Curiosity Chronicle

Welcome to the most important new member of the curiosity tribe who joined us since Friday—my son, Roman Reddy Bloom.I spent the first 30 years of my life trying to find the meaning and purpose of all of this. Then one day, it was staring right back at me. My new best friend.Today’s newsletter is brought to you by LEX!What they do: make it easy to invest in real estate!Pop quiz: What asset class has created more millionaires than any other? Answer: Real estate.LEX has a really cool angle for investing in real estate. LEX does an “IPO” for a building, so you can directly invest in marquee commercial real estate. You can build a portfolio of buildings you want to invest in. Each building has a ticker, just like stocks. As a shareholder, you can get paid dividends flowing from the rent paid by the tenants. You can also earn tax advantaged passive income and trade without lockups.Check out LEX’s live assets in New York City and upcoming IPO in Seattle.Sign up for free here and get a $50 bonus when you deposit at least $500.Today at a Glance:Anti-goals are the things we DON'T want to happen—either as final outcomes or along the way. Establishing them allows you to win the battle AND the war.If traditional goals are the rudders that set your direction, think of anti-goals as the map that tells you where the rapids are. Awareness keeps you on smooth waters.The generalized process involves four steps: (1) Choose Your Arena, (2) Establish Traditional Goals, (3) Invert the Problem, and (4) Establish Anti-Goals. Test it out by establishing anti-goals when planning for new projects, designing your life, or creating self-improvement plans.The Ultimate Goal Setting ToolI love writing this newsletter.There are plenty of reasons, but at the top of the list is the fact that I get to take you all on a journey with me. Not a physical journey—though it would be fun to do a Curiosity Chronicle retreat someday!—but a learning journey.I’m able to share new insights and perspectives in *real time*.This isn’t some academic newsletter where I lecture you on truths and personal wisdom—this is simply me sharing ideas, frameworks, and models that I am battle-testing on my own journey.I am not a teacher—I am a student, learning alongside all of you.In that vein, today’s piece will share a new learning: the power of Anti-Goals.An Introduction to Anti-GoalsAt the start of 2022, I shared a piece called The Goal Setting Guide—a breakdown of my framework for setting—and smashing—goals.Shortly after I shared the piece, however, I came across the intriguing concept of “anti-goals” from my friend Andrew Wilkinson. I began to wonder if my goal setting framework was in need of a refresh.I like to personally battle-test new concepts before I share them publicly, so I started establishing “Anti-Goals” for all new projects.Everything changed.It quickly became a staple for:Planning for new projectsDesigning my lifeCreating self-improvement plansSo with sufficient battle-testing behind me, I'd like to share how to leverage anti-goals to level up your goal setting process.The concept is grounded in inversion—a foundational mental model that says that complex problems are often easier solved backwards vs. forwards.Inversion was made famous by one quote from Charlie Munger:All I want to know is where I’m going to die, so I’ll never go there.With traditional goals, we envision the optimal outcome. We then build systems that will—hopefully—lead to that outcome.This is important and necessary—but it’s incomplete. Anti-goals leverage inversion to complete the picture.Anti-goals are the things we DON'T want to happen—either as final outcomes or along the way.I think of anti-goals as being about avoiding the Pyrrhic victory—a term coined after King Pyrrhus of Epirus, who suffered devastating losses while defeating the Roman army in battle in 279 B.C.E.The term is now commonly used to refer to a victory that takes such a terrible toll on the victor that it might has well have been a defeat.My friend Shaan Puri, another proponent of anti-goals, elaborates:What if your dream was to be a musician. And guess what - you did it! But while you’re touring the world, you gain weight, get addicted to drugs, your marriage is in shambles, and your kids don’t recognize you....you won the battle but lost the war.Anti-goals allow you to win the battle AND the war!The Anti-Goal FrameworkOk, so how do you leverage anti-goals in your goal setting process?The generalized version involves four steps:Choose Your ArenaEstablish Traditional GoalsInvert the ProblemEstablish Anti-GoalsLet’s walk through each step:Choose Your ArenaThe arena is the "project" you’re going to be working on.A few broad categories to consider:PersonalWorkHealthYour arena should be a specific project under a larger category. It’s the place where you’re looking for achievement, progress, or growth.Establish Traditional GoalsThese are your standard goals—the desired outcomes from the chosen arena. This should be easy, as it’s familiar.A few examples of traditional goals:Run a 6-min mileBuild a 100,000 sub newsletterPromotion to VPCreate a top-25 podcastClear, big picture traditional goals are important.Note: As I covered in my Goal Setting Guide, it’s often helpful to have short, medium, and long-term traditional goals. Experiment with what works best for you.Invert the ProblemTo invert, ask and answer a few questions.In the pursuit of these traditional goals:What is the worst possible outcome?What systems would lead to that?What daily actions would I regret?In short, ask yourself what you would view as winning the battle but losing the war.Establish Anti-GoalsNow work backwards to establish your anti-goals—the outcomes you DON’T want.James Clear refers to traditional goals as rudders. Expanding on this analogy, if traditional goals are the rudders that set your direction, think of anti-goals as the map that tells you where the rapids are.A thoughtful, clear map keeps you on smooth waters.An Illustrative ExampleIt can be a bit confusing in the abstract, so let’s look at a recent example from my own life…Choose Your Arena: Physical FitnessEstablish Traditional Goals:Run a 6-minute mileUnder 8% bodyfatDeadlift 500 poundsPerhaps a bit too ambitious at age 31, but it feels doable if I’m dedicated (and if I get any sleep post baby arrival)!Invert the Problem:What does the worst possible outcome look like? Letting it con...

