Learn the counterintuitive rule about money, status, and health that frees you

A useful and challenging idea sits at the heart of this approach: some things are truly good, and some things are merely preferred. The truly good are choices of character within your control, like honesty under pressure or fair dealing when it costs you. Preferreds are externals you don’t directly control, like wealth, status, or smooth health. They can be wisely selected and enjoyed, but they’re not what make a life admirable.

Consider the old analogy of the archer. The archer controls his aim and release, not the wind or the target’s sudden movement. His excellence is in the shot, not the hit. We admire the archer who shoots well in rough weather more than the one who hits by luck on a still day. Translate that to work: the excellent analyst is the one who reasons carefully and communicates clearly, not the one who happens to catch a tailwind of market timing.

A micro‑anecdote: a colleague once confessed, “I felt gross after getting that deal.” He’d pressured a client into a product they didn’t need to “hit his number.” He got the preferred, lost a bit of the good, and felt it. The correction was simple and hard: re‑aim goals at conduct first, outcomes second.

Psychologically, this reduces moral injury and decision fatigue. You separate the process you own from the results you influence. You still prefer money, health, and recognition, you just stop wagering your self‑respect on them. That frees clean effort and makes you steadier when luck turns.

Write your five most chased outcomes, then tag only character qualities you enact as “Good” and mark the rest as “Preferred.” Rewrite one outcome into a behavior you can do today, like shifting “get promoted” to “do promotable work now.” Identify one boundary you won’t cross for a preferred, and write the sentence you’ll use if tested. This reframing won’t make you less ambitious, it will make you cleaner and calmer as you pursue worthy aims. Try it with one goal before bed.