Think of Perscient storyboards as a way to track narratives in real-time so you can see reality before the story catches up.
For example, here are five insights on the housing market from Matt Zeigler’s interview with Daryl Fairweather, chief economist at Redfin, that come alive with new meaning through the narrative-tracking power of Perscient storyboards.
Lawrence Yeo once committed 100 hours to write a single story. He just wanted to know what would happen if he put that much time and effort into something. No expectation, just curiosity.
Bill Stephney, after introducing Chuck D to Rick Rubin (and Hank Shocklee along the way but, don’t let me rabbithole you too on this story), helped manage Def Jam way back at the beginning of the label, where he learned to ask up and comers if they wanted recognition, money, or celebrity status – because they’d have to focus on one of the three. He learned not to have an expectation too, and he let the curiosity guide him.
Which – the external validation, as tempting as it is, of knowing your 100 hour project will succeed or basking in the glory of your status, wealth and fame, always (ALWAYS) succumbs to the internal reality of – did you get what you really wanted?
In Lawrence’s case, it eventually led him away from a career in music, a career on Wall Street, and into a career in writing (first book, “The Inner Compass” out now).
In Bill’s case, it eventually expanded from a career in music, to the business of music in movies, documentaries, and even high education.
The overlap is that the external validation ultimately means nothing, even if it’s where we want to focus. It really is a trap. And these two have both figured out how to stay out of it.
Read more at cultishcreative.com
Eric Markowitz shared this Nassim Taleb quote in The Nightcrawler last weekend and it’s rattling around in my head:
The more rational we become, the more blind we are to our own irrationality.
Nassim Taleb
You can reduce, simplify, and get everything fitting into your head all tidy-like.
All the numbers can add up. The i’s can be dotted and the t’s can look to be crossed.
Maybe it’s damn near perfect after a while.
And all it does is open you up to a bigger disaster.
There’s comfort in living with some mess.
I pretty much expect I am always in a bit of a mess. I don’t like to be surprised by it. The chaos is just there and that’s fine.
For example – I thought I had a whole week of posts scheduled out on Saturday this week.
Read more at cultishcreative.com
Engagement’s a trap. Or maybe it’s a myth. All I know is – it’s real, but it’s also not reality, and if you’re confused, you’re onto a truth that will set you (and whatever you’re creating) free.
Mike Cessario is the CEO/Founder of Liquid Death and, no matter how dumb you feel like the company is (or how amused you are by a CEO who wears Deicide shirts), he knows a thing or two about reaching an audience and inspiring action.
If you’re obsessed with comments, likes, and engagement rates, I need you to see this:
90% of people on social are passive observers who do not engage by clicking like buttons or posting comments. They treat social media the same way they treat their television: they sit back and watch the circus.
Mike Cessario, CEO/Founder at Liquid Death
Marketing extraordinaire Jack Appleby put that idea in my inbox this week (he was probably wearing a Taking Back Sunday shirt). It came on the same day I happened to be listening to Bob Pittman (MTV, Nickelodeon, basically the creator of my entire childhood education, and current CEO of iHeartMedia) get interviewed by Rick Rubin (who… same pitch). Bob was talking about the Spotify vs. radio stats and – just read this too:
Ad supported Spotify or ad supported Pandora reach about 20% of America. We reach 90%.
Bob Pittman, iHeartMedia CEO
More people listen to the radio today than did 10 years ago or 20 years ago.
Read more at cultishcreative.com
I am impossibly betting that sometime in 2002 I saw Atmosphere on the God Loves Ugly tour in the 300ish person room below Pearl Street in Northampton, MA. If you know otherwise, or if you gave me a ride there, or whatever, feel free to clarify. The internet has failed me in this regard.
And, more specifically, I saw Atmosphere, a bunch of Rhymesayers artists, and Mr. Dibbs.
DJs have always been fascinating to me. Mr. Dibbs included. The curation and choices and room-reading (and occasionally lack of room reading) fascinates me.
It was probably all the years in high school I spent playing for real money in cover bands in bars, relative to the time I spent playing for minimal door money in original bands in indie/all-ages clubs.
Getting a room to appreciate an original is really hard. It’s your art and it’s being judged. LIVE.
Now, copying an oldie but a goodie in a cover band, while easier and you have better odds of achieving audience approval, you still need to do something to either make it your own or strive for the level of mastery the original artist had.
I won’t turn this into a rant on my hatred for lazy cover bands. They exist.
But, I will take this back to my admiration for DJs who don’t have to play cover songs because they can play the source material. The best DJs can even make something special out of it. Originality in DJ routines is magic to me (and massively undercelebrated).
Read more at cultishcreative.com
Name Your Critic
The most paralyzing creative fear isn’t real criticism – it’s the imaginary collective judgment we carry in our heads. James Clear’s insight cuts through the fog: when you worry about “what other people will think,” you’re usually not worried about any specific person’s opinion. The moment you name the actual critic, you often realize you don’t respect their judgment anyway. This simple practice of naming your critic dissolves most creative paralysis because cruel critics usually reveal themselves to be people whose opinions don’t actually matter to your work.
