In this solo episode of the No Days Off podcast, host Brian Gubernick explains why he started the show, how it evolved from a personal habit of recording lessons for his daughters into a public daily podcast, and why he believes everyone should journal or record their experiences for future generations. He introduces Naval Ravikant’s framework for following intellectual curiosity—a set of reflective questions about personal strengths, interests, and aspirations—and urges listeners to answer them, then choose a project or skill to pursue for 90 days. Throughout, Brian ties the practice to his core podcast themes of health, wealth, and relationships, and shares his own answers, emphasizing a desire to influence people at scale. The episode ends with a call to action: identify your curiosity‑driven project and commit to it.
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Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick, and welcome to the No Days Off podcast, where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. Let's get into it. Today I want to talk about following your intellectual curiosity. What the heck am I talking about? And why do I want to talk about this topic? Last week I was recording a podcast. I was appearing on someone else's podcast, my buddy Jason Abrams, who runs the Millionaire Real Estate Agent Podcast. And Jason was talking to me about real estate, about real estate sales teams. We were talking numbers, and hopefully that podcast is coming out soon. Definitely one you should check out. I think we did a pretty good job with it. But And towards the end of the interview, Jason had asked me about the No Days Off podcast. He was talking to me about, you know, why I started it, why I'm doing it. And, and I don't know if I've ever shared this story, and I thought it'd be a good one to share. And then I'll kind of bring it around and talk about today's subject, which is intellectual curiosity. So when I started the No Days Off podcast, it was, you know, about I don't know, 9, 10 months ago. And it was not my intention to record a podcast every day. That was not what I was setting out to do. My intention was actually to jot down, to write, to record lessons, things that I'd experienced in life and business and relationships and health, write these things down so that I could one day leave them for others. In particular, Leave them for my daughters. Now, I don't know if my kids would ever read these things. I just know that for my friends and for me, all of us wish that we had a book or a document from our own parents where they told us or they expressed their lessons or experiences when they were our age. Right now, I can get with my parents today and hear all these stories and, and get their thoughts, but it's just not the same. As them telling me these things when they're in the moment. So recognizing this, I wanted to, I wanted to do things a little, a little differently. So I started writing down various things I wanted my kids to one day have the opportunity to read. Again, whether they were valuable or not was not so much the intent. The intent was to just give them something from their father. Well, I'm not much of a writer. I'll admit I am not one to journal. It is just not my style. And it was more so the writing. It wasn't so much conveying the message. And so I had decided that instead of writing, I might as well record. I'm better just talking into something. It was easier for me to do. And so I started doing that only to realize not too far into it that Hell, if I'm going to be recording this, maybe I ought to put it out for public consumption. Maybe it would be of benefit for 1 or 2 or 3 other people to hear it. Maybe I can impact somebody in some way. And the No Days Off podcast was born. As a matter of fact, if you listen to the first 40 or 50 episodes, because remember, we're doing these things every weekday. If you listen to the first 40 or 50, there is a more personal note, I would say, to those 40 or 50 because, well, they were the natural, you know, conversations I was intending to have with my daughters in the writing I was doing that led to the recording of No Days Off. Now, where am I going with this whole thing? I wanted you to have the backstory because I think number one, I would challenge everybody listening to begin to record be it in a journal or maybe in a recording like I'm doing. Record what it is you're seeing and experiencing and learning. With the idea being that there will be generations behind you that may one day benefit from it. Maybe not benefit from the lessons you're teaching, but benefit from hearing your voice, benefit from experiencing you, your written voice or your spoken voice. I think it's a good exercise, and probably the number one reason to do it is so that 20 years down the road you don't regret that you didn't. At least that was a motivator for me. So I, I want everyone to start jotting down their lessons and their experiences, knowing that one day somebody else would want to read it. Now, that's not what today's podcast is about. It's about the other reason to do this. The other reason to do it is because my buddy Naval Ravikant, who I'm a huge fan of— I've talked about The Almanac of Naval being one of my most favorite books over the past couple years— Naval talks about following your intellectual curiosity. And he asks these questions, and I'm going to ask them of you today, because maybe, just maybe, you'll find yourself gravitating towards recording more of your life experiences. Here are the questions. First, what comes easy to you that's difficult for others? What comes easy to you that's difficult for others? What subjects can you talk about endlessly? If you could only read books from one section of the bookstore, which section would you pick? What do other people tell you you you're good at? And lastly, how would you fill in the phrase, it would be cool to blank? Whatever comes after is something worth trying. It'd be cool to blank. Now, after you develop a solid set of answers to those questions, and again, I think they're really great questions, they, they deserve some thinking time. After you develop a solid set of answers, Naval would encourage you to choose a project or a new skill or something you want to learn and run with it for the next 90 days. Usually 90 days is long enough to give you a good idea as to whether or not something's, you know, worth your time. If it's worth the pursuit, it's also short enough to feel like you didn't waste a bunch of time. Now I share that with you because a lot of those questions and Naval as a, as an indirect mentor of mine sparked the, the motivation to go even further with the podcast. Right. As I mentioned, it was initially just me recording my thoughts. And again, I think that's what we should all be doing in some fashion for the generations that follow us. But what sustains it for me, it's, it's this intellectual curiosity, this pursuit of intellectual curiosity. What comes easy to you that's difficult for others? I don't know. I guess I have, you know, the desire to gab, the desire to teach. I don't know if it's easier per se, but I enjoy it. And what subjects can I talk about endlessly? You hear it here every episode: health, wealth, relationships. If I could only read books from a section of a bookstore, which, which section would I pick? It's almost always personal growth, and if it's not, it's business. What do other people tell you that you're good at? I don't know if anybody ever tells me I'm good at anything, but I think I'm fairly decent in conveying lessons and in speaking to groups. You know, at least I have a lot of energy around that, or I'm passionate about it. And lastly, how would you fill in the phrase, it'd be cool to? For me, it would be cool to influence and impact people at a very large scale. And so it's worth trying. It's worth trying. I want you to answer those questions. And again, after you develop that solid set of answers, pick a project or pick a new skill you want to learn and get after it for a few months and see what comes of it. So that's kind of the focusing question for you today. Go through those questions and then ask yourself, what new project or new skill should I run with? Should I learn in the next 90 days? That's all I have for you today. The No Days Off podcast. Thank you so much for listening. And remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it. 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