Welcome to the 1,002 new members of the curiosity tribe who have joined us since Friday. Join the 78,225 others who are receiving high-signal, curiosity-inducing content every single week.Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Veridas!Do you struggle with verifying the identity of your customers?Gone are the days of needing to ask customers over the phone to verify 3 pieces of information to prove their identity, and wasting your support rep's time. Veridas’ voice biometric authentication will confirm a person's identity simply by hearing them speak. No language requirements, no special phrase, just 3 seconds of chatter. In fact, 100 companies around the world already trust Veridas thanks to its simplicity, accuracy (+99.9%), and speed (150 milliseconds).Veridas is offering a special 15% discount for all Curiosity Chronicle subscribers that book a live demo in the next 30 days. Sign up at the link below to take advantage of the offer!Today at a Glance:Whether you’re just starting—or building—your career, you’ve undoubtedly faced new challenges that no textbook or classroom could have prepared you for. Early career years can be quite painful and anxiety-inducing. You face a completely new world with no map—no guide to help you navigate the uncharted terrain.Today’s piece provides that guide—a simple set of core principles that you can turn to and rely on as you start and build your career.If you prefer a printable, evergreen format that you can refer to in future, I turned this into a beautiful e-book, which you can buy here. It includes several additional principles and visualizations not in the newsletter version.The Career Success GuideWhether you’re just starting—or building—your career, you’ve undoubtedly faced new challenges that no textbook or classroom could have prepared you for.Early career years can be quite painful and anxiety-inducing. You face a completely new world with no map—no guide to help you navigate the uncharted terrain…So today, I’d like to provide that guide—a simple set of core principles that you can turn to and rely on as you start and build your career.All of the principles contained herein were developed and earned through my own experience, generally through failures or missteps. My hope is that by providing this in writing, you can avoid those same mistakes and accelerate your path.If you prefer a printable, evergreen format that you can refer to in future, I turned this into a beautiful e-book, which you can buy here. It also includes several additional principles and visualizations not in the newsletter version.With that context in mind, let’s dive right in: The Career Success Guide—10 principles to help you navigate the challenges of your early career…Build a Personal Board of AdvisorsThe general logic here is simple.If you treat your career lifecycle as a company...You start as a high-growth startupYou grow into a bigger businessYou IPO and are a public companyAt each phase, you're faced with a variety of difficult and new decisions and challenges.Traditionally, people have turned to "mentorship" to navigate the uncharted waters they encounter at each stage. But "mentorship" feels very formal. It carries a connotation of a fixed cadence and time commitment. From the mentor's perspective, it feels like a big commitment.Furthermore, having one formal mentor often falls short from a utility standpoint. Your mentor may not have encountered the challenge you're facing—they may not have a "map" that you can leverage to navigate the terrain. They may not be available when you need to make an important decision.Instead, build a Personal Board of Advisors. Companies have boards—ideally comprised of individuals from varying backgrounds and arenas. The board isn't involved in the day-to-day, but provides advice on strategy, key decisions, and challenges.Your Personal Board of Advisors is a group of 5-10 individuals.Important features:Unbiased (not family)Diverse experiences and backgroundsWilling to provide raw feedbackOver time, you can add and subtract from your board. The members don't need to know each other or that they are on your board. Informality is a feature, not a bug.As you encounter challenges, key decisions, or inflection points in your career, these are the people that you can reliably turn to for grounded perspectives, feedback, and advice.Swallow the Frog for Your BossThe “frog” is a difficult or annoying task your boss doesn’t want to do. But their frog is your opportunity!It presents one of the single greatest hacks to getting ahead early in your career:Observe your boss.Figure out what they hate doing.Teach yourself to do it.Take it off their plate (i.e. swallow the frog!).Swallowing the frog for your boss is a clear way to add value, put up a win, and build momentum.Create a Decentralized Growth TribeHaving a decentralized friend group to learn from and grow with is a legitimate competitive advantage.The features of a decentralized friend group:Unconnected to other groupsDifferent backgroundsRange of experience setsNovel perspectivesInteracting with this group will expose you to new ideas, industries, and opportunities. It will materially expand your luck surface area.Think of it as your Growth Tribe. It’s a huge value unlock.Sahil Personal Note: It took me 7 years to realize the value of this and find my decentralized growth tribe. That tribe led to me taking new opportunities and making decisions that have fundamentally changed the trajectory of my life. I cannot recommend this highly enough. And importantly, in the Digital Age, you can find these groups “in the cloud”—physical proximity is no longer a requirement.Learn to SellNaval Ravikant famously said that in order to be successful, you either need to learn how to build or you need to learn how to sell.I agree, but I also know that most of us aren't technically-gifted—so we should just learn to sell.Selling doesn’t mean going into software or technology sales (though that can be a lucrative career path for the right person!).Selling means learning to tell a compelling, convincing story. That story doesn’t have to be about a product your company is building.The more you progress in any field, the more of your job becomes sales:You sell yourself when you want a company to hire you.You sell your idea when you want investors to back you.You sell your vision when you want customers to pay you.You sell your culture when you want employees to join you.There are very few guarantees in life, but this one is real: If you can sell, you'll always make it.Prioritize Experience, Not SalaryPrioritizing salary is one of the biggest mistakes I see young people making early in their careers. The obsession with making “six figures” at your first job is misguided and short-term thinking at its finest.The reality: a 10x better foundation-building experience compounds much more effectively than that extra $10K in salary.You should always be compensated fai...

