Curiosity Chronicle
Delivering curiosity-inducing content every single week. This is the audio version of my newsletter. Sign up at the bottom of the page!
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The Tinkerer's Mindset: How to Win More
<p>A group of kindergarteners outperformed the CEOs, lawyers, and MBAs.</p><p><br>The way they did it has a lesson I've never been able to forget.</p><p><br>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...</p><p><br>•••</p><p>This episode brought to you by:</p>DeleteMe - DeleteMe makes it quick, easy, and safe to remove your personal data online. Origin Financial - Your personal AI Financial Advisor. Track your spending...
The Real Price of Success
<p>My entire life changed when I realized that I would never want to trade lives with the people I read books about.</p><p><br>Allow me to explain with a story about the richest man who ever lived.</p><p><br>In the early 1500s, an enterprising German financier named Jakob Fugger rose to prominence on the European continent...</p><p><br>•••</p><p>This episode brought to you by:</p>DeleteMe - DeleteMe makes it quick, easy, and safe to remove your personal data online. Origin Financial - Your personal AI Financial Advisor. Track your spending, investments, and net...
Black Coffee Theory
<p>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.</p><p><br>The idea was straightforward:</p>Write down what you want to avoid doing.Avoid doing those things.<p>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.</p><p><br>As the late Charlie Munger famously said, "All I want to know is where I'm going to die, so I'll never go there."</p><p><br>But a few...
Just Make the Coffee
<p>A few years ago, I came across a beautiful story written by a woman named Pam Kearney in a local newspaper.</p><p><br>I set a calendar reminder to re-read it every single year.</p><p><br>Take 6 minutes and give this a listen. Trust me, it's worth your time...</p><p>•••</p><p>This episode brought to you by:</p>DeleteMe - DeleteMe makes it quick, easy, and safe to remove your personal data online. Origin Financial - Your personal AI Financial Advisor. Track your spending, investments, and net worth—all in one place.Innerbody Labs - A Higher...
The Spotlight Effect
<p>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...</p><p><br>I'm on the mound in a critical situation. All eyes are on me. The entire stadium waits for my pitch.</p><p><br>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.</p><p><br>Inevitably, I wake up in a cold sweat—thankful that it was just a dream.</p><p><br>While specific to...
The Personal Quarterly Review
<p>It's hard to believe that we’re already 25% of the way through 2026.</p><p><br>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.</p><p><br>The ultimate life hack is the ability to reset and adjust.</p><p><br>You have new data. New experiences. New insights. New evidence. New constraints.</p><p>So, it’s time to do just that:</p>Reflect on what happenedReset current priori...
The 85% Rule: A Secret of the World’s Best
<p>The 85% Rule says that you can achieve more by pushing less.</p><p><br>Carl Lewis won nine Olympic gold medals with this strategy.</p><p><br>And as it turns out, the general principle here is one that has been recognized throughout history...</p><p><br>•••</p><p>This episode brought to you by:</p>DeleteMe - DeleteMe makes it quick, easy, and safe to remove your personal data online. Origin Financial - Your personal AI Financial Advisor. Track your spending, investments, and net worth—all in one place.Innerbody Labs - A Higher Standard. After reviewing thousands of health...
The Deathbed Regret List
<p>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.</p><p><br>That year, while traveling in Cannes, France, Nobel's brother, Ludvig, suddenly died of a heart attack.</p><p><br>A French newspaper misreported the incident, penning an article that claimed Nobel himself had died. Reading the false reports of his own death, Alfred Nobel was shocked at what the world clearly thought of him.</p><p>He got something almost nobody gets: A clear preview...
The Empty Cup Mindset
<p>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.</p><p><br>The hospital had two maternity clinics right next to each other, one staffed by doctors and medical students, the other by midwives.</p><p><br>The mortality rate of mothers at the clinic staffed by doctors and medical students was a shocking (even for the era) 18%, while it was just 2% at the clinic staffed by midwives.</p><p><br>It occurred to Semmelweis that the doctors and medical students were often...
Dear Parker: A Letter to a 17-Year-Old Reader
<p>Last week, I got an email from a reader that stopped me in my tracks:</p>Dear Mr. Bloom,<p>My name is Parker and I am 17. I am reaching out because I would like some advice.</p><p>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 to use it as a way to help others. My goal is...
