Curiosity Chronicle

In the mid-19th century, a physician named Dr. Ignaz Semmelweis was working as an assistant in Vienna General Hospital when he noticed something curious.

The hospital had two maternity clinics right next to each other, one staffed by doctors and medical students, the other by midwives.

The mortality rate of mothers at the clinic staffed by doctors and medical students was a shocking (even for the era) 18%, while it was just 2% at the clinic staffed by midwives.

It occurred to Semmelweis that the doctors and medical students were often moving straight from working on cadavers to delivering babies.
Without washing their hands in between.

He mandated handwashing, and the rate immediately dropped to below 2%.

Rather than being hailed as a hero, he was ridiculed. Doctors rejected the evidence because it contradicted their deeply-entrenched beliefs.
On Friday, I explored why smart, accomplished people reject the very evidence that could help them—and the antidote: what I call the Empty Cup Mindset.

Ask yourself: What new evidence would cause me to change my mind?

If the answer is nothing, your cup is too full...

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This episode brought to you by:
DeleteMe - DeleteMe makes it quick, easy, and safe to remove your personal data online. 
Origin Financial - Your personal AI Financial Advisor. Track your spending, investments, and net worth—all in one place.
Innerbody Labs - A Higher Standard. After reviewing thousands of health products, we built formulas we wished existed.
Lemon - The Al agent that turns your voice instructions into finished tasks.

Last week, I got an email from a reader that stopped me in my tracks:
Dear Mr. Bloom,My name is Parker and I am 17. I am reaching out because I would like some advice.
I have had a goal and dream since I can remember, being rich and owning some sort of business but I do not know where to start. I don't want to be rich for the wrong reasons. I want to use my money as freedom for myself and to use it as a way to help others. My goal is to make 1 million by the time I am 20.
I was wondering if I could have some mentorship on how I could achieve this goal. I come from a poor family so money is hard for us but I will do whatever it takes to achieve this no matter what.
I hope this finds you well, thank you for your time.
So, I sat down for a day to properly answer his question:

What would I tell him? What advice would I give? What tactical playbook would I provide?

This is my open letter to Parker—and to anyone out there with big dreams and no idea where to start...

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This episode brought to you by:
DeleteMe - DeleteMe makes it quick, easy, and safe to remove your personal data online. 
Origin Financial - Your personal AI Financial Advisor. Track your spending, investments, and net worth—all in one place.
Innerbody Labs - A Higher Standard. After reviewing thousands of health products, we built formulas we wished existed.
Lemon - The Al agent that turns your voice instructions into finished tasks.

In this episode, I explored a framework from Nir Eyal's new book, Beyond Belief, called the Motivation Triangle. Most people think motivation is about behavior and benefit—the actions you take and the outcomes you want. But that misses the most critical component: Belief. Without it, the other two collapse.

The lesson? Take a few minutes this weekend to audit your core beliefs about who you are and what you're capable of. Your beliefs have the power to shape your entire reality.

Choose wisely...

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This episode brought to you by:
DeleteMe - DeleteMe makes it quick, easy, and safe to remove your personal data online. 
Origin Financial - Your personal AI Financial Advisor. Track your spending, investments, and net worth—all in one place.
Innerbody Labs - A Higher Standard. After reviewing thousands of health products, we built formulas we wished existed.

Six weeks ago, I shared an embarrassing confession​ on my phone addiction.

It all began at my ​Think Week​ retreat in January, when I pondered a single question:
If you were the main character in a movie of your life, what would the audience be screaming at you to do right now?
The answer, in this case, felt blindingly obvious:Get off the damn phone...

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This episode brought to you by:
DeleteMe - DeleteMe makes it quick, easy, and safe to remove your personal data online. 
Origin Financial - Your personal AI Financial Advisor. Track your spending, investments, and net worth—all in one place.
Innerbody Labs - A Higher Standard. After reviewing thousands of health products, we built formulas we wished existed.

I feel like I need to say something...

Over the last few weeks, it seems like I can't go ten minutes without having a new "AI Doom" story hit my feed.
The extraordinary virality of the AI Doom narrative is notable. It spreads rapidly to every corner of the internet. It's shared, talked about, and clicked on, millions upon millions of times.

And as it turns out, cognitive science shows us why...

•••
This episode brought to you by:
DeleteMe - DeleteMe makes it quick, easy, and safe to remove your personal data online. 
Origin Financial - Your personal AI Financial Advisor. Track your spending, investments, and net worth—all in one place.
Innerbody Labs - A Higher Standard. After reviewing thousands of health products, we built formulas we wished existed.