Welcome to the 1,202 new members of the curiosity tribe who have joined us since Friday. Join the 76,887 others who are receiving high-signal, curiosity-inducing content every single week.Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Rows!After spending 7+ years in traditional finance, I had Chronic Excel Fatigue–the result of countless hours spent wrestling with the dated, legacy technology that hasn’t been updated since 2006!Fortunately, I discovered Rows—spreadsheets, reimagined. Rows is a truly magical product experience. It allows you to seamlessly pull data on stocks, crypto and more, and instantly integrate with services like Stripe, Google Analytics, Twitter, Salesforce, Instagram, Facebook and public databases like Crunchbase and LinkedIn.Rows is one of the most insane new product experiences I have had in recent memory. I use Rows for everything from managing my Startup Portfolio, social analytics, fund investing, and LPs to tracking household budgets and personal finance. I may never open Excel again.For your next spreadsheet, give Rows a try. You won’t be disappointed. Join thousands of teams that have stepped up their spreadsheet game with Rows.Today at a Glance:It has become in vogue to bash the traditional education system and the learning models it reinforces in our youth. I’m certainly guilty of it. In a broad sense, it’s always quite easy to criticize the incumbent—but much more difficult to propose a viable alternative, particularly one that works at scale.Traditional learning models fall short in two respects: (1) they endorse compartmentalized knowledge and (2) they create forced, linear progressions.The ultimate meta-goal of learning is for knowledge to compound over time. We want to learn in such a way that new knowledge builds on top of existing foundations—ideally in an accelerating, non-linear manner.Networked Learning is a way to return to our roots and allow knowledge to freely interact and compound. There are many ways to engage it, including: (1) Explore vs. Tour, (2) Analogize Constantly, (3) Paired Learning, (4) Read Broadly & Quit More, and (5) Slow Down Learning.The New Way to Learn“Traditional learning models are dead.”If you’ve been scrolling Twitter or attending any group events over the last five years, you’ve probably heard some variation of the above statement countless times.It has become in vogue to bash the traditional education system and the learning models it reinforces in our youth. I’m certainly guilty of it. In a broad sense, it’s always quite easy to criticize the incumbent—but much more difficult to propose a viable alternative, particularly one that works at scale.In today’s piece, I’d like to lay the foundation for an alternative, better learning model: Networked Learning. Let’s begin with the traditional model and its deficiencies before diving into the details of the new way and how to use it.Note: I say *foundation* because my thinking on the topic remains a work-in-progress. I believe I have identified a truly better way for children and adults to learn—and clear methods to use it—but the challenge of deploying it at scale remains.The Traditional ModelI graduated from my public high school thinking I hated most subjects.It was odd—I was a pretty interested kid, but I drifted from class to class, doing the bare minimum to deliver an adequate report card to my discerning parents and clear the academic hurdles required by Stanford Athletic Department’s admissions team.Reflecting on it with the benefit of hindsight—and a bit of maturity—what I actually hated was the learning model the traditional education system forced upon me: A learning model grounded in linear, compartmentalized learning. A learning model that praised rote memorization of facts.Unfortunately, this learning model is drilled into us for so many years that the bad habits stick with us throughout our life. As a result, few find a way to learn more effectively in adulthood.Stick with me today and I’ll help you break the vicious cycle…Let's start with a quick breakdown of the traditional model and why it's broken.Problem #1: CompartmentalizedTraditional education asks you to create containers in your mind.I imagine them like little houses. You have your history house, your English house, your science house, your math house, etc. Each house is discrete and closed off to the rest of the houses and world.Let’s say you have a history test on Monday. On Sunday night, you sit down with a coffee and cram some new abstract information about Genghis Khan into your designated history house. You remember it for the test on Monday and manage to ace it. Your teacher, parents, and friends pat you on the back and say "great job!”—but by the following Monday, you've forgotten it.“Oh well,” you say, “I didn’t need to know about Genghis Khan anyway…”This process repeats for every subject. Knowledge is crammed and trapped into its designated house.The problem? Trapped knowledge is basically useless. It's insulated from the interactions that allow it to stick and compound over time. The compartment is useful for the test, but not for real learning and growth.Problem #2: Linear & ForcedThe traditional education system was designed for the Industrial Age—an assembly line model.It tells us to learn one specific thing—and be tested on it—before progressing to the next. We progress on set timelines—established by boards and committees—from one subject to the next.The model is forced, linear progression. There is no room for inspired consumption.The obvious problem here: Everyone learns differently—at a unique pace and with unique interests.The current model embraces those who can fall into line and make it work while rejecting those who cannot. It leaves too many people behind.The New Model: Networked Learning“I have never let schooling interfere with my education.” - Mark TwainOk, so we've established a few core problems of the existing, traditional learning models. Let’s turn to the new way—the better way: Networked Learning.A Return to Our RootsThe ultimate meta-goal of learning is for knowledge to compound over time. We want to learn in such a way that new knowledge builds on top of existing foundations—ideally in an accelerating, non-linear manner.But for this to work, we need our knowledge to exist in an exposed environment. It has to interact with existing knowledge and new knowledge in order to spark new growth.Fortunately, this is the way we are biologically wired. As children, we’re insatiably curious, experiencing every new event, person, or object with wonder. We actively place each new learning into the context of our existing knowledge graphs. We constantly create and adjust our "maps" of the world.The key here: there are a lot of "collisions" of knowledge in the child's brain. There are no preset compartments forced upon them yet. There's no insulation of some knowledge from the rest of it. It’s a bit of chaos theory in action. Knowledge roams free in the child's brain—it interacts, reacts, and triggers growth.This is the foundation of Networked Learning—a return to our roots.A return to the natural manner in which we encounter the world. We wrestle with ideas and let cross-pol...

