We have infinity in our pockets and somehow know less. Everything ever written, filmed, recorded or shouted is available, and yet figuring out what’s real, useful and worth your time gets harder by the day. Good curation is not a nice-to-have. It’s a survival skill.
The next competitive edge is not attention. It’s trust.
The problem
The internet is a firehose. Your brain is a teacup.
Algorithms optimise for outrage because outrage keeps you scrolling.
“Read more” is not the answer. “Trust better” is.
The shift: from attention to trust
We’re moving from an attention economy to a trust economy. Attention can be bought. Trust is earned. If people trust your taste, you become a shortcut. Shortcuts are valuable.
One simple way to earn that trust is to curate for your audience, clients or customers. Be the person who finds the signal in the noise and shares it.
This is why I’m starting a monthly “Recommendation Week” inside this newsletter. I’ll sift the best books, tools, ideas and people worth your time. The point isn’t to flood you with links. It’s to help you decide.
Curation is a service. Taste is your product.
Put your own oxygen mask on first
You can’t curate for others if you can’t curate for yourself. Becoming a tastemaker for your people means being deliberate about what you consume and from whom.
Start with two questions:
What do you want to be known for?
What decisions do you want to help your audience make faster and better?
Then tighten your inputs.
Define your beat: the 1–3 problems you help with.
Choose sources with skin in the game: practitioners over pundits, originals over summaries.
Slow-read one deep piece for every five quick hits.
Capture what you learn in a simple notes system.
Publish your takeaways in small, useful chunks.
Try this
Ask five people: “What do you already trust my judgement on?” Note the common themes. That’s your curation lane.
Do a 20-minute input audit. Unsubscribe from three low-value newsletters, mute three noisy accounts, add two high-signal sources.
Attention is a tax. Curation is a rebate.
Once you’ve got a clean stream of signal, package it so others benefit. This is where trust compounds into value.
Formats that work:
Curated newsletter: a tight weekly or monthly issue with 3–7 high-signal picks.
Niche buyer’s guides: save people money and regret with honest recommendations.
Curated databases: living lists of tools, vendors or resources.
Briefings for teams: monthly research packs for executives or functions.
Workshops: teach curation as a skill.
Revenue options:
Subscriptions for premium curation.
Sponsorships that actually fit your audience.
Affiliate income with strict disclosure and integrity.
Consulting or speaking based on your expertise.
Real-world examples: The Browser curates smart reading and charges a simple subscription. Dense Discovery blends design links with sponsor slots without selling out. Wirecutter from the New York Times turned trustworthy product curation into a serious business.
Try this
Run a 6-week pilot.
Pick one problem your audience faces.
Choose one format: newsletter, guide, or briefing.
Commit to a weekly cadence.
Measure replies, forwards and one clear outcome: money saved, hours saved, mistakes avoided.
Curation for the kids
I've been thinking about this a lot lately, curation is a skill that should be taught in high school. I thank goodness that I'm not a teenager today. Can you imagine the amount of noise coming their way via their phone?
If I were designing a curriculum today, I’d teach curation in secondary school. Our teenagers face a torrent of content engineered to hijack their attention. Banning phones might help but teaching judgement is a better long term option.
What to teach:
How algorithms work and why they prioritise outrage.
The SIFT method: Stop, Investigate the source, Find better coverage, Trace to the original.
Three quick questions: Who says it? How do they know? What do they want me to feel or do?
Follow people, not platforms. Build a small list of trusted voices.
If you can’t stop the feed, teach them to read the feed.
Wrap up
Curation is how we reclaim our time, protect our attention and rebuild trust. Do it for yourself first. Then do it for the people who count on you.
Recommendation Week lands monthly in this newsletter. I’ll do the sifting so you can do the living.
Try this
Hit reply and tell me one area you want curated for you this year. Tools, books, career moves, money, learning, health. If you run a team, tell me what decisions you’d love to speed up. I’ll prioritise those in the next months Recommendation Week.