Curiosity Chronicle

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 when he was a young man attending the same academy, he decided to act. Kappus sent a set of his poems to Rilke, asking for an honest assessment and guidance on his life ahead...•••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.

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 birthday.He can't read them (yet), but my hope is that they serve as something of a compass for his journey. Whether I'm here or gone, I hope that they guide him in the direction of a fulfilling life.I know I can't walk the path for him, but maybe I can shine a bit of light to give him confidence along the way.Here is my open letter to my son on his 4th birthday...•••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 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 from a dinner we shared several years ago—one specific interaction that I'll never forget...•••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.

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 seem to find myself in a few rooms that set off my imposter syndrome alarm bells.But one thing I've learned: Good things happen when you put yourself in rooms where you don’t feel like you belong.The real secret isn't getting into the rooms, though. It's what you do once you're in them...•••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.

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 own career, content journey, and relationships.I'll walk you through 3 questions that changed my approach...•••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.

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 list.I was devastated...•••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 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...•••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 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 something that had been working for us, and once I shook off the feeling of imposter syndrome, the thing I decided to share was my framework on opportunity selection.It sparked a deep dialogue and clearly resonated with the group—so I want to share it with all of you today...•••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 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 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.

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 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 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.