The Algebra of Wealth: A Simple Formula for Success

This doesn’t mean never being angry—I get angry often, too often. Nor does it mean never being dismayed, frustrated, or ashamed. Those are normal human responses to setbacks and mistakes. The objective is to acknowledge the anger or the fear—or the greed—but not let it determine your behavior.

With fewer and fewer exceptions, a skill that’s an accelerant in any career is the ability to communicate your ideas.

In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Covey describes three ways we can relate to others: dependence, independence, and interdependence.

None of it matters if it doesn’t translate into action. The gap between your intentions and your actions is a decent forward-looking indicator of your future success,

The point is to attain mastery. I have yet to conquer TV, but my wheelhouse is standing in front of a crowd and communicating about business and issues that I care about. When I do that, I’m in a flow state, which is the signature sensation of mastery.

money has the unfortunate characteristic of becoming less valuable the more you have. Economists refer to this as “diminishing marginal utility.” If you have $100 in your bank account, each extra dollar is meaningful, and $1,000 can be life changing. If you have $10 million in your bank account, another $1,000 is irrelevant.

money is the operating system of our society.

The psychologist Viktor Frankl observed, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

make the most important decisions in the shadow of death. “Memento mori,” the Stoics said. “Remember, you will die.”