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Wee Bit Wiser: Lessons from 1000+ podcasts

Saw your name in the Epstein files

Published about 23 hours ago • 3 min read

Wee Bit Wiser

by Jordan Harbinger

Something wise(-ish)

Just kidding, obviously.

I just wanted to see the open rate on this newsletter.

I’m guessing it’s gonna be above 90%.

Dumb clickbait, I know. But it made me chuckle.

Then it made me think.

Why do we open random emails?

Why do we engage with anything that’s unknown at all?​
​

I mean, what’s unknown is risky.

Will this stranger help me or hurt me?

Will this activity stimulate me or deplete me?

Will this idea empower me or mislead me?

That first step we take toward something unknown — that’s always a cost/benefit analysis.

And a lot of that is dictated by how curious we are.

What is curiosity, when you get down to it?

Curiosity is a function of having part of the information — and then needing to find out the rest.

Hooking that curiosity is just marketing.

Like the silly subject line of this email.

But once you open a door and peek into a new room, there better be something valuable waiting for you there.​
​

Something of true substance. Something that adds to your life in a non-trivial way.

(Even if it’s just entertainment. Entertainment is valuable too. But there’s a difference between entertainment and diversion.)

If you don’t find that substance, you’ll be disappointed, annoyed or (worst of all) indifferent.

The crazy thing is, a lot of products these days are just marketing.

For example, scammy coaching courses that promise you the keys to the castle — and then, once you’re in, just keep dangling one more step so they can keep charging your credit card.

A lot of TV shows work like this too. Each scene baits you into watching the next one, but there’s nothing meaningful happening in the story. Whatever gets you to watch till the end, stick around through the ads, hit play on the next episode.

Same with junk food (sugar, salt).

Same with self-help books (big talk, vague bromides).

Same with the news (speculation, “here’s what we know”).

Wherever you turn, you’re usually engaging with information management more than true value.

In other words, you’re engaging with marketing.

So yes, I shamelessly indulged in this trick with that subject line.

But I’m trying to prove a point.

There’s nothing wrong with hooking someone’s curiosity…​
​

… as long as you reward that curiosity with substance.​
​

That’s fair play.

That’s when clever marketing becomes brilliant marketing.

When it understands that at some point it has to stop being marketing.

So as you go about your week, don’t be afraid of shamelessly hooking people’s intrigue — in a subject line, in the way you tee up a point in a meeting, in your dating profile. It’s one of the best tools you have.

But then, once you’ve hooked someone’s interest, commit to giving them something of value — an insightful email, a productive point, a stimulating conversation.

This is the handshake of attention.

This is the sacred agreement between speaker and audience.

And this is probably the only good thing to come out of the Epstein files. Well, that and the dank memes. (Sorry.)

And hey, congrats on [probably] not being in them!

Have you found this principle to be true in your world? Struggling to make use of it?​
​

Hit reply and tell me about it. I’m all ears!

On the show this past week

​1333: Chris Kolbe | Is Your Gym Shirt Slowly Poisoning You?​

​1334: Justin Garcia | Why We Live, Cheat, Break, and Die for Love​

​1335: Protecting Your Kids from the Evil They Hid | Feedback Friday​

​1336: Dialysis | Skeptical Sunday​

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Wee Bit Wiser: Lessons from 1000+ podcasts

by Jordan Harbinger

In Wee Bit Wiser, every Wednesday I'll deliver the most valuable insights from the most fascinating people in the world straight to your inbox and help you get slightly smarter every week.

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