Weekly Question & Framework: September 13, 2024

Hello and welcome to the Curiosity Chronicle Weekly Question and Framework. In three minutes or less, I'll give you one question and one framework to get you thinking going into the weekend. Without further ado, let's dive right into it. A question to understand your priorities. What sacrifices are you willing to make to get the things you want? I recently came across a quote that made me think the real price of everything, what everything really costs to the man who wants to acquire it is the toil and and trouble of acquiring it. Adam Smith, the Wealth of Nations There is a price tag for anything you want to achieve in life. Importantly, everything has a list price. What it costs on the surface and a real price what you have to give up to get it. There's the list price you see and the real price you don't. Before you go after anything, make sure you're willing to pay both. What I've Learned There are many things in life that look like a great deal based on the list price, but a ripoff based on the real price. Using the historical example of John D. Rockefeller, the list price for his success was the countless years of hard work and focus. But the real price also included loving relationships, lost physical and mental health, deterioration from a nonstop schedule, and reputation damage from some of his business practices. For me, thinking clearly about the real price of the things I want has helped create a balanced existence. I spent most of my life thinking that I wanted to be extraordinarily rich or famous. But as I've matured, I've realized that the real price of those things is not one that I'm willing to pay. At least not for now. It would almost certainly mean giving up these Wednesday afternoon hangs with my young son and I'm just not willing to do that. Make sure you're willing to pay the real price for the thing you're after in life. A Framework to Become a World Class Speaker Winston's Star for many years, the late MIT computer science professor Patrick Winston would give an annual lecture entitled how to Speak, in which he would lay out his framework for compelling public speaking to a packed house of students. One of his core ideas for becoming a world class speaker was Winston's Star. Winston's Star is a checklist of five key elements to engage audiences and create a meaningful impact. 1. Use a visual symbol to make your idea stick. 2. Slogan find and deliver. A simple, catchy slogan for the central idea. 3. Surprise. The human brain loves novelty. Make sure to highlight the contrarian, counterintuitive or surprising details of the idea. 4. Salient focus less is more. Determine the most salient pieces and deliver those succinctly. Avoid unnecessary fluff and 5 story people love stories. Use human storytelling to simplify, spark emotion, and make a presentation more relatable and memorable. As you prepare for your next public speaking opportunity, consider leveraging Winston Starr. How can you incorporate the items from this simple checklist to improve the impact of your words on the audience? That's all for today's piece. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope you learned something, and I hope you'll share it with others. Hopefully, if you enjoyed this, you're going to love my upcoming book, the Five Types of Wealth. To preorder it today, go to the fivetypesofwealth.com or search the title at any of your favorite online bookstores. As always, until next time, everybody stay curious. Friends.