Welcome to the 613 new members of the curiosity tribe who have joined us since Friday. Join the 75,508 others who are receiving high-signal, curiosity-inducing content every single week.Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Babbel!Start speaking a new language in 3 weeks!One of my goals for 2022 is to learn a new language. Studies show that learning a language increases the volume and density of gray matter, the volume of white matter, and brain connectivity.Babbel is the tool I’m using to achieve this goal—it’s one of the world’s top language learning platforms and prepares you for situations you’ll actually encounter in real life. I’ve been blown away by the experience thus far—lessons are just 10 minutes and you can start having basic conversations in the new language in just 3 weeks. Plus, you get access to podcasts, games, videos and more.It’s a great household activity to enjoy with your partner and your kids as well!For a limited time, you can join me on this journey and get up to 60% off your subscription by using the link below. Take advantage of this amazing offer and get your language learning on today!Today at a Glance:The Eisenhower Decision Matrix is a simple, powerful tool anyone can use to prioritize effectively and enhance daily productivity. It’s a visualization tool that forces you to differentiate between the urgent and the important.The four quadrants of the 2x2 matrix: Important & Urgent (“Do Now”), Important & Not Urgent (“Decide”), Not Important & Urgent (“Delegate”), and Not Important & Not Urgent (“Delete”).The goal is to spend more time on important tasks that further your long-term values, missions, goals, and principles. In Eisenhower Decision Matrix terms: Manage the top-right, optimize for the top-left, and remove the bottom half.The Ultimate Productivity ToolWe’ve all been there.Scrambling from task to task, moving from one stress-inducing fire to the next. The minute one fire is out, another one is sparked. The day becomes an energy-draining fight to survive.The worst part? At the end of it all, it’s hard to point to any substantive progress. There was a lot of movement, but no forward progress—a “rocking horse” day, if you will.Today, I’d like to share a simple, immediately-actionable solution to this all-too-common problem. To set the stage, a short history lesson…Dwight D. EisenhowerDwight David Eisenhower—or Ike as his friends called him—was an American military officer and politician born in Denison, Texas in 1890.He was a West Point graduate and rose through the military to achieve the 5-star rank of general in the United States Army. During World War II, he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe and led the famed invasion of Normandy from the Western Front.Eisenhower would serve as President of Columbia University and the first Supreme Commander of NATO before being elected as the 34th President of the United States, a role he occupied from 1953 to 1961.As his military and civilian accomplishments indicate, Eisenhower was a highly-effective leader and executive. He became known for his prolific, almost otherworldly productivity.His secret? He never confused the urgent with the important:"What is important is seldom urgent and what is urgent is seldom important." - Dwight D. EisenhowerWith this idea as a foundation, let’s dive into today’s prioritization and productivity solution…The Eisenhower Decision MatrixThe Eisenhower Decision Matrix is a simple, powerful tool anyone can use to prioritize effectively and enhance daily productivity. It’s a visualization tool that forces you to differentiate between the urgent and the important. The matrix was popularized by Stephen R. Covey in his famous 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Here’s how the 2x2 matrix works:X-Axis: Not Urgent to UrgentY-Axis: Not Important to Important Two key definitions:Urgent: requires immediate, focused attention to complete.Important: promotes or furthers your long-term values, goals, or principles.The four quadrants of the Eisenhower Decision Matrix:Important & UrgentImportant & Not UrgentNot Important & UrgentNot Important & Not UrgentA quick discussion of each…Important & UrgentThese are the tasks that are both important and urgent.They require immediate, focused attention—but also contribute to our long-term vision, goals, or principles.I call these the "Do Now!" tasks. They are time sensitive, but also contribute to real forward progress.Important & Not UrgentThese are the tasks that are important but not very urgent.I like to think of these tasks as the compounders—the tasks that compound long-term value in your life. The most successful people in the world find a way to focus their energy on these tasks.This is where you should try to spend most of your time and energy. You can decide when to attack them, but you need to prioritize this quadrant.Not Important & UrgentThese are the tasks that are not important, but they are urgent and require attention.These tasks are the "beware" category—the tasks that can drain time and energy without contributing to our end goals. These are the fires or random one-offs that leave you feeling drained but without meaningful progress.These are tasks to delegate to someone else—ideally to someone for whom they will be important.Not Important & Not UrgentThese are the tasks that are neither important nor urgent.These are the mindless activities like TV and social media that sap our productivity. Limit your time on these as much as possible.Sahil Note: If these mindless activities help you recharge, they may be "important" for you in some modest quantities. I personally find that watching a show before bed allows me to unwind and shut off to sleep with a clear mind. There is no need to eliminate that from your life, just be honest with yourself about the point at which it is no longer creating value for you. If you have a tough time being disciplined with it—I certainly used to!—schedule time for these activities.The Big PictureOk, so let’s put it all together. What’s the goal here?Spend more time on important tasks that further your long-term values, missions, goals, and principles.In Eisenhower Decision Matrix terms:Manage the top-rightOptimize for the top-leftRemove the bottom halfConclusionTo leverage the Eisenhower Decision Matrix in your life, start by identifying what is important to you.A few questions to get you started:What are your long-term goals?What principles and values do you...

Welcome to the 930 new members of the curiosity tribe who have joined us since Friday. Join the 73,957 others who are receiving high-signal, curiosity-inducing content every single week.Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Trends!Trends is my personal cheat code for generating new business and content ideas.It’s a premium newsletter from The Hustle that deconstructs the secret sauce of interesting businesses, side hustles, and emerging opportunities—and gives you the playbook to pounce on them. Even better, membership provides instant access to an exclusive community of 15,000+ entrepreneurs who are building the future.I learn something new from every single issue—it has become a core part of my content and learning engine. A true must-read. I can’t recommend it highly enough.Use the link below to join—no commitment, no catch, cancel anytime!Today at a Glance:Much of what we come to call "luck" is actually the macro result of 1,000s of micro actions. Your daily habits put you in a position where “luck” is more likely to strike.In order to get lucky, you have to remove the “black holes” (anti-luck) from your existence. You have to take actions to expand your personal luck surface area.Today’s piece shares 20 ways to expand your luck surface area.How to Get Lucky“Diligence is the mother of good luck.” - Benjamin Franklin“Luck has nothing to do with it, because I have spent many, many hours, countless hours, on the court working for my one moment in time, not knowing when it would come.” - Serena Williams“Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect.” - Ralph Waldo EmersonLuck is an interesting concept.There is certainly “luck” that is uncontrollable—pure and raw. Where you are born, who you are born to, and the base circumstances of your life all fall into this category of luck.But as we push beyond this baseline, the concept of luck morphs into something more impure and fluid.In fact, I believe that much of what we come to call "luck" is actually the macro result