two simple questions:How much have your values, preferences, personality, and priorities changed in the last 10 years?How much do you expect your values, preferences, personality, and priorities to change in the next 10 years?The results were fascinating...•••Mel Robbins called my first book "a po
The Real AI Risk Nobody Told You About
Most writing about AI falls into one of two broad conversations:Speed: How fast things are moving and changing. The transformative (and perhaps destructive) potential of new technologies across the economic landscape.Leverage: How you can use the latest tools in your life and business. The necessity of doing so if you want to gain an edge and remain relevant.Both conversations matter. It’
The Hidden Cost of Ambivalent Relationships
I read an interesting study a few years ago that fundamentally changed the way I think about relationships.Researchers wanted to examine how different types of social relationships affected long-term health outcomes.They categorized relationships into three buckets...•••Andrew Huberman called my first book "An important clarifying force in anyone’s search to make the best possible choic
The Boat-Dragging Problem
When you hold on too long, something that served you can begin to own you.Every year, when the calendar turns, most people ask themselves a series of simple questions:What am I adding this year?What new habits will I build?What new resolutions can I create?I ask myself something very different:What am I leaving behind?What am I quitting?What boat am I dragging that no longer fits the terr
35 Life Lessons From 35 Years
I just turned 35 years old.I’m not a big birthday celebration guy, but every year, I use the day as a spark for reflection—to zoom out and consider what I've learned along the way.Here are 35 life lessons from my 35 years...•••Apple CEO Tim Cook called my first book "a powerful call to action to think deeply about what lights you up."Join 400,000+ other readers and get it now on a big sal
The False Timelines of Life
Today is my 35th birthday.I want to open up about something personal. Something that will resonate with a lot of you.It's about timelines. More specifically, the false timelines of life...
Why Everyone Says You’re Doing It Wrong
There’s a quote I return to whenever it feels like the world is against me:“If you absolutely can’t tolerate critics, then don’t do anything new or interesting.” - Jeff BezosIt’s a simple line with a deep reminder:No matter what you do, or how you choose to live, someone will tell you you’re doing it wrong...•••Mel Robbins called my first book "a powerful wake-up call that will push you t
6 Intentions For 2026
Welcome to the final day of 2025. Happy New Year!As this very well may be the final newsletter you read (or listen to) in 2025, I want to use this opportunity to set the tone for the year ahead.You're all familiar with the idea of New Year's Resolutions:Specific actions or behaviors you commit to for the coming year.I've never been a fan. The notion that you can choose the perfect resolut
The Energy-Output Curve
Steve Jobs once described the difference between good work and great work with a simple image:“When you’re a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you’re not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You’ll know it’s there, so you’re going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, th
The Djokovic Rule: Do You Like Hitting The Ball?
In 2015, tennis legend Novak Djokovic was asked about the drivers of his exceptional on-court success.His response was simple:"I can carry on playing at this level because I like hitting the tennis ball."When the interviewer pressed him, asking whether there were players who don't, he continued:"There are people out there who don't have the right motivation. I can see it. But I don't judg
The 25 Best Ideas of 2025
When I started this newsletter in 2021, I had one simple goal:To share actionable ideas to help you build a high-performing, healthy, wealthy life.I had no idea that just a few years later, that simple focus would extend to reach nearly 1 million readers around the world.To say I'm humbled by this is something of an understatement.But I'm not surprised by it.Why? Well, I haven't missed a
A Japanese Legend With A Lesson For Life
There’s an old fable I love about a villager trying to catch a monkey.He doesn’t use force. He doesn’t set a net. He doesn’t try to chase it.Instead, he hooks a single coconut to the side of his house, drills a small hole in it, and places a few morsels of food inside.That evening at dusk, the monkey quietly slips into the village. It sees the coconut, smells the food, and slips its open
1,000 Years of Relationship Advice
My wife and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary this week.Two years ago, I started an annual tradition of asking couples who’ve been married 40, 50, or 60+ years for their best relationship advice.The advice they wish they could give to their younger selves.At this point, the advice captures over 1,000 years of earned wisdom from these beautiful relationships.Today, I’d like to share
The 2026 Annual Planning Guide
2025 is officially coming to a close.At the end of every year, I do two things:Conduct a reflection on the current yearCreate a plan for the coming yearI provided my reflection process in my Personal Annual Review last week.Note: To go deeper on that process, you can download a free template here.Today, I'll share my Annual Planning Guide, which will arm you with the structure
Introducing: Wild Roman
In 2021, as I was leaving a traditional career path to create my own, I asked a mentor for advice on the entrepreneurial journey ahead.His response was simple:Create things that you’d want to consume.To be completely transparent, while that always made sense to me when it came to my writing, I never knew what it meant when it came to business.That is, until 18 months ago, when something c
The "Good Enough" Paradox: A Science-Backed Life Trap
Last week, I read a research paper from a group of Harvard and UCLA psychologists that I can't stop thinking about.Its title grabbed me immediately: The peculiar longevity of things not so bad.In this piece, I share my learnings from the paper and what they mean for your life...•••Andrew Huberman called my first book "An important clarifying force in anyone’s search to make the best pos
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