I was in a sketch writing class in LA. Teacher was great. We were talking Lou Reed. Couple of folks in the class thought Reed was a brilliant songwriter, as did the teacher. We were all young writers, so the idea of success was always top of mind. Someone asked, "If Lou Reed is so great, how come he's not more famous?" And the teacher said, "Lou Reed is as famous as Lou Reed needs to be." I remember nothing else from that class, but I remember that.
Quote: Adam is "significantly better off mentally (and financially) by dollar cost averaging into index funds. It’s boring and unsexy. But this is definitely a smarter way to get and stay financially healthy. You won’t make as much, but you won’t lose as much either."
Same story - built up a marketing business to 7 figures in 2,5 years, had 12 employees, had the trophy toys (real estate, luxury and sports car, clothes, wathces etc.)
But inside I felt that vacuum: I'm not on MY path. I'm not creating anything that I think of as valuable.
There were three huge brakes in my life, clashing together all at the same time: divorce (loss of husband identity), closing down all business (loss of entrepreneur identity), turning 42 (loss of old personal identity), and questioning my life, my choices, and my self.
After 3 challenging years I'm on the other side of this valley of despair. Thanks to my therapy and self-awareness development I could manage to get out of depression this loss of Self.
I'm creating now. It's not on social media, and I'm not hunting validation. I want to create small things for myself. My net wealth is significantly less than before, but I would never return to that life again.
Focusing on my health, reading, writing, and learning to live in the present moment all give me joy.
"What is the dollar value of an original theorem or a beautiful novel? The market doesn’t have a ready answer, which is why authors, philosophers, and physicists often find themselves rich in thought but not cash."
Right—a certain type of value that cannot be commodified. A Marxist would call this experiential labor(as opposed to commodity labor). Tangential thought: why some, I wish more, people are so vehemently against the word 'content' when talking about what is really arts and letters.
This is so true: “True wealth lies not in escape but in presence”. Truly this is the secret. After a brush with death, I embarked on a journey that transformed me from the FOMO crowd to wherever I am now.
I, too, love puzzles so decided to spend the rest of my life testing a theory: that a capitalistic system could work organically to both satisfy shareholders and give its profits back to its customers in a transparent authentic way. Turns out if you take away massive amounts of greed it can work.
All that to say, the people who never get past the FOMO stage truly miss out on the best experience of all - freedom.
I was in a sketch writing class in LA. Teacher was great. We were talking Lou Reed. Couple of folks in the class thought Reed was a brilliant songwriter, as did the teacher. We were all young writers, so the idea of success was always top of mind. Someone asked, "If Lou Reed is so great, how come he's not more famous?" And the teacher said, "Lou Reed is as famous as Lou Reed needs to be." I remember nothing else from that class, but I remember that.
Love this story
Cracked this one into the cheap seats Adam, loved this!
The answer is simple, because wealth and socioeconomic status are better correlated with another set of traits - https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/dangerous-ideas/201910/psychology-s-dark-triad-and-the-billionaire-class
Quote: Adam is "significantly better off mentally (and financially) by dollar cost averaging into index funds. It’s boring and unsexy. But this is definitely a smarter way to get and stay financially healthy. You won’t make as much, but you won’t lose as much either."
As a professional trader, I totally agree. I even wrote a post about why it's a bad idea to buy individual stocks. https://blog.inverteum.com/p/individual-stocks-fools-game
Every time I see another fucking story about Elon Musk I’m going to circle back around and re-read this.
I appreciate how you steered clear of turning this into a preachy ‘how to’ piece.
You definitely have the art of being a convincing writer down.
Happy ‘just-enough’ Christmas to you and yours.
If you have to ask the question, you probably aren't smart enough to understand the answer... :)
Thank you for writing this! I agree 100%.
Same story - built up a marketing business to 7 figures in 2,5 years, had 12 employees, had the trophy toys (real estate, luxury and sports car, clothes, wathces etc.)
But inside I felt that vacuum: I'm not on MY path. I'm not creating anything that I think of as valuable.
There were three huge brakes in my life, clashing together all at the same time: divorce (loss of husband identity), closing down all business (loss of entrepreneur identity), turning 42 (loss of old personal identity), and questioning my life, my choices, and my self.
After 3 challenging years I'm on the other side of this valley of despair. Thanks to my therapy and self-awareness development I could manage to get out of depression this loss of Self.
I'm creating now. It's not on social media, and I'm not hunting validation. I want to create small things for myself. My net wealth is significantly less than before, but I would never return to that life again.
Focusing on my health, reading, writing, and learning to live in the present moment all give me joy.
"What is the dollar value of an original theorem or a beautiful novel? The market doesn’t have a ready answer, which is why authors, philosophers, and physicists often find themselves rich in thought but not cash."
Right—a certain type of value that cannot be commodified. A Marxist would call this experiential labor(as opposed to commodity labor). Tangential thought: why some, I wish more, people are so vehemently against the word 'content' when talking about what is really arts and letters.
This is so true: “True wealth lies not in escape but in presence”. Truly this is the secret. After a brush with death, I embarked on a journey that transformed me from the FOMO crowd to wherever I am now.
I, too, love puzzles so decided to spend the rest of my life testing a theory: that a capitalistic system could work organically to both satisfy shareholders and give its profits back to its customers in a transparent authentic way. Turns out if you take away massive amounts of greed it can work.
All that to say, the people who never get past the FOMO stage truly miss out on the best experience of all - freedom.