Ponzi Schemes of Your Mind

Narratives are the Ponzi schemes of your mind. And once you understand narratives deeply, you discover a key insight into learning almost anything and everything.

One of the biggest learnings I discovered, thanks to a decade of blogging, is the power of narratives. It's almost like the Inception movie.

Once you create a powerful narrative, you start invading others' subliminal space where their deepest thoughts and emotions reside.

Of course, it's not so easy.

The lead character Dominick Cobb, played by Leonardo Dicaprio, in Inception explains why it’s so difficult: “If you're going to perform inception, you need imagination. You need the simplest version of the idea – the one that will grow naturally in the subject's mind. A subtle art.”

And that's exactly what happens when you plant narratives into the world out there. You start putting the simplest version of it, and to watch it sprouting in others' minds is incredibly fascinating.

If you don't watch out, you can get consumed by your narratives.

The key to learn is to first put out the simplest version of your idea and watch the convexity of social media play out. Sooner enough, you stumble upon something that will debunk this Ponzi scheme.

And then inception continues. You learn infinitely.