Welcome to the 1,044 new members of the curiosity tribe who have joined us since Friday. Join the 91,634 others who are receiving high-signal, curiosity-inducing content every single week.SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT: Hyper startup accelerator is open for applications!If you're thinking about joining an accelerator or raising capital for your startup, Hyper is a new accelerator backed by the biggest venture capital firms in tech.A few reasons I’m a huge fan:More competitive terms than competitors ($300k for 5%).Hyper is the sister company of Product Hunt—companies get unique access to Product Hunt, the team, and launch support.World-class advisors including Sequoia’s Alfred Lin, Ryan Hoover, Deena Shakir, Disney’s Jeffrey Katzenberg, and a lot more.Small batches make for a far more personalized experience.Efficient 4 week long program.Participants get time with me on how to scale your storytelling!This is an amazing opportunity for startups all around the world. Apply for the program here.Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Air!If you’re still using Google Drive and Dropbox to store your files, you’re going to want to listen up. While those tools are fine for people who just need to store everything, they fall terribly flat when it comes to creative collaboration and scalability on images and videos.Walk with me…let’s talk about Air. Air has built a solution—a platform that allows marketers and creatives to collaborate seamlessly across the entire content library of a business. All the work happens directly in the visual asset. The end result? Businesses can 10x the power of their content to become storytelling machines.Air is the “holy s*** why didn’t this already exist?!” solution for marketing and creative collaboration. My startup portfolio loves it and you will too. Get a demo today and level up your content.Today at a Glance:Public speaking is scary. So scary that a number of surveys and studies have found that people rank public speaking ahead of death on a list of their greatest fears.It’s also one of the most critical skill sets for your career and life. Confident, powerful public speaking—whether informal or formal—will accelerate your personal and professional life.Strategies for more confident public speaking: avoid memorization, study the best, strike a power pose, practice relentlessly, find the anxiety killers, play the lava game, slow down to 0.75x, engage the audience, implement a storytelling structure, move with purpose, never self-sabotage, and cut the fear.The Power Speaking Guide"There are two types of speakers: those that are nervous and those that are liars." — Mark TwainOk, so public speaking is scary.How scary?Well, a number of surveys and studies have found that people rank public speaking ahead of death on a list of their greatest fears…THAT scary.Unfortunately, public speaking is also one of the most critical skill sets for your career and life. Confident, powerful public speaking—whether informal or formal—will accelerate your personal and professional endeavors. It sits in the all-important top-right quadrant of the Scary vs. Beneficial 2x2 grid.So we can’t just hide from it. We need a set of strategies to increase our confidence and level up our speaking game.In today’s piece, I’ll propose 12 such strategies. Some of the strategies will appear non-obvious or even counter-intuitive—but trust me, they work.Without further ado, let’s dive in…Avoid MemorizationWhen we’re nervous for a speech, toast, presentation, or talk, our bias is to memorize the content word-for-word.We memorize in a valiant effort to avoid screwing up.Ironically, memorization often has the opposite effect.Imagine you are driving to a friend’s new house. You look up the directions before leaving—they seem simple enough, so you just memorize them. On the way, there’s a bit or roadwork that forces you to make a slight detour. Suddenly, you’re completely lost. You memorized the directions from A to B, but the slight twist has taken you off course and you have no clue how to get back on track. You only memorized the directions for one specific scenario (going directly from point A to point B), but the situation became more dynamic.For most people, the same general principle applies to public speaking.When you memorize material, one tiny slip-up can throw you off. You only know the material in one fixed direction, so you're unable to adapt. All it takes is a glitch in the slides, an off-track question from the audience, or a slight stumble in your opener and all of your preparation is out the window.Furthermore, rote memorization can make you appear distant to the audience.Instead of memorizing:Focus on a few key moments. Perfect the opening line, transitions, and closing. When you nail these, you create momentum—with the audience and yourself. It instills a confidence you can build on. Manufacture these small "wins" that compound.Create “lego blocks” that you can piece together. Hone small chunks of stories and ideas that you can naturally weave together depending on the situation. You’ll be able to pick and choose from your toolkit and be more dynamic in the moment.Study the BestWe live in an amazing era—we literally have the best speaking coaches in the world at our fingertips.Identify 3-5 speakers you admire. They can be politicians, business leaders, comedians, motivational coaches, whatever.Go on YouTube and find videos of each one delivering a speech.Slow down the playback speed—a great recommendation from my friend Ankur Warikoo—and take notes.Study the following:Structure: How are they structuring their talk?Cadence: What is the pacing of their words? When are they pausing and when are they accelerating?Tone: When are they raising their voice? When are they lowering it?Movement and Gestures: Note their movement on the stage (if any). How are they gesturing?Audience Engagement: How are they engaging with the audience?By analyzing the best, we naturally move to embody the traits we've identified.Strike a Power PoseA "power pose" is a stance that embodies a feeling of power—standing tall, arms spread and raised.The original discussion around the power pose entered the mainstream when social psychologist Amy Cuddy delivered a now famous Ted Talk on the topic that has been viewed over 20 million times.Cuddy asserted that executing power poses can actually create feelings of confidence and power...

