Morgan Housel

And so it wasn't just that they didn't believe me in a writer.

The whole structure of the book was the opposite of what they were looking for.

But I think you need that in order to stick out.

And like, how could it be any other way that in order to have a non-normal result, you have to have a non-normal idea.

It's true for entrepreneurs.

It's true for any endeavor that you take that you have to be an oddball in order to stick out.

No, it's tough.

And I think I've always wanted to write things about problems I have in my own life.

So a lot of this was just kind of looking in the mirror and being like, what is my desire for more money?

Am I using it as a tool to make my life better and my wife and kids' lives better?

Or is it just like, it's just a measuring stick of how well am I doing in life and where do I sit on the social hierarchy?

And if I was honest with myself, it was a lot of the latter.

And I think we've done a pretty good job spending money on the things that we like and whatnot.

But a lot of the desire was just like, what's a scorecard look like?

And maybe that's not bad because I enjoy that game.

I think you're right there, but here's where it can really go astray.

Money is so quantifiable and book sales are so quantifiable that they become, like we overestimate their importance.

And what I mean by that, if you said like,

What's important in life?

I want to be a good husband, a good dad, a good friend, a good citizen.