of 1,000s of micro actions. Your daily habits put you in a position where “luck” is more likely to strike.Interstellar & Luck Surface AreaIn the movie Interstellar (slight spoiler if you haven’t seen it!), there’s a scene in which the main characters discuss the habitability of a planet on the edge of a large black hole.The protagonists realize that the proximity to the black hole makes life unlikely to exist on the planet—the black hole absorbed all of the “lucky” events that might have been the spark for life. The asteroids carrying the seeds of life, the chance collisions—none of them could occur because the “luck surface area” of the planet was minuscule given its proximity to the all-absorbing black hole.I think about this scene a lot—it’s a sneakily powerful metaphor for life.In order to get lucky, you have to remove the “black holes” from your existence. You have to take actions to expand your personal luck surface area.In today’s piece, I’d like to get you started on this journey…Here are 20 ways to expand your luck surface area:Be the Dumbest in the RoomIf you have a choice between entering two rooms, choose the room where you are more likely to be the dumbest one in the room.Once you’re in the room, talk less and listen more. It’s bad for your ego, but it’s great for luck.Good things tend to happen in these rooms.Hang Out With OptimistsPessimists sound smart, optimists get rich.When choosing who to spend time with, prioritize spending time with optimists. Pessimists see the doors that are closed. Optimists see the doors that are open—and probably kick down the closed doors.Pessimists are “black holes” in your life that need to be removed in order for you to get lucky.Get in the ArenaThere's no luck on the sidelines—the arena is where it strikes.It's lonely and vulnerable, but it's the only path that bears real fruit. When faced with two paths, choose the path that puts you in the arena—where collisions happen, where luck can strike.Furthermore, surround yourself with people who are also in the arena. Sideline rock slingers never get lucky.Write in PublicWhen you write and publish your ideas and insights, you are casting a web of magnets out into the world.Those ideas and insights will attract some people to you—and perhaps repel others.As your web grows, the connections—and luck—compound accordingly.Sahil Note: I am a testament to this fact. My luck has increased significantly since I started writing in public. There are no qualifications or requirements to get started—just energy.Talk to Strangers"Don't talk to strangers" is a classic we are told as children—the residue of which carries into adulthood for far too many people.New relationships spark new ideas, insights, and opportunities—these compound just as well as any financial investment.Broad Network = Broad Luck."There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven't yet met." - William Butler YeatsSend More Cold EmailsCold emails are responsible for some of the biggest breaks in my life—new mentors, relationships, and career opportunities.Cold emails are a force multiplier for your efforts.Follow the principles in my Cold Email Guide to enhance your odds of success.Always remember: Shooters shoot.Schedule Free TimeThe idea that free time is bad is one of the greatest lies you’ve been told.In investing, it’s often said that cash is a call option on future interesting investments. Well, in life, I believe that free time is a call option on future interesting opportunities. When you have free time, you have the headspace to pursue new ideas and go down rabbit holes.Plan for more of it.Ruthlessly Eliminate NegativityEveryone has a few negative people in their circle. They tell you to be realistic. They laugh at your ambition. They argue.Eliminate this negativity from your life. It's a boat anchor—a major black hole—cut the damn line and run away from it as fast as you can.Negative people are quite literally the anti-luck.Embrace the UnexpectedYou should spend your 20s saying yes to almost everything.Saying yes puts you into uncomfortable situations that lead to new relationships, opportunities, and growth.These unexpected moments are luck-rich. Embracing them is how you capitalize.Hustle HardWhen you have a bias for motion, good things happen. You create more random collisions in your ecosystems—it’s like chaos theory.A bit of hustle goes a long way.“There’s luck through persistence, hard work, hustle, and motion. This is when you’re running around creating opportunities. You’re generating a lot of energy, you’re doing a lot to stir things up. It’s almost like mixing a petri dish or mixing a bunch of reagents and seeing what combines. You’re just generating enough force, hustle, and energy for luck to find you.” - Naval RavikantTrust the Weekend Test"What the smartest people do on the weekend is what everyone else will do during the week in ten years." - Chris DixonObserve the weekend project...

Welcome to the 498 new members of the curiosity tribe who have joined us since Friday. Join the 72,546 others who are receiving high-signal, curiosity-inducing content every single week.Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Rows!After spending 7+ years in traditional finance, I had Chronic Excel Fatigue–the result of countless hours spent wrestling with the dated, legacy technology that hasn’t been updated since 2006!Fortunately, I discovered Rows—spreadsheets, reimagined. Rows is a truly magical product experience. It allows you to seamlessly pull data on stocks, crypto and more, and instantly integrate with services like Stripe, Google Analytics, Twitter, Salesforce, Instagram, Facebook and public databases like Crunchbase and LinkedIn.Rows is one of the most insane new product experiences I have had in recent memory. I use Rows for everything from managing my Startup Portfolio, social analytics, fund investing, and LPs to tracking household budgets and personal finance. I may never open Excel again.For your next spreadsheet, give Rows a try. You won’t be disappointed. Join thousands of teams that have stepped up their spreadsheet game with Rows.Today at a Glance:Economic sanctions fall into the category of economic statecraft—the use of financial levers to drive desired geopolitical outcomes. They can be broadly defined as any planned commercial or financial penalties applied by one or more countries on another country, group, organization, or individual.The goals of the sanctions include constraining cross-border money flows that are necessary for financing a long-term war effort, punishing the oligarchs who support Putin and his war efforts, depleting Russia’s financial reserves, and creating political unrest within Russia that puts Putin under pressure.While the base package of sanctions was considered standard, the weekend announcements of a cutoff from SWIFT and a Central Bank reserve freeze is potentially much more damaging to Russia and Putin.A Primer on SWIFT & Sanctions“There are decades where nothing happens, and there are weeks where decades happen.” — Vladimir LeninThe world is in a dramatically different state since you last received a deep-dive piece from me just one week ago. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has tragically plunged countless lives into chaos and encouragingly rallied much of the world to support the besieged Ukrainians. In the vein of support, I will be donating the proceeds from today’s newsletter to UNICEF: Protect Children in Ukraine.The situation is an intensely complicated one. There are two wars being waged here: a military war and an economic war.Today, I’d like to talk about that economic war and provide a simple breakdown of the most important weapons involved. I hope this piece makes you feel more well-informed in the days and weeks ahead.A Brief History of SanctionsEconomic sanctions have become a staple of modern statecraft.Economic sanctions fall into the category of economic statecraft—the use of financial levers to drive desired geopolitical outcomes. They can be broadly defined as any planned commercial or financial penalties applied by one or more countries on another country, group, organization, or individual.They are not new.Most historians agree that the first formal economic sanctions were in 432 B.C., when Athens restricted merchants from a rival city-state called Megara from participating in its marketplaces. The action choked off economic activity in Megara—the sanctions were highly-effective.Fast forward several millennia