Welcome to the 404 new members of the curiosity tribe who have joined us since Friday. Join the 89,181 others who are receiving high-signal, curiosity-inducing content every single week.Today’s newsletter is brought to you by LEX!What they do: make it easy to invest in real estatePop quiz…What asset class has created more millionaires than any other? Answer: Real estate.Today’s sponsor, LEX, has a really cool angle for investing in real estate. LEX does an “IPO” for a building, so you can directly invest in marquee commercial real estate. You can build a portfolio of buildings you want to invest in. Each building has a ticker, just like stocks. As a shareholder, you can get paid dividends flowing from the rent paid by the tenants. You can also earn tax advantaged passive income and trade without lockups.Check out LEX’s live assets in New York City and upcoming IPO in Seattle.Sign up for free here and get a $50 bonus when you deposit at least $500.Today at a Glance:Cognitive biases and logical fallacies are systematic errors in thinking and reasoning that negatively impact decision-making quality, logic, and outcomes.Combatting them relies first and foremost on establishing a level of awareness—both academically and practically.Part I of this series covered Fundamental Attribution Error, Naïve Realism, the Curse of Knowledge, Availability Bias, and Survivorship Bias.Today’s Part II covers Loss Aversion, the Spotlight Effect, Heaven’s Reward Fallacy, Confirmation Bias, and Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon.Dangerous Mental ErrorsA few weeks ago, I shared Part I of a multi-part series on cognitive biases and logical fallacies.In the opening to the piece, I commented on the fascinating dichotomy of our species:We possess the capacity to accomplish some complex feat of technology and engineering, and subsequently fall victim to the most obviously flawed base logic. For a hyper-intelligent species, our thinking and decision-making patterns can be pretty fractured.To be sure, many of these fractures were—for much of human history—features, not bugs. It’s logical to surmise that they were hardwired into our DNA because they made it incrementally more likely that we would survive to reproductive age.But the facts on the ground have changed—we live in a Digital Age—and our thinking and reasoning pathways have not had enough time to “catch up” to those new realities.So, we have to force it—we have to fight back and regain control over the quality of our decision-making and logic.In today’s Part II of the multi-part series, I’ll cover five common cognitive biases and logical fallacies that negatively impact decision-making quality, logic, and outcomes. To really bring it to life, for each one, I’ll provide a definition, example, and perspectives on how to fight back.Without further ado, let’s dive in…Loss AversionDefinitionThe pain of losing something is more powerful than the pleasure of winning it.Loss aversion was first identified by famed behavioral scientists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman, who found that humans had a tendency to prefer avoiding losses over acquiring equivalent gains.Accordingly, people were typically willing to take actions to avoid losses that they wouldn’t have taken to seek gains. Economists had previously assumed humans were rational actors—that $100 in losses would drive the same amount of pain as $100 in gains would create pleasure. Wrong. Humans are enigmatic creatures!ExampleInvestors—professional and amateur alike—provide some of the most clear, trackable examples of loss aversion. The pain and fear of realizing a loss often leads investors to hold onto losing positions much longer than they should.The media contributes to this bias—dunking on investors who cut ties with losing positions rather than celebrating the fact that they may have exhibited clear, rational thinking.How to Fight BackAvoid emotional connection to your possessions—whether they are investments, material items, or money. Attempt to distance your emotions from the decision-making process where possible.Ask questions:Am I being objective and rational in this decision?Am I too connected emotionally to make a rational decision?If you are too connected to a given decision, you may need to outsource it to an objective third-party.The Spotlight EffectDefinitionHumans significantly overestimate the degree to which other people are noticing or observing our appearance or actions.It causes a lot of social anxiety—it keeps people from being themselves due to an irrational fear of judgement.We incorrectly assume that others are thinking about us. The reality: Everyone is just thinking about themselves.ExampleImagine you go to a dinner party. You’re nervous about the party, because you know there will be a lot of smart attendees and you won’t know anyone there.During the cocktail hour, you’re in a small group discussion and say something incorrect about the current state of domestic economic affairs. Your error is pointed out politely and the conversation moves on in a different direction.The conversation has moved on—but you haven’t. Your brain is swirling around the moment where your error was pointed out.Your internal dialogue turns negative: “Everyone thinks I’m an idiot. They’re all staring at me. I wish I could leave.”For the rest of the event, you feel self-conscious and