The Raw File Approach to Networking: Morgan Ranstrom Returns TO JUST PRESS RECORD
We have a compression problem. AI and algorithms compress human experience the same way Spotify compresses audio files – technically functional but missing crucial data. Morgan Ranstrom’s insight about treating genuine conversation as “raw file” networking versus algorithmic compression explains why so many professional connections feel hollow. Real relationships preserve all the data: pauses, tangents, cross-industry pollination, and moments where ideas actually compound in real-time. Your Personal Archive matters because you’re building an uncompressed library of human experiences while everyone else accepts compressed files.
Grow Your Network: Morgan Ranstrom Is A Purposefully Thoughtful Advisor and Musician
Everything compounds – for you or against you. Morgan’s framework for intentional living centers on recognizing that neutrality doesn’t exist in personal development. His decision to trade Friday nights for Saturday mornings captures the profound challenge of right living: making choices today that your future self will thank you for, even when present benefits aren’t visible. The Napoleon tree story illuminates legacy thinking – planting trees you’ll never see requires ego reduction but creates the most lasting impact because it frees you from needing immediate validation.
Grow Your Network: Rupert Mitchell Is A Market Translator Who Turns Chaos Into Clarity
The greatest competitive advantage isn’t being in the thick of every battle, it’s having perspective to see patterns others miss. Rupert Mitchell’s transition from investment banking to independent research gave him something invaluable: distance that allows pattern recognition impossible under execution pressure. His celebration of generalism – from feeder cattle to SaaS companies to Japanese rice harvesters – isn’t scattered thinking but strategic diversity. Fresh perspectives reveal insights that specialists, trapped in expertise, completely miss. The transferable skills that matter aren’t technical ones that become obsolete, but human skills that compound across decades.
Read more at cultishcreative.com
The cure for the cancer of gun culture and police culture is not to be found in reform laws around guns and police, but in reform ideas around culture, ideas that create a new dimension of American society that rejects LARPing and LARPers alike.
Inflation
What made Bitcoin special is nearly lost, and what remains is a false and constructed narrative that exists in service to Wall Street and Washington rather than in resistance.
The Bitcoin narrative must be renewed. And that will change everything.
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Crypto
Recent Notes
The Intentional Investor #30: Andrew Cohen
In this episode of The Intentional Investor, Matt Zeigler sits down with Andrew Cohen, a former market maker at Bernie Madoff’s firm whose life took a dramatic turn when the largest Ponzi scheme in history unraveled. But this isn’t just a story about scandal—it’s about resilience, reinvention, and redefining success on your own terms.
The Death of Risk
The death of risk happened with a whimper, not a bang. Not because the market blew up, but because of an icy truth: safe havens ain’t safe.
If you don’t trust the meaning of risk-free, you can’t trust the meaning of risk, and we have built everything on the meaning of risk.
The Intentional Investor #29: Kris Abdelmessih
In this captivating episode of The Intentional Investor, Matt Zeigler sits down with Kris Abdelmessih, the mind behind Moontower. From his immigrant family upbringing in New Jersey to becoming a seasoned market maker who covered virtually every trading pit imaginable, Kris shares his fascinating journey through the financial world. Learn how key mentors, family influences, and pivotal life moments shaped his path from trading floors to becoming a respected financial writer.
Our True Enemy Has Yet to Reveal Himself
It’s not the tariffs. It’s not the recession. These are just the catalysts through which the true enemy shows himself.
The true enemy is the over-financialization of the US Treasury market, and its catalyst is the diminishment of the full faith and credit of the United States.
The trading / gambling spectrum
Brent Donnelly surveyed almost 2,000 active traders about work and life. The results are fascinating and Brent’s advice is wonderful!
Locker Room Talk
Who’s to blame when a chosen son is drafted 144th overall?
The spectacle of Shedeur’s fall teaches us lessons on behavior – both public and behind closed doors – in a world where everything leaks.
The Intentional Investor #28: Brent Kochuba
In this episode of The Intentional Investor, Matt Zeigler sits down with Brent Kochuba, founder of financial research firm SpotGamma. Brent shares his remarkable journey from network administrator to options trading expert, including his experiences at major financial institutions, surviving market crashes, and ultimately building his own successful derivatives research business. With humor and candor, Brent reveals the unexpected paths that led him to where he is today, including family influences, career pivots, and seizing opportunities during uncertain times.
Wall Street’s Not-So-Golden Rule
We are in the early stages of a bank run on the United States and the US dollar, and everyone on Wall Street is heading for the exits, including domestic investors who will exit not because they want to but because they know the Not-So-Golden Rule.
We’ve Tried Nothing and We’re All Out of Ideas
When you’re defending the indefensible, you have to create a symbol powerful enough to keep the masses in line.
“I voted for this” is one of the few capable of sustaining support for policy this extreme.