to World War I and economic sanctions had become a core tool in the geopolitical toolkit. A prolonged naval blockade by the Allies was used to restrict the flow of goods to Germany and the other Central Powers.As the 20th century progressed, sanctions were used time and again—the industrial logic was that their potential dire impact on an economy would cause would-be aggressors to think twice before taking military action.Unfortunately, this didn’t take into account the human impact of the collateral damage of these sanctions, which was often devastating.In the post-9/11 world, the increased awareness of this human impact gave rise to so-called “targeted” sanctions—sanctions specifically designed to mitigate collateral damage and have precise impact. If general sanctions had been a shotgun blast historically, targeted sanctions were designed to be a sniper shot.This is largely where we are today and how we got here. The U.S. and Western world continue to make heavy use of sanctions due to broad global reliance on the dollar for trade and commerce.With that history in mind, let’s turn to our present situation…The Russia SanctionsOver the weeks preceding Russia’s formal invasion of Ukraine, as its military aspirations became increasingly well-understood, the U.S. and Western world began preparing its financial response.There are several interconnected goals of the sanctions package here:Constrain cross-border money flows that are necessary for financing a long-term war effort.Punish the oligarchs who support Putin and his war efforts, many of whom live and work outside of Russia.Deplete Russia’s financial reserves (reduce its cushion).Create political unrest within Russia that puts Putin under pressure.Increase the cost—actual and perceived—of an international company doing business in Russia.I would segment the potential response into two core tiers:Tier I: Sanctions on Russian banks, companies, and oligarchs.Tier II: A cutoff from SWIFT and Central Bank reserve freeze.Tier I was table-stakes—effectively the standard operating procedure of the West in such a situation. Tier II was considered much less likely, with many media outlets calling the cutoff from SWIFT the economic “nuclear button” in this situation.After the invasion began, when it became clear that Putin planned to press forward, the U.S. and EU quickly progressed from Tier I to Tier II. Over the weekend, plans were announced to cut many Russian banks off from the SWIFT system and freeze Russia’s access to foreign currency reserves held in the West.Let’s talk about what this all means and why it’s so impactful…SWIFTSWIFT is short for the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications. It’s a global cooperative of financial institutions based in Belgium.SWIFT was formed in 1973 when 239 banks from 15 countries came together to establish a way to handle cross-border payments. Today, SWIFT connects more than 11,000 financial institutions across 200+ countries.SWIFT doesn’t actually do any funds transfer or holding of funds, but it’s a critical part of the communication infrastructure that enables cross-border money flows. The best way to think about SWIFT is like a simple email or messaging collaboration system enabling secure messages across its member banks—like a sort of Slack for international banks.SWIFT sees an average of 40 million messages a day—including around orders, payment confirmations, FX exchanges, and trades. These messages provide a form of reliable, safe communication for international banks to execute tr...

Welcome to the 577 new members of the curiosity tribe who have joined us since Friday. Join the 71,548 others who are receiving high-signal, curiosity-inducing content every single week.Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Revelo!If you’re a growing technology company, chances are you’re struggling to find talented developers right now.Revelo helps companies like GitHub, Intuit, and Carta hire faster, so they can grow faster! It’s a talent platform that matches you with vetted remote developers in Latin America who work in US time zones. It offers a full-suite platform that covers payroll, benefits, compliance, and more, allowing you to hire full-time remote developers without the headaches.Get matched with vetted candidates within 3 days—guaranteed. They even offer a 100% risk-free 14-day trial. If you’re not satisfied, you pay nothing.SPECIAL OFFER: Revelo is offering Curiosity Chronicle subscribers 20% off the first 3 months of any hire! Use the link below to take advantage of this crazy deal!Today at a Glance:“The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions.” - Oliver Wendall Holmes, Sr.As children, we are taught to live by an ever-expanding set of rules. The rules keep us safe. They limit our downside during a fragile period of our lives. They also limit our upside, as they create artificial constraints on our movement and collisions as we travel through the universe.Rules are good—but just like the old man in the quote above, you have to know when to bend and break them.15 Life Rules Worth BreakingI’d like to open with one of my favorite quotes of all time:“The young man knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions.” - Oliver Wendall Holmes, Sr.Read that again.So much wisdom contained in such a short, concise statement.As children, we are taught to live by an ever-expanding set of rules. This is (mostly) good—it gives us a concrete, stable way to view the increasingly complex, dynamic world that we have entered.The rules keep us safe. They limit our downside during a fragile period of our lives.The problem? They also limit our upside, as they create artificial constraints on our movement and collisions as we travel through the universe. They force us to walk down a narrow path with bumpers on both sides—they eliminate the flashes of serendipity, the asymmetries that define the lives of the greatest among us.Rules may limit your risk, but they also limit your reward.Rules are good—but if you’re looking to play asymmetric games—those with low downside and uncapped upside—you have to know when to bend and break them.Here are 15 life rules worth breaking:Wait for the Perfect MomentThis rule has paralyzed would-be action-takers for generations.The reality: there is no such thing as the perfect moment.Sometimes you just have to open the door, jump out of the plane, and hope you packed the parachute tight.You Have to Work Hard to SucceedHard work is important—but it's relative, not absolute.In the Digital Age—when creative and inspired work stands out and is rewarded—what you work on is more important than how hard you work.Play your game, not theirs. You’ll play it better.Become an Expert, Not a GeneralistSociety celebrates experts in any given field.But as David Epstein finds in Range, many experts succeed because of the range of pursuits that preceded their main endeavor.Become a polymath. Generalize first, specialize later.Let Things Play OutThis isn't a movie that you're watching on your TV.You are not a passive observer of your own life. There are times to sit back, and there are times to push.Learn to identify the difference and never be afraid to provide a little push.Don't Ask Too Many QuestionsChildren are born with an insatiable curiosity, but somewhere along the line, we are told to stop asking questions.The most successful people in the world never listened—they broke this rule.Ask questions. Be curious. Be interested.If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix ItComplacency will always lead you down a bad path.Just because something isn't broken, doesn't mean it can't be improved.Continuous improvement is the way. Focus on small, incremental improvements—day in, day out.Get a Stable JobThis might have been a good rule in the Industrial Age, but its foundation is crumbling in the Digital Age.The way we work is fundamentally changing—opportunities for creative, unstructured career paths are endless.Find your Zone of Genius and operate in it.Stay in Your LaneA rule of the fixed, stagnant, and hierarchical—often used to keep employees in line.It's great to double down on your strengths, but never let external pressures prevent you from expanding your domains.Growth mindsets rule the world.Think Through Every Big DecisionWe are told to methodically consider the pros and cons of every big decision in our lives.As a result, many of us have decision paralysis.With big decisions, you're actually better off making them