distant, worried about making another mistake.How to Fight BackIt sounds morbid, but constantly remind yourself that no one *really* cares about you. No one is obsessing over your hits and misses as much as you are. Full stop.Life is scary and complex—everyone is just trying to make their own way through it.It's liberating to realize that most people don't really think about you…Heaven’s Reward FallacyDefinitionHumans tend to have an expectation that they will be be justly rewarded and praised for all of their hard work and sacrifice.The reality is that a lot of our efforts go unnoticed, particularly early in our careers. Much of the work is thankless.This is a dangerous error because the constant expectation of external affirmation simply breeds resentment when it doesn’t come.ExampleEarly in your career—or really at any point in your career—you often have to sacrifice greatly for the benefit of the team or organization.The expectation that these actions will have an equal and opposite reaction—in the form of promotions, compensation, or praise—is unfortunately misguided.It leads to disappointment and resentment and is an underlying cause of a lot of employee churn and retention issues.How to Fight BackThere are two sides to this:As an individual, detach inputs from outputs. Design your own rewards for your hard work and sacrifice. Give yourself a...

Welcome to the 1,146 new members of the curiosity tribe who have joined us since Friday. Join the 88,500 others who are receiving high-signal, curiosity-inducing content every single week.Quick Announcement: Audience Building Course is back May 3-6!It's a live cohort-based course designed to help you build a high-leverage audience. Results from prior cohorts were awesome—hundreds of thousands of new followers and subscribers and countless new monetization opportunities created.Only 25 spots remaining—you can grab your seat here.Today’s newsletter is brought to you by LMNT!LMNT is my healthy alternative to sugary sports drinks.I work out a lot and pay close attention to what I put in my body (other than the occasional whiskey). That means that I reject all the standard sports drinks and their sugar-filled formulas.LMNT is a tasty solution—an electrolyte drink mix with everything you need and nothing you don't. That means a science-backed electrolyte ratio with no sugar, no coloring, no artificial ingredients, or any other junk.Get your free LMNT Sample pack below (you only cover the cost of shipping). You’re going to love it.Today at a Glance:An intellectual sparring partner is a friend, colleague, or acquaintance whose combination of background, competency, and personality makes them well-suited to strengthen the quality of your reasoning and decision-making via active, grounded discussion and debate.To identify one, look for a combination of a different background from your own, clarity and depth of thinking, and a kind but direct personality.Establish structure with regular “sparring sessions”—1 hour on a fixed weekly or monthly cadence, with clear topics and desired outcomes to guide the discussion.Intellectual Sparring PartnersOver the weekend, I posted a thread on Twitter on the topic of ideas I can’t stop thinking about.It was intentionally broad—a running list of some of the most interesting concepts, frameworks, paradoxes, and mental models that have been percolating in my mind over the last several months.If you’ve been following along for a while, by now you’ve realized that my posts are rarely intended to give you “the answer”—they’re intended to make you think. I want to give you the tools, but leave it up to you to create your own maps of how to use them.If I can spark new curiosity about a topic—and that curiosity leads to active thinking, learning, discussion, and personal or professional growth—I’ve done my job.One idea from the list—Intellectual Sparring Partners—seemed to spark a lot of interest, discussion, and follow-up questions.Interestingly, when my friend Alex Lieberman asked me which of the ideas on the list has had the biggest impact on my life to date, intellectual sparring partners was my answer.Why?Well, one intellectual sparring partner—and one “sparring session”—completely changed my life.So in today’s piece, I’d like to shine a spotlight on this idea:What is an Intellectual Sparring Partner?The sparring session that changed my life.How can you find one?The makeup of a great “sparring session”.With that context in mind, let’s dive right in…IntroductionI’ve been fortunate to meet and interact with many top performers in my life.One common trait I’ve observed: they all legitimately enjoy being wrong. They embrace new information that forces them to change their viewpoints—their open mindsets allow them to accumulate and compound knowledge at an accelerated rate.This innate desire to be wrong—to get closer to the truth—leads them to seek out people who are willing and able to push their thinking in new directions and to greater depths.These people are their intellectual sparring partners…Let’s check Sahil’s Dictionary for a definition:Intellectual Sparring Partner (Noun): A friend, colleague, or acquaintance whose combination of background, competency, and personality makes them well-suited to strengthen the quality of your reasoning and decision-making via active, grounded discussion and debate.Put simply, an intellectual sparring partner