Welcome to Constantly Curious, Edition #5 (5/18/2023)!

The idea here is simple: each week, I will curate the most interesting articles, tweets, videos, ideas, people or hacks that I’ve come across and send them (via this newsletter) directly to your inbox.

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I recently updated my Twitter Bio, which can be found here. I’m workshopping some ideas that to show people “who i am” when they land on my socials.

What do you think? Does this encapsulate my authenticity? I’d love your feedback!

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With that said, let’s get into it -

Tweet That I’m Thinking Deeply About

This tweet from Ryan Holiday (@RyanHoliday) is something I’ve come back to 2-3x this week to think a little more deeply about. The framework here is very powerful: that is, establishing “go-to” questions to help us deal with stress and decisions throughout our day.

While you could swap out these questions for ones that are more authentic to you/your worldview, these are a really good framework to start from. I particularly love #1 and #6 - both are extremely powerful in helping determine what deserves our energy.

If something is out of your control, the energy you allot to that “thing” should diminish greatly. Then, you can ask yourself #6 - how can I make the best of this? Owning and embracing proper perspective can be a super power.

“Everything we see is perspective, not the truth.” - Marcus Aurelius

3 Social Posts I Found Value In Or Enjoyed This Week

@ringernfl

Eagles got away with robbery when they drafted Nolan Smith! #nfl #nolansmith #playbreakdown #nflbreakdown #nflfilmbreakdown #football #foo... See more

Epic breakdown - I’d have zero idea on how to eval a college DE, and this is an extremely informative breakdown from Ben Solak (@BenjaminSolak) of The Ringer. Ben’s one of the best in the biz at this type of content.

What is this sorcery?

Major key from Conor - I’ve been implementing this drill and seeing some early returns.

Financial Product Everyone Needs To Get Educated On

To preface: I am obviously not a financial advisor, and this is not financial advice - I can not speak on what is best for you. BUT, I can speak on my experience.

About 18 months ago, I signed up for and transferred the bulk of my savings to Capital One’s High-Yield Savings Account (HYSA). Typically, most generic savings accounts at brick and mortar banks offer something like 0.1% APY (basically nothing). HYSA (which are offered at nearly every major bank, including a new offering from Apple) offer a significantly higher APY (anywhere from 3.75% to 4.25% or higher). These accounts are virtually no different than the savings account you are likely currently using, and are FDIC insured.

I’d encourage everyone to learn even more on the topic (resources here and here) - HYSA interest is truly “passive” income that you can capitalize on almost instantly.

Idea I’m Fleshing Out - Optimists vs. Pessimists

I tweeted the above, and want to expand a little more on the idea of Optimists vs. Pessimists. I try to consciously choose to intentionally be an optimist, because the upside is CONSIDERABLY higher. I’ll explain:

If you are a pessimist, your upside is generally capped at simply being “right”. You are inherently betting against whatever the idea/thought/innovation is.

If you are an optimist, your bets may have MUCH more upside than just being right (which would ALSO happen). Let’s use Bitcoin as an easy-to-understand example.

The upside of saying “Bitcoin makes no sense and will never catch on” is simply being RIGHT. No more.

The upside of saying “Bitcoin has a chance to establish itself as a store of value” is being right AND financial upside.

Now, Bitcoin’s rise was never a guarantee, and the financial upside was far greater than most predicted (except BTC’s biggest optimists - see a theme??). BUT, the point is that the asymmetric UPSIDE was the optimist PoV.

If you make a calculated bet with asymmetric upside and are wrong, so be it. So long as the upside (Bitcoin going from $100 to $60,000) far outweighs the downside (Bitcoin going from $100 to $0), it’s a bet worth taking.

But, this thought-process applies to more than just finance and money - if the upside to starting the YouTube channel you’ve always wanted far outweighs the downside, it’s a bet worth taking. If the upside of maneuvering for your dream job far outweighs the downside, what are you waiting for? If the upside to stepping into your passions far outweighs the downside, you’re a fool to wait a minute longer.

Pessimists get to be right.

Optimists get to the be right, AND win.

That’s it for Edition #5 of CC.

What did you think? ALL feedback is welcome. Additionally, if you read/watched something you think I would like - PLEASE send it my way.

If you enjoyed, feel free to share with friends/family - MUCH more to come, and I cant wait to keep sharing ideas with you.

Stay Curious, Friends.