fast—let your gut and instincts guide you.Don't Talk to StrangersA classic we are told as children—the residue of which carries into adulthood for far too many.When we open up to those around us, we stimulate, learn, and grow."There are no strangers here; Only friends you haven't yet met." — William Butler YeatsGet a Four-Year DegreeFor decades we told children they had to attend a traditional four-year college, or else they were a failure.That is a lie—and we loaded a generation with student debt because of it.Four-year degrees make sense for many, but not for all.Follow YOUR path.Save Now to Enjoy LaterAll mainstream financial advice tells you one thing: save now to enjoy later.I agree, with a caveat...You have to enjoy the prime of your life! Now and then, it's ok to save a bit less to go to that concert with your friends.Find your balance.Have a Plan & Stick to ItIt's important to have a plan.But as Mike Tyson famously said, "Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth."Plans have to be dynamic—and punch-proof! You'll only go as far as your ability to absorb and pivot on the fly.Don't Be Self-PromotionalIt's easy to condemn self-promotion when you're at the top.But when you're first starting out, you may be the only one in a position to promote.When you put in the work, energy and love, share it with the world! Genuine pride is infectious.Be RealisticIt's not up to anyone else to decide what is possible for you or your life.Are there constraints outside of your control? Sure. Is that a reason to settle? Hell no.As Will Smith says in Pursuit of Happyness: "If you want something, go get it. Period."There you have it: 15 life rules worth breaking.I’d love to hear from you. What common rules am I missing? Comment below!If you enjoyed this, consider sharing it with your network so I can continue to grow this amazing curiosity tribe. Thank you for joining me on the journey!Until next time, as always, stay curious, friends!

Welcome to the 542 new members of the curiosity tribe who have joined us since Friday. Join the 70,546 others who are receiving high-signal, curiosity-inducing content every single week.Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Rows!After spending 7+ years in traditional finance, I had Chronic Excel Fatigue–the result of countless hours spent wrestling with the dated, legacy technology that hasn’t been updated since 2006!Fortunately, I discovered Rows—spreadsheets, reimagined. Rows is a truly magical product experience. It allows you to seamlessly pull data on stocks, crypto and more, and instantly integrate with services like Stripe, Google Analytics, Twitter, Salesforce, Instagram, Facebook and public databases like Crunchbase and LinkedIn.Rows is one of the most insane new product experiences I have had in recent memory. I use Rows for everything from managing my Startup Portfolio, social analytics, fund investing, and LPs to tracking household budgets and personal finance. 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Join thousands of teams that have stepped up their spreadsheet game with Rows.Today at a Glance:Razors are rules of thumb that help simplify decisions and drive better outcomes.When used appropriately, they can meaningfully improve the quality of your decision-making (and reduce stress along the way).The article below provides 20+ valuable razors, when to use them, and a few additional notes from the author.The Most Valuable RazorsThe Feynman RazorNamed after famed American theoretical physicist Richard Feynman—the Feynman Razor is a simple recognition that complexity and jargon are often used to mask a lack of deep understanding.If you can’t explain it to a 5-year-old, you don’t really understand it.If someone uses a lot of complexity and jargon to explain something to you, they probably don’t understand it.Use It When: You’re faced with a hand-waving, jargon-heavy explanation to a simple question.The Smart Friends RazorIf your smartest friends are all interested in something, it’s worth paying attention to.If that something seems crazy, it's worth paying a lot of attention to.The passions of the smartest people in your circles are a looking glass into the future.Use It When: Your smart friends have mentioned something that sounds crazy 3+ times.Sahil Note: I’ve ignored this signal on two occasions: Bitcoin (2013) and NFTs (BAYC). Both cost me a lot of money. I’ll never make that mistake again, and I suggest you don’t either.The Rooms RazorIf you have a choice between entering two rooms, choose the room where you are more likely to be the dumbest one in the room.Once you are in the room, talk less and listen more.Bad for your ego, great for your growth.Use It When: Deciding what to do on your next free night out.The Man in the Arena RazorIt's easy to throw rocks from the sidelines—it's hard to step into the arena.It's lonely and vulnerable, but it's where growth happens.When faced with two paths, choose the path that puts you in the arena—choose the path with real skin in the game.Use It When: Choosing how to approach a new and scary endeavor.Sahil Note: This is often a very challenging one, but it’s the one I feel most strongly about. It’s so much more comfortable to stay on the sidelines—it’s easy to convince yourself that it’s the safe or appropriate path. Ultimately, it’s very hard to create asymmetric outcomes on the sidelines. You have to be in the arena if you want to reap the outsized rewards.The Serendipity RazorSome of what we call luck is actually the macro result of 1,000s of micro actions.Your daily habits put you in a position where luck is more likely to strike.When choosing between two paths, choose the path that has a larger serendipity surface area.Use It When: Choosing what to do on a free night (when you have some energy).Sahil Note: The topic of “serendipity surface area” is one I plan to write about in greater depth in the future. It’s hard to get lucky watching TV at home. It’s (relatively) easy to get lucky when you’re engaging with people, interacting, and learning—physically or digitally. It’s possible to put yourself in a position to get lucky.The Uphill Decision RazorWhen faced with two options, choose the one that’s more difficult in the short-term.Naval calls this making "uphill decisions”—overriding your biological pain avoidance instinct.It's worth it—short-term pain creates compounding long-term gain.Use It When: Deciding between two near-term development pathways.The Rare Opportunity RazorThere is a rare class of opportunities that the average person will get 0 to 1 chances at in their lifetime.They look scary, but have insanely asymmetric return profiles.If you are fortunate to be faced with one of these opportunities, jump at it.Use It When: Making a decision on that one big opportunity.The Buffett Reputation Razor“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you'll do things differently.” - Warren BuffettYour reputation is built over decades, but it's made of glass, not stone.Remember that—act accordingly.Use It When: You’re placed in that one tricky situation that puts your integrity on the line.The Narrative Fallacy RazorHumans are storytelling creatures—we weave together sequences of events to identify cause-and-effect when the reality is just luck.When reading stories of success, it's fair to assume they downplay the role of luck as a contributing factor.Use It When: You find yourself leveraging stories of the success of others to inform your own decision-making.Sahil Note: Survivorship Bias is rampant in the media. We only hear the stories of success, so we fail to recognize the true base rates. Be aware of the bias and make decisions accordingly.The Time Billionaire RazorTime is our most precious asset.When choosing between two paths, choose the path that places the highest appreciation on the value of your time.This is not about money—it's about leverage.The path where you spend more time in your Zone of Genius.Use It When: You find yourself making inefficient time for money trades.The Opinion Razor"I never allow myself to have an opinion on anything that I don’t know the other side’s argument better than they do." - Charlie MungerOpinions are earned, not owed.If you can't state state the opposition's argument clearly, you haven't earned an opinion.Use It When: You are inclined to enter into an argument over something you don’t really understand.Sahil Note: The most common pushback I get with this one is that Charlie Munger clearly doesn’t follow his own...