is a person who is willing and able to question, critique, and pressure test your thinking.Friends come easy—intellectual sparring partners are harder to find, but are incredibly important and valuable.A Personal StoryTo bring this concept to life, I’ll share a quick personal story…In early 2021, I was completely lost. From the outside looking in, everything was fine—I had built a large following on Twitter, I had a good job, etc. But on the inside, I felt like I was wandering around with a blindfold on.I had decided to leave my stable job in private equity—and the wonderful group of colleagues that came with it—to pursue something new, but had run into a series of rejections along the way.In May 2021, at my point of peak uncertainty, I sat down for a meal with Shaan Puri, the host of the My First Million podcast and one of my go-to intellectual sparring partners.The conversation went something like this:Shaan: So, tell me how you’re thinking about the next move?Sahil: Well, at this point, I’m basically thinking there’s a clear Path A and a not so clear Path B. Path A is to join another big investment fund, but one that’s doing early stage investing—the stuff I like thinking about. Path B is less clear, but it’s probably doubling down on all of my personal business, really trying to build that, and probably investing on my own.Shaan: Ok…so it sounds like you’re choosing between something that sounds really standard (join a fund) and something that sounds really fun and energizing (personal stuff).Sahil: Well, damn…when you put it that way…you’re right.In a very quick back and forth, Shaan had completely reframed the decision in my mind in a way that I never would have been able to on my own.My own biases and baggage—mainly the deep, misguided desire to have an important sounding title or impressive firm name on my resume—were clouding my ability to make a clear, thoughtful decision about what would be the most enjoyable, energy-creating, and profitable path.His pushback and reframe was critical. From that day forward, I went all in on Path B. Fast forward 12 months and I couldn’t be happier that I did.Score one for having an intellectual sparring partner…How to Identify OneLet’s shift to the tactical: how can you identify your intellectual sparring partner?First off, it’s important to note that there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all intellectual sparring partner. The person that works for me might not work for you, and vice versa.Here are a few of the traits to consider in identifying yours:Background: Different from your own across a number of vectors. A fundamentally different “map of reality” is ideal.Competency: Exhibited clarity and depth of th...

Welcome to the 840 new members of the curiosity tribe who have joined us since Friday. Join the 86,375 others who are receiving high-signal, curiosity-inducing content every single week.Quick Announcement: Audience Building Course is back May 3-6!It's a live cohort-based course designed to help you build a high-leverage audience. Results from prior cohorts were awesome—hundreds of thousands of new followers and subscribers and countless new monetization opportunities created.50 spots remaining—you can grab your seat here.Today’s newsletter is brought to you by LEX!What asset class has created more millionaires than any other? Real estate. The problem is that it’s an asset class that has previously been inaccessible to most investors. LEX has changed that with a unique new way to invest in real estate.LEX does an “IPO” for a building, so you can build a portfolio of buildings you want to invest in. Each building has a ticker, just like stocks. Any US investor can open a LEX account, browse opportunities in various asset classes such as multifamily and office buildings, and buy shares of individual buildings.I’m a huge fan of the platform—you will be too! Get a $50 bonus when you deposit $500 by using the link below.It’s Later Than You ThinkYou work and work for years and years, you're always on the goYou never take a minute off, too busy makin' doughSomeday you say, you'll have your fun, when you're a millionaireImagine all the fun you'll have in your old rockin' chairEnjoy yourself, it's later than you thinkEnjoy yourself, while you're still in the pinkThe years go by, as quickly as a winkEnjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it's later than you think- Guy Lombardo, Enjoy Yourself, It’s Later Than You ThinkA few weeks ago, I posted a thread on Twitter on harsh truths of life.Contrary to what you may believe, this piece was not intended to be dark or morbid. It was intended to make you think—to hopefully question some underlying (yet flawed) assumptions and spark active discussion with those around you.Today’s newsletter has the same intention.It’s more emotion-inducing than most of my work—I teared up several times during the writing!