The Intentional Investor #27: Daryl Fairweather
Join Matt Zeigler on The Intentional Investor podcast as he interviews Daryl Fairweather, Chief Economist at Redfin and author of the new book “Hate the Game: Economic Cheat Codes for Life, Love, and Work.” In this engaging conversation, Daryl shares her journey from MIT to the University of Chicago, her experiences navigating corporate America, and how she applies economic principles to everyday life decisions. With her unique background spanning academia, tech, and real estate, Daryl offers fascinating insights on using economic frameworks to understand human behavior and make better decisions.
Scoreboard
We live in a world awash with narrative.
It’s worth celebrating those rare moments where a man gets to thumb his nose at those narratives, point to the sky, and say “Scoreboard.”
I Broke the Dam
Some want us to believe that the narratives that shape belief are universally promoted from the top down.
That hasn’t been true for a long time.
Crashing the Car of Pax Americana
I am desperately opposed to crashing the Pax Americana car, Annie Hall style, because the America First system that this Administration wants as a replacement is not a stable system that is possible as a replacement.
Narrative Shopping
The Trump administration has flipped between a half dozen distinct narratives telling us what these tariffs are really about.
Why? Because they needed to wrap the truth in a better story. Time to go Narrative Shopping.
The Intentional Investor #26: Danika Waddell
Join host Matt Zeigler as he interviews Danika Waddell, founder of Xena Financial Planning, in this engaging conversation about career pivots, financial independence, and creating a more inclusive financial services industry. Danika shares her journey from accounting to launching her own financial planning firm during the pandemic, and how her personal experiences shaped her mission to help women in tech achieve financial independence.
The Intentional Investor #25: Cullen Roche
In this episode of The Intentional Investor, host Matt Zeigler sits down with Cullen Roche, an economist, writer, and financial maverick who has carved out a unique space in the world of finance through his independent thinking and unconventional approach. From his large Irish Catholic family to his journey through finance, Cullen shares an intimate look at how curiosity, non-conformity, and a commitment to understanding complex systems have shaped his professional and personal life.
The Goldstein Machine
A threat built on a shred of truth, an existential fear, and our utter inability to stop it is the perfect tool for psychological control at scale.
It is a Goldstein Machine.
The Intentional Investor #24: Ben Hunt
In this profound follow-up conversation, Matt Zeigler welcomes back Ben Hunt to explore the evolution of Hunt’s writing and worldview. Beginning with reflections on their childhood relationships with religion and storytelling, the discussion moves into Hunt’s journey with Epsilon Theory – from its market-focused origins to his current philosophical crossroads.
The Intentional Investor #23: Kevin Muir
Kevin Muir, author of the Macro Tourist newsletter and a seasoned trader, joins The Intentional Investor for a fascinating conversation that weaves together trading, life lessons, and Canadian culture. From his early days mastering Monopoly statistics to pioneering computer-driven trading strategies at RBC in the 1990s, Kevin shares candid stories about finding his path in finance.
Kevin discusses growing up as the older brother of a professional hockey player, his journey from discount brokerage manager to institutional trading desk, and how becoming a father changed his perspective on risk and career. He offers unique insights into market psychology, friendship, and the importance of finding work you genuinely love.
It Was Never Going To Be Me
The Road to Serfdom is not an endless road, but its path and duration, what I call the Great Ravine, is not up to us to choose. While we walk this road the only thing we can save is our souls, and we do it with one simple sentence: It was never going to be me.
Lawrence Yeo once committed 100 hours to write a single story. He just wanted to know what would happen if he put that much time and effort into something. No expectation, just curiosity.
Bill Stephney, after introducing Chuck D to Rick Rubin (and Hank Shocklee along the way but, don’t let me rabbithole you too on this story), helped manage Def Jam way back at the beginning of the label, where he learned to ask up and comers if they wanted recognition, money, or celebrity status – because they’d have to focus on one of the three. He learned not to have an expectation too, and he let the curiosity guide him.
Which – the external validation, as tempting as it is, of knowing your 100 hour project will succeed or basking in the glory of your status, wealth and fame, always (ALWAYS) succumbs to the internal reality of – did you get what you really wanted?
In Lawrence’s case, it eventually led him away from a career in music, a career on Wall Street, and into a career in writing (first book, “The Inner Compass” out now).
In Bill’s case, it eventually expanded from a career in music, to the business of music in movies, documentaries, and even high education.
The overlap is that the external validation ultimately means nothing, even if it’s where we want to focus. It really is a trap. And these two have both figured out how to stay out of it.
Read more at cultishcreative.com
Eric Markowitz shared this Nassim Taleb quote in The Nightcrawler last weekend and it’s rattling around in my head:
The more rational we become, the more blind we are to our own irrationality.
Nassim Taleb
You can reduce, simplify, and get everything fitting into your head all tidy-like.
All the numbers can add up. The i’s can be dotted and the t’s can look to be crossed.
Maybe it’s damn near perfect after a while.
And all it does is open you up to a bigger disaster.
There’s comfort in living with some mess.
I pretty much expect I am always in a bit of a mess. I don’t like to be surprised by it. The chaos is just there and that’s fine.
For example – I thought I had a whole week of posts scheduled out on Saturday this week.