Welcome to the 1,116 new members of the curiosity tribe who have joined us since Friday. Join the 68,953 others who are receiving high-signal, curiosity-inducing content every single week.Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Trends!Trends is my personal cheat code for generating new business and content ideas.It’s a premium newsletter from The Hustle that deconstructs the secret sauce of interesting businesses, side hustles, and emerging opportunities—and gives you the playbook to pounce on them. Even better, membership provides instant access to an exclusive community of 15,000+ entrepreneurs who are building the future.I learn something new from every single issue—it has become a core part of my content and learning engine. A true must-read. I can’t recommend it highly enough.Use the link below to join—no commitment, no catch, cancel anytime!Today at a Glance:Learning is a meta-skill—arguably the most important meta-skill.School taught us many things, but unfortunately, how to learn was not one of them.The retention framework I use involves five steps: (1) Inspired Consumption; (2) Unstructured Note-Taking; (3) Consolidation; (4) Analogize; and (5) Idea Exercise. The structure is sequential, but its practice is often dynamic & iterative.Spaced Repetition is the most formal—and powerful—idea exercise method. It’s a method in which information is consumed at increasing intervals until it's committed to long-term memory. It leverages cognitive science—the way our brains work to convert short-term to long-term memory—to help you retain newly-consumed information.How to Retain What You LearnLearning is a meta-skill—arguably the most important meta-skill.School taught us many things, but unfortunately, how to learn was not one of them.Learning is how we adapt to our changing environments, circumstances, and situations. Learning allows us to create new “maps”—and edit old ones—in order to navigate the dynamic, highly-complex world with confidence.Growth is fundamentally driven by the long-term accumulation and compounding of usable learning. We accumulate and compound this learning through consumption and retention. Consumption is the inputs—what comes in. Retention is what remains after any leakage.Imagine your brain like a bathtub.The faucet is the entrance, the drain is the exit. Everything you research and consume flows in through the faucet. Everything you forget flows out through the drain.I’ve written a lot about the faucet in the past—here and here most recently—but I’ve never talked about the drain.Let’s fix that today—let’s talk about learning retention.Learning from The MatrixI love The Matrix. It’s not just sci-fi, there is a lot we can draw from it about learning and retention.Bear with me…In one of the early scenes of the first film, Keanu Reeves’ character—Neo—is plugged into the system and has a program uploaded into his brain. He has a moment of shocked revelation where he looks up and says, “I know kung fu.” He proceeds to demonstrate his new mastery in a virtual sparring room. Most importantly, Neo never forgets this new skill.To be sure, this isn’t that crazy an idea. Our brains are just software. When we learn, we are updating that software. But in the real world, though, our software is flawed and buggy—we forget important things or overwrite old data all the time.Our best bet? Develop a strategy for retention that is grounded in science. An approach to retention that is as integrated and comprehensive as our approach to learning. We may not become Neo, but we can become more Neo-like.The Retention FrameworkHere's a tactical framework for improving your retention…The retention framework I use involves five steps:Inspired ConsumptionUnstructured Note-TakingConsolidationAnalogizeIdea ExerciseThe structure is sequential, but its practice is often dynamic & iterative.Let's walk through each of the steps...Step 1: Inspired ConsumptionRetention starts with consumption.I bucket consumption into two types:Forced: Compelled, either internally or externally. Inspired: Driven entirely by your internal inspirations.If you've ever been in school, you know what forced consumption looks like. Forced consumption is the book you're told to read, despite the topic being of zero interest to you. It's the foundation of much of the traditional education system—yet another reason why so many of us are bad at learning retention!Inspired consumption is when you feel genuinely pulled to consume—when you enjoy the consumption process.It requires the willingness to put ego aside and "quit” more books (or content) when that genuine inspiration fades.Inspired consumption is important for retention for two key reasons.Inspiration is a precursor to flow. More flow state, more retention.Inspiration fuels engagement. Engage with the content, retain the content.Inspired consumption is the foundation of retention.Step 2: Unstructured Note-TakingWhen you start consuming, you should have a note-taking system in front of you.Sahil Note: I use Notion for my note taking, but there are probably 10 other options out there (and I’m currently evaluating Obsidian as another option for more networked notes). The old fashioned way—pen and paper—works too, with the caveat that searchable notes are ideal in my opinion.On the first pass through the material, keep your notes as unstructured and free-flowing as possible.What to take note of:Foundation-building ideasNovel insightsThings that made you go “hmmm” or “wow!”Connections you identified to other topicsQuestions or confusionStrong reactions you had to new informationRemember: This first pass of notes is intended to be unstructured. The simple act of writing helps ideas stick.Step 3: ConsolidationZoom out and review your unstructured notes.What are the most interesting, novel insights or ideas? What are the most confusing?Consolidation is where you re-consume content with a specific focus on building structure around your notes in these particular areas.If unstructured note-taking created a bunch of dots, consolidation is where you start connecting them.It doesn't have to be perfect, but you should start to form a more refined picture as you re-consume the content for this purpose.Consolidation is when knowledge begins to stick.Step 4: AnalogizeAnalogizing is the most effective—and least well-known—retention tool.This is where you take your newly-learned information and place it within your broader mental maps. You make clear comparisons and connections between newly-learned and existing information.Here's a real example from my writing to illustrate how this works:I did a bunch of research on Morris Chang and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company for a piece. During my consolidation, it struck me that TSMC's novel pure-play chip manufacturer model had enabled independent chip designers to start their own companies.