—but also arguably the most important piece I will ever write.My hope is for you to come away from it feeling cleansed, refreshed, and empowered to think clearly and deeply about your time and how you choose to spend it.With that context in mind, let’s dive right in…The Harsh TruthHarsh Truth: You’ll only see your loved ones a few more times.A Personal StoryI’ll start with a personal story.In May 2021, I had a conversation with a new friend that changed my life.We were having a chat—over a few whiskeys, of course—about living in California. He had grown up there and his entire family had settled there, so I was lamenting that it was so far away from my parents and sister in Boston.My friend asked how often I saw them and how old my parents were...I replied that I saw them about once per year, and that they were in their mid-60s. He looked me square in the face and plainly said:"Ok, so you'll see them 15 more times in your life."Gut punch.It sounds insensitive—but it's just real. It’s just…math. If the average life expectancy is ~80 years, my parents are in their mid-60s, and I see them one time per year, the math—however depressing—says I will see them 15 more times before they are gone.Our time together is finite, but we fail to recognize it until it's too late.Time is cruel. You’ll love it with all of your being, you may even pray for more of it, but the reality is that time doesn’t care about you.Your relationship with time is the ultimate unrequited love.The morning after this conversation, I woke up and had a very candid conversation with my wife about what we wanted in life. A few days later, we listed our brand new house in California on the market. Thanks to a blazing hot housing market, we sold our house within days, packed up our things, and shipped off to the East Coast to be closer to our parents.It’s been almost a year, and it was the best decision I've ever made.I'll never regret these tiny moments—of doing nothing in particular—that we'll get to spend together in the years ahead. I’ll never regret the moments my parents get to spend with my son once he is born.I’ll never regret any of this.Visualizing TimeWhen I first shared this story on Twitter, the response was pretty overwhelming. It seemed I wasn’t alone in having this painful, yet powerful, realization.Tim Urban—one of my favorite writers (and an upcoming guest on my podcast!)—wrote about this phenomenon in a recent New York Times op-ed.In classic Tim Urban fashion, he produced a simple visualizations to capture the sentiment of the entire piece.Quoting from the article:What it boils down to is this: My life, in the best-case scenario, will consist of around 20 years of in-person parent time. The first 19 happened over the course of my first 19 years. The final year is spread out over the rest of my life. When I left for college, I had many decades left with living parents, but only about one year of time left to spend with them.Furthermore, as he points out in the piece, this same lesson applies to everyone in our lives, and to the activities we love doing, but rarely get to do—travel, museum visits, special events, etc.The math—depressing as it seems—should be a call to arms.Identify the people and activities you care most deeply about. Prioritize them ruthlessly.It may be difficult, even painful, but it’s a decision you’ll never regret.ConclusionIn his famous 2005 commencement address at Stanford, Steve Jobs commented on the power of acknowledging his own mortality:Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.Because almost everything—all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure—these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.When we’re young, we view life as infinite.But as Tim Urban points out in his piece, when we visualize an optimistic lifespan in a single image, we realize it is anything but.We spend most of our lives playing a game.Everything we do is in anticipation of the future. When that future comes, we simply reset to think about the next future.“I can’t wait until I’m 16 so I can drive.”“I can’t wait until I’m 18 so I can leave home and go to college.”“I can’t wait until I’m 25 so I can have my...

Welcome to the 4,178 (!!!) new members of the curiosity tribe who have joined us since Friday. Join the 84,638 others who are receiving high-signal, curiosity-inducing content every single week.Today’s newsletter is brought to you by LMNT!LMNT is my healthy alternative to sugary sports drinks.I work out a lot and pay close attention to what I put in my body (other than the occasional whiskey). That means that I reject all the standard sports drinks and their sugar-filled formulas.LMNT is a tasty solution—an electrolyte drink mix with everything you need and nothing you don't. That means a science-backed electrolyte ratio with no sugar, no coloring, no artificial ingredients, or any other junk.Get your free LMNT Sample pack below (you only cover the cost of shipping). You’re going to love it.Today at a Glance:Cognitive biases are systematic errors in thinking that negatively impact decision-making quality and outcomes.Combatting them relies first and foremost on establishing a level of awareness of the biases—both academically and practically.Today’s deep dive covers five common cognitive biases that derail decision-making: Fundamental Attribution Error, Naïve Realism, the Curse of Knowledge, Availability Bias, and Survivorship Bias.Dangerous Mental ErrorsHumans are fascinating creatures.We possess the capacity to accomplish some complex feat of technology and engineering, and subsequently fall victim to the most obviously flawed base logic. For a hyper-intelligent species, our thinking and decision-making patterns can be pretty fractured.Many of these fractures fall into the category of cognitive biases—systematic errors in thinking that negatively impact decision-making