Nir Eyal

Everything else, what color should the couch be?

Where should we go with your parents this year?

All that stupid stuff.

If you care more about it, let's just do it your way.

That doesn't mean you do the work.

Let's just be very clear.

It doesn't mean you do the work.

It means that let's go with what you prefer.

Well, this just happened yesterday, so it's top of mind, but we made the New York Times bestseller list, which is something that I had resigned myself to not thinking was a possibility because it wasn't in my control, and so I wasn't worrying about it.

With my previous books, I really, really wanted it, but with Beyond Belief, I stopped caring because I decided, look, if it's not in my control, why should I suffer?

Why should I suffer?

That what I can control is I can sit down every day and I can work on my book.

I can control that.

I can control my beliefs about the process.

Is this hard?

Am I suffering from it?

But I can't control what people think at the New York Times.

Turns out we did get the New York Times list, which is amazing.

But it was a nice surprise.

It wasn't anything I was staking my happiness or suffering on.