Welcome to the 1,151 new members of the curiosity tribe who have joined us since Friday. Join the 67,557 others who are receiving high-signal, curiosity-inducing content every single week.Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Babbel!One of my goals for 2022 is to learn a new language. Studies show that learning a language increases the volume and density of gray matter, the volume of white matter, and brain connectivity.Babbel is the tool I’m using to achieve this goal—it’s one of the world’s top language learning platforms and prepares you for situations you’ll actually encounter in real life. I’ve been blown away by the experience thus far—lessons are just 10 minutes and you can start having basic conversations in the new language in just 3 weeks. Plus, you get access to podcasts, games, videos and more. 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Take advantage of this amazing offer and get your language learning on today!Today at a Glance:De Beers created the modern diamond industry through the use of market manipulation, psychological hacks, and clever marketing.At its height, De Beers had direct or indirect control of the majority of the global diamond supply chain, allowing it to wield its influence to manage prices.“A Diamond is Forever” was the genius marketing campaign that created the diamond industry as we know it—convincing generations of men and women (1) that diamonds are a show of love—and that the size and quality of the diamond is proportional to the size and quality of the love and (2) that courtship and engagement involve a diamond.Broad-based pushback against the industry and its roots has led to the rise of alternatives—like lab-grown diamonds—but diamonds remain the standard show of love in most Western cultures.Diamonds Aren’t ForeverThe mandate of this newsletter is simple: I explore my curiosity and share what I learn along the way. To be clear, this is an intentionally-broad mandate—I don’t believe that curiosity follows any fixed lesson plan.The topics I will continue to cover include:Growth and decision-makingStartups, investing, business, and financeWriting and storytellingMarketingLifeThe one constant across all of this: I can guarantee you will learn something new and interesting from each and every piece I share. One new idea or insight that will make you smarter or spark your curiosity to go deeper.This is a learning-rich journey and I am fortunate to have almost 70,000 of you along for the ride. We’re just getting started.This felt like a fitting preface to today’s piece. Why? Well, every now and then, a story comes along that grabs my attention and simply won’t let go until I write about it.The story of De Beers and the making of the modern diamond industry is one of those stories. It stands out because it’s not a clear fit for any one of those buckets above—rather, it’s a fit for all of them!So sit back, grab a coffee (or whiskey), and let’s go down this rabbit hole together…The BeginningsThe story of De Beers starts well before the international giant existed.It may be difficult to believe in the current context, but for most of history, diamonds were not a particularly important gem. Largely found in parts of India and Brazil, they were considered rare and beautiful, but had little intrinsic value due to their lack of industrial or monetary use cases. Diamonds were a vanity item of the ultra-ultra-rich—a very niche market.But in 1870, everything began to change.Massive diamond stores were discovered in South Africa near the Orange River, setting off the first diamond rush. South Africa was officially a British colony at the time, which meant that British investors immediately flocked to the region and commissioned labor—both forced and paid—to begin building the diamond mines.It quickly became clear that the new South African mines would be producing never-before-seen quantities of diamonds.The British investors grew worried. In a free market, the glut of supply—and associated dent in the perception of scarcity—would send the price of diamonds into free fall. Given diamonds did not have any major industrial use cases to buoy demand, the perception of scarcity was critical to their price and desirability.So in 1888, one British financier and mining operator proposed a plan…The Making of De BeersCecil Rhodes was born in England in 1853, but after a sickly adolescence marked by severe asthma, his father sent him to South Africa, a climate he believed would be better for his health.Rhodes entered the diamond industry at age 18 in 1871 and began to systematically acquire and consolidate mining operations in South Africa. By 1888, he had built one of the most powerful mining operations in the region.But the diamond industry was in turmoil, with wild price fluctuations and uneven demand. Sensing an opportunity, Cecil Rhodes and his business partners led a push to merge and consolidate the various South African mining companies.His pitch: continued competition meant death; consolidation meant survival.The new company—or cartel, as it were—was named De Beers Consolidated Mines, Ltd. Its explicit goal: to manage diamond production and continue to perpetuate the perception of scarcity and desirability that was so important to the price of the stones.De Beers was officially born.“A Diamond is Forever”Econ 101 Lesson of the Day: There are two sides to every market—supply and demand. The story of De Beers is unique in its practical application of the manipulation of both…Supply-Side ManipulationIn the 20th century, De Beers methodically expanded its influence over the entire diamond supply chain.In addition to having direct control over diamond mining and production, it began to accumulate direct or indirect control of the major diamond trading companies across England, Switzerland, Israel, Belgium, Holland, and Portugal.It was widely known and understood that De Beers controlled the diamond industry. With control over production and distribution, De Beers was able to control the stock and flow of diamonds in the market, effectively creating direct control over prices. While other commodities saw wild price swings, diamonds exhibited no such volatility, creeping steadily upwards over time.But many cartels throughout history have managed to manipulate supply—demand is much mo...

Explore the concept of first principles thinking and its applications in entrepreneurship, investing, and scientific research. Learn how Elon Musk and SpaceX revolutionized rocket building using this approach. Discover a step-by-step guide to applying first principles thinking and the power of questioning beliefs and seeking alternative viewpoints.