quality and outcomes.Importantly, these are typically subconscious, automatic errors. We are wired to take shortcuts in our decision-making—to be more efficient and effective in the wild—but shortcuts are a double-edged sword. Speed and efficiency can be great, but when we systematically misinterpret the data, signal, and information from the world around us, it dramatically impacts the consistency and rationality of our decisions.Fortunately, we can fight back and regain—at least a modicum of—control over the quality of our decision-making.In today’s piece, I’ll cover five common cognitive biases that derail decision-making. For each, I’ll provide a definition, example, and perspectives on how to fight back.This will be Part I of a multi-part series on cognitive biases and logical fallacies—as it’s a topic that deeply impacts all of our careers and lives. Developing an awareness of these errors—and a plan to combat them—will give you a legitimate competitive advantage in all of your pursuits.Let’s dive in…Fundamental Attribution ErrorDefinitionFundamental Attribution Error is the human tendency to hold others accountable while giving ourselves a break.It says that humans tend to:Attribute someone else's actions to their character—and not to their situation or context.Attribute our actions to our situation and context—and not to our character.In short: We cut ourselves a break, but hold others accountable.Why do we do this? Well, as with many of the biases we will cover, it likely developed as a heuristic—a problem-solving or decision-making shortcut—in this case for simplifying the process and judgement around new human relationships.From an evolutionary perspective, quickly attributing negative actions to character—rather than situation or context—may have kept you alive, as you’d be more likely to avoid that individual in future interactions to play it safe.But in a modern context, it can create real problems—a failure to recognize or empathize with the context and situational factors impacting others is at the core of many societal and organizational issues.ExampleThe workplace is a common breeding ground for Fundamental Attribution Error.It’s easy to form perspectives on the character of colleagues and bosses based on small pieces of incomplete information.If a colleague arrives late for work, they’re just lazy, right?This is clearly a flawed line of thinking, as there are numerous factors that could have contributed to your colleague’s lateness.The reality is that, in these instances, you are using limited information to create an overall picture of an individual. You’re seeing one square of a map and believing you know the map in its entirety.How to Fight BackYou’ll never completely eliminate Fundamental Attribution Error, but you can limit its impact.The first step is always awareness—keep it in mind, particularly as you build a body of experiences with new colleagues or acquaintances. This is when it’s most likely to strike.Force yourself to slow down and evaluate the potential circumstances or situational factors that may be influencing an individual’s actions or behaviors.You won’t always have the time to do so—shortcuts are often necessary and helpful—but with longer-term or important relationships, it’s worth the extra effort. You’ll build deeper, more trusting personal and professional bonds.Naïve RealismDefinitionNaïve Realism is part of a broader category of so-called “egocentric biases” that are grounded in the reality that humans generally think very highly of themselves.Specifically, Naïve Realism has two core pillars:We believe that we see the world with perfect, accurate objectivity.We assume that people who disagree with us must be ignorant, uninformed, biased, or stupid.It often leads to a dangerous “bias blind spot”—a phenomenon in which we accurately identify cognitive biases in others, but are unable to identify them in ourselves.ExampleThe most famous example of Naïve Realism is an experiment involving a highly-contested Dartmouth vs. Princeton football game.After the game, fans of each side were asked to watch the film of the game and evaluate the performance of each team. Interestingly, depending on which team they supported, they saw a very different game.Dartmouth fans perceived the number of Princeton infractions as much higher; Princeton fans perceived the number of Dartmouth infractions as much higher.The groups were incapable of objectivity, despite vocalizing their objectivity to the researchers prior to the experiment.They watched the same game, but saw a very different one.How to Fight BackNaïve Realism is a base level bias, so fighting back starts with base awareness and acceptance of our own flaws and biases.A few other ideas:Surround yourself with people who think differently than you. Force the issue.Learn to embrace being wrong. It’s a common trait of highly-successful people, as being wrong means you are getting closer to the truth.Question your own beliefs. Always ask what assumptions or experiences have contributed to those beliefs.Fighting back against Naïve Realism isn’t easy, but it’s so damn important.The Curse of KnowledgeDefinitionExperts—or generally intelligent people—make the flawed assumption that others have the same background and knowledge on a topic as they do.It makes them unable to teach or lead in an effective manner for those still coming ...

