---

Morgan Housel is one of my favorite authors. I loved his first book, Psychology of Money, and I bought Same As Ever: A Guide to What Never Changes as soon as it was released. Housel writes an awesome blog, and he also has a podcast with short episodes that I listen to regularly. 

I enjoy his writing because it consistently makes me reflect on my life, and he looks at both sides of the coin. He clearly articulates the thin edge between success and ruin, and I think he brings a nice perspective in looking at qualities that can drive success…but also failure. 

I appreciated Housel’s commentary on envy. Social media only shows a highlight reel, and it is probably unrealistic, if not a complete lie. He also argues that you should not be envious of anyone unless you fully want to trade lives with them. 

“Everything has a price, and the price is usually proportionate to the potential rewards. But there’s rarely a price tag.”

I spent a lot of time thinking about the unknown price tag for the choices in my life, and I think it is a nice question to ponder going into 2024. 

Quotes

“Money buys happiness in the same way drugs bring pleasure: incredible if done right, dangerous if used to mask a weakness, and disastrous when no amount is enough.”

“The grass is always greener on the side that’s fertilized with bullshit.”

“One day, I realized with all these people I was jealous of, I couldn’t just choose little aspects of their life. I couldn’t say I want his body, I want her money, I want his personality. You have to be that person. Do you want to actually be that person with all of their reactions, their desires, their family, their happiness level, their outlook on life, their self-image?”

“What kind of person makes their way to the top of a successful company, or a big country? Someone who is determined, optimistic, doesn’t take no for an answer, and is relentlessly confident in their own abilities. What kind of person is likely to go overboard, bite off more than they can chew, and discount risks that are blindingly obvious to others? Someone who is determined, optimistic, doesn’t take no for an answer, and is relentlessly confident in their own abilities.”

“History knows three things: 1) what’s been photographed, 2) what someone wrote down or recorded, and 3) the words spoken by people whom historians and journalists wanted to interview and who agreed to be interviewed. What percentage of everything important that’s ever happened falls into one of those three categories? No one knows. But it’s tiny. And all three suffer from misinterpretation, incompleteness, embellishment, lying, and selective memory.”

“A simple rule that’s obvious but easy to ignore is that nothing worth pursuing is free. How could it be otherwise? Everything has a price, and the price is usually proportionate to the potential rewards. But there’s rarely a price tag. And you don’t pay the price with cash. Most things worth pursuing charge their fee in the form of stress, uncertainty, dealing with quirky people, bureaucracy, other peoples’ conflicting incentives, hassle, nonsense, long hours, and constant doubt. That’s the overhead cost of getting ahead.”