Curiosity Chronicle

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 want to know is where I'm going to die, so I'll never go there."But a few readers replied with an interesting question:Doesn't focusing on what you don't want make you more likely to get it?This raises an important point that I've never addressed directly...•••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, investments, and net worth—all in one place.Innerbody Labs - A Higher Standard. After reviewing thousands of health products, we built formulas we wished existed.Lemon - The Al agent that turns your voice instructions into finished tasks.

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 AI Financial Advisor. Track your spending, investments, and net worth—all in one place.Innerbody Labs - A Higher Standard. After reviewing thousands of health products, we built formulas we wished existed.Lemon - The Al agent that turns your voice instructions into finished tasks.

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 wake up in a cold sweat—thankful that it was just a dream.While specific to my prior endeavors, as it turns out, this type of dream is a rather common one.In fact, I'd be willing to bet that most of you have experienced some variation of it in the last few months.All eyes on you in a big moment. And suddenly, you're completely paralyzed. Unable to perform.It's the byproduct of a very common (and damning!) psychological phenomenon—one that has a tangible impact on the way we show up in every area of life.It's called The Spotlight Effect...•••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, investments, and net worth—all in one place.Innerbody Labs - A Higher Standard. After reviewing thousands of health products, we built formulas we wished existed.Lemon - The Al agent that turns your voice instructions into finished tasks.

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. New insights. New evidence. New constraints.So, it’s time to do just that:Reflect on what happenedReset current priorities and systemsAdjust as needed to realign and accelerate growthI call this process my Personal Quarterly Review...Note: You can download a printable PDF of the review template ​here​.•••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, investments, and net worth—all in one place.Innerbody Labs - A Higher Standard. After reviewing thousands of health products, we built formulas we wished existed.Lemon - The Al agent that turns your voice instructions into finished tasks.

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 Advisor. Track your spending, investments, and net worth—all in one place.Innerbody Labs - A Higher Standard. After reviewing thousands of health products, we built formulas we wished existed.Lemon - The Al agent that turns your voice instructions into finished tasks.

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 died. Reading the false reports of his own death, Alfred Nobel was shocked at what the world clearly thought of him.He got something almost nobody gets: A clear preview of his destined future while he still had time to change it.Today, I want to share a simple exercise to help you do the same:I call it the Deathbed Regret List...•••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, investments, and net worth—all in one place.Innerbody Labs - A Higher Standard. After reviewing thousands of health products, we built formulas we wished existed.Lemon - The Al agent that turns your voice instructions into finished tasks.

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 for the era) 18%, while it was just 2% at the clinic staffed by midwives.It occurred to Semmelweis that the doctors and medical students were often moving straight from working on cadavers to delivering babies.Without washing their hands in between.He mandated handwashing, and the rate immediately dropped to below 2%.Rather than being hailed as a hero, he was ridiculed. Doctors rejected the evidence because it contradicted their deeply-entrenched beliefs.On Friday, I explored why smart, accomplished people reject the very evidence that could help them—and the antidote: what I call the Empty Cup Mindset.Ask yourself: What new evidence would cause me to change my mind?If the answer is nothing, your cup is too full...•••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, investments, and net worth—all in one place.Innerbody Labs - A Higher Standard. After reviewing thousands of health products, we built formulas we wished existed.Lemon - The Al agent that turns your voice instructions into finished tasks.

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 to use it as a way to help others. My goal is to make 1 million by the time I am 20.I was wondering if I could have some mentorship on how I could achieve this goal. I come from a poor family so money is hard for us but I will do whatever it takes to achieve this no matter what.I hope this finds you well, thank you for your time.So, I sat down for a day to properly answer his question:What would I tell him? What advice would I give? What tactical playbook would I provide?This is my open letter to Parker—and to anyone out there with big dreams and no idea where to start...•••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, investments, and net worth—all in one place.Innerbody Labs - A Higher Standard. After reviewing thousands of health products, we built formulas we wished existed.Lemon - The Al agent that turns your voice instructions into finished tasks.

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 you are and what you're capable of. Your beliefs have the power to shape your entire reality.Choose wisely...•••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, investments, and net worth—all in one place.Innerbody Labs - A Higher Standard. After reviewing thousands of health products, we built formulas we wished existed. 

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: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 products, we built formulas we wished existed. 

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...•••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, investments, and net worth—all in one place.Innerbody Labs - A Higher Standard. After reviewing thousands of health products, we built formulas we wished existed. 

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 years, I've compiled a list of the paradoxes I've observed. The complex truths that govern our lives and defy our desire for the default comfort of black and white.Here are 25 paradoxes that will change how you see the world...•••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, investments, and net worth—all in one place.Innerbody Labs - A Higher Standard. After reviewing thousands of health products, we built formulas we wished existed. 

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 completely insane, ​Carlos Alcaraz-type things​.He is truly a sight to behold.But amidst the steady drip of clips of his incredible shots in tournaments, I recently came across a video of a very different side of him...•••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, investments, and net worth—all in one place.Innerbody Labs - A Higher Standard. After reviewing thousands of health products, we built formulas we wished existed. 

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 Jacobi...•••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, investments, and net worth—all in one place.Innerbody Labs - A Higher Standard. After reviewing thousands of health products, we built formulas we wished existed. 

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 AI Financial Advisor. Track your spending, investments, and net worth—all in one place.Innerbody Labs - A Higher Standard. After reviewing thousands of health products, we built formulas we wished existed. 

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 everything about how you’re spending your time." Join 400,000+ other readers and get it today on a big sale!Order The 5 Types of Wealth Today!

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 automated. He currently costs $40,000 per year. You can install an automatic door-opening mechanism and save that money annually.You accept the proposal, fire the doorman, and install the automatic door. The consultant walks away pleased with their great work (and the nice payday they received for it).But that's not the end of the story...•••Andrew Huberman called my first book "An important clarifying force in anyone’s search to make the best possible choices for their life." Join 400,000+ other readers and get it now on a big sale!Order The 5 Types of Wealth Today!

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 down, zoom out, change perspective, and invest energy into the moments and opportunities that really matter.Unfortunately, the importance of space has been forgotten in a modern world where busyness is the standard.And without space, you get stuck. Trapped in a fixed loop of inputs and outputs, the 1-to-1 trades that keep you on the life treadmill. You become a rocking horse, always moving, but never getting anywhere.Today, I’d like to share a detailed playbook for a space-creating ritual that changed my life.Here’s a step-by-step guide for running your own Think Week (or Day):P.S. You can download and share a PDF of this entire guide ​here​.•••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 sale!Order The 5 Types of Wealth Today!

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 their odds of survival.But a young statistician named Abraham Wald raised his hand with a warning:They were making a tragic mistake...•••Mel Robbins called my first book "a powerful wake-up call that will push you to rethink everything about how you’re spending your time." Join 400,000+ other readers and get it today on a big sale!Order The 5 Types of Wealth Today!

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.My friend Morgan Housel once ​wrote​:“Actual circumstances don’t make much difference…What generates all the emotion is just how big the gap is between expectations and reality…Everyone, everywhere, doing almost any task, is just in pursuit of finding some space between expectations and reality.”So, by definition, if you keep your expectations perpetually very low, you’ll always be happy.Right? The science does seem to support this general idea...•••Mel Robbins called my first book "a powerful wake-up call that will push you to rethink everything about how you’re spending your time." Join 400,000+ other readers and get it today on a big sale!Order The 5 Types of Wealth Today!