Welcome to the 979 new members of the curiosity tribe who have joined us since Friday. Join the 80,207 others who are receiving high-signal, curiosity-inducing content every single week.Today’s newsletter is brought to you by Write of Passage!Fun Fact: This newsletter would not exist if not for David Perell.When we first met, David explained his concept of the Personal Monopoly and convinced me to go all in on building mine. One year later, here we are.The Internet unfairly rewards people who have a unique set of skills, experiences, and ideas. When that combination is so unique that it can’t be replicated, you create a Personal Monopoly.David Perell has become the go-to guy for writing online, and has helped thousands of students create their own personal monopolies. He’s created a free guide to help people uncover their strengths, clearly communicate their value, and start building their reputation online with a free lesson from his Write of Passage course.This is a life cheat code. I highly recommend checking it out!Today at a Glance:Type I Procrastination is common and generally not very harmful. We procrastinate on doing the laundry, taking out the trash, or replying to our emails. Type II Procrastination is equally common, but much more damning. Type II tasks tend to be the long-term important projects—the true growth creators. When we procrastinate on these projects, we fail to make progress.The Anti-Procrastination System involves five core steps: (1) Awareness, (2) Deconstruction, (3) Plan Creation, (4) Stake Creation, and (5) Action.The system is equally applicable for both Type I and II, but given its deliberate structure, it’s likely better to walk through for the first time in the context of Type II Procrastination.How to Stop ProcrastinatingConfession: I’ve spent most of my life as a chronic procrastinator.I’ve also spent most of my life justifying that chronic procrastination. “It’s just how I work,” I’d say to myself after yet another stress-inducing last-minute sprint to complete a project. The pressure of an imminent deadline was what I needed to thrive.Scientifically, I wasn't wildly off…The Yerkes-Dodson Law—originally developed by psychologists Robert Yerkes and John Dodson in 1908—says stress and performance are positively correlated…up to a point, after which more stress reduces performance.But there are two core issues here:It’s very difficult to honestly review where you sit on the curve. Are you really at optimal stress, or have you gone past that point on the curve?If procrastination is the only way you’re able to create optimal stress, you only work on the urgent tasks—very rarely the long-term important tasks. As you’ll recall from my piece on The Ultimate Productivity Tool, this is a recipe for stalled progress.What I realized: A modest amount of stress, pressure, and arousal is good—but relying on procrastination to create it is bad. Procrastination is a growth limiter—it restricts our potential.It became clear to me that I needed to develop a system to fight back.In today’s piece, I’d like to share that system with all of you.The Anti-Procrastination SystemI categorize procrastination-prone tasks into two types:Type I: Small & BoringType II: Big & ScaryType I Procrastination is common and generally not very harmful. We procrastinate on doing the laundry, taking out the trash, or replying to our emails.Type II Procrastination is equally common, but much more damning. Type II tasks tend to be the long-term important projects—the true growth creators. When we procrastinate on these projects, we fail to make progress—we stall. The Anti-Procrastination System involves five core steps:AwarenessDeconstructionPlan CreationStake CreationActionThe structure is sequential, but its practice is often dynamic & iterative.Note: The system is equally applicable for both Type I and II, but given its deliberate structure, it’s likely better to walk through for the first time in the context of Type II Procrastination.Let's walk through each of the steps...AwarenessAs with most mental hurdles, the first step is becoming aware of the problem.Procrastination is defined as the action of postponing or delaying something. Ancient Greek philosophers called it Akrasia—acting against your better judgement. We procrastinate when it's easier to delegate a task to our future self.Don’t beat yourself up about it. The proclivity to procrastinate is literally hardwired into our DNA. We value immediate rewards, even if we know that it isn’t what’s best for us in the long-term.To develop awareness, schedule a daily assessment of your day-to-day actions. Start by identifying the important long-term projects in your life.Then ask a few questions:Am I proud of the actions I am taking on these big projects?Am I doing what I should be doing?If the answers are “no”—that’s great.You're now aware of your procrastination and can proceed to the next step...DeconstructionThe driver of Type II Procrastination is that big and scary projects are...well...big and scary.In his famous Ted Talk, Tim Urban uses the example of a senior thesis. If you define the project as "write my 100-page thesis" you’re already pre-wired for procrastination.To the chronic procrastinator—or to any human, really—large, long-term projects look like a big, black box. Our imaginations tend to fill that box with endless complexity and unknown horrors.We know it's important, but it's too intimidating and abstract as a whole.So how do you attack that? Well, get out your sledgehammer and break it apart…It's critical to deconstruct the big and scary project into small and individually-manageable tasks.In the example of the senior thesis, the tasks might be:Construct a note-taking systemGather important pieces of researchAnnotate key pieces of researchCraft thesis outlineEtc.The goal here is a simple mental conversion from intimidating to manageable.Plan CreationNext, you need to develop a plan of attack to check off the deconstructed task list.The plan for each micro task should be:Specific: Exactly what you'll do.Time Bound: When you’ll do it.Important Note: We tend to overestimate what we can do in a day (and underestimate what we can do in a year). When you are setting time bounds, lean towards being less ambitious on the micro scale. Give yourself easy wins early on with achievable time bounds.Create a project document. I use Notion (see below for an illustrative example), but you can use whatever system you are comfortable with.A few guidelines for the project document:Write down the specific tasks under each major deconstructed pillar of the project.Write down your timeline for each task.Pro Tip: Once you complete the project document, but before starting the project, hide the future pillars to avoid upfront intimidation at the amount of work on your plate. Focus on the present.Stake CreationThis is perhaps the most important step of the system, but it’s an easy one to overl...

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...