Curiosity Chronicle – Details, episodes & analysis

Question: What are the barriers within you that need to be broken?

Framework: The Beginner's Paradox

I have a few core Missions that define my life—everything is aligned around them.

Missions are life journeys with no specific end. Missions are not goals. Missions are infinite games. The power of Missions is found in the clarity they provide: If an opportunity, person, or action does not positively contribute to one of your Missions, you can say no to it.

I have clearly defined a Mission within each of three categories: Professional, Personal, and Health. Clearly defining (and embarking on) your missions is the key to unlocking new clarity, focus, and fulfillment in your life.

Question: What is one tiny action that would create momentum?

Framework: The 2 Types of Knowledge

Question: What am I certain of today that I'll laugh at in 10 years?

Framework: The Bike Shed Effect.

I recently re-read an old Paul Graham essay that got me thinking about the composition of professional time—what "types" of time exist in our workdays and how we can find a more optimal balance across those types.

I identified four types of professional time: Management, Creation, Consumption, and Ideation. Most of us have a lot of Management, a little bit of Creation, and almost no Consumption and Ideation.

Use a color coding calendar exercise to deconstruct your current mix of time. Three tips to improve your balance: (1) Batch Management Time, (2) Increase Creation Time, and (3) Create space for Consumption and Ideation Time.

Question: What would you invest in today assuming you had to hold the investment forever?

Framework: Survivorship Bias.

I just completed my first marathon in 2:57:31 just 6 months after I started running. By achieving the sub 3-hour marathon time, I had hit my Big Goal. It felt great, at first. But then came the rut, one which led to a fundamental change in how I'm going to think about goal setting and achievement in the future.

Big Goals create a perfect storm for unhappiness. If we miss them, we feel like a failure. If we hit them, we feel a temporary satisfaction, followed by an odd darkness brought about by the Arrival Fallacy, purpose dissipation, and their extrinsic focus.

Focus on Micro Goals is my new, favored approach. Micro Goals are intrinsic, avoid the Arrival Fallacy, and create daily purpose. I will continue to have Big Goals, but I will focus my daily energy around these Micro Goals to create a healthier balance.

Question: The 1-Second Decision.

Framework: Maximizers vs. Satisficers.

Dr. Peter Attia uses a framework with his patients called the Centenarian Decathlon to organize physical aspirations for life’s later years. The idea is to choose 10 physical tasks the person wants to be able to do at 100 and then reverse engineer the necessary actions in the present to achieve that future.

Using a similar exercise to look at the broader scope of your life can be very helpful. What does your ideal life look like at age 80? Who are you with? What are you doing? How do you feel? Where are you?

To create that future, what are the necessary actions in the present? What actions, habits, and behaviors do you need to adopt today to create that end?

Question: What does your perfect workday look like?

Framework: The 3-3-3 Method.