Money as a Distraction
MCP book launch and some shiny object syndrome
Hi friend,
Today, I’ll share something I’ve been working on over the past month and the experiences that led me to realize this is what I must do, no matter what.
I’m incredibly happy to share my latest book, Model Context Protocol: Build MCP Servers with TypeScript, with you.
You can get it for free until Friday. The only thing I’d like to ask of you is that if you downloaded and enjoyed the book, please leave a review and rating on Amazon. I know there’s no way to know which of you left a review, but every review makes me really happy and motivates me to write more useful books, so why wouldn’t you do it? 🙂
Thank you, and enjoy the free promotion while it lasts!
Now, back to today’s topic: money and distractions.
We, software engineers, are curious by nature.
But we pick up new trends and lifestyle advice just as easily as a new paradigm or tool.
People can be anything that they want, but they can’t be everything that they want.
I heard a great take from Chris Williamson (who hosts the Modern Wisdom podcast, the only podcast I listen to), and the reason why I can’t get this out of my head is that it explains many things in my life and why I sometimes switch directions.
I fell into this trap for the wrong reasons, but I noticed the pattern:
Every time something gets going for me, let’s say educational content, such as this newsletter, my blog, books or the egghead videos I make (it’s an invite-only course platform, with very high standards), it’s guaranteed that someone making $1K MRR with their indie app will appear in my feed.
So I get distracted, put writing on pause, and work towards launching an app.
Two months in, with or without success from what I’ve built, another post will approach me. This time, maybe my favourite creator is launching their new course or book, and I’ll feel behind for not launching anything to teach people for two months, no matter what I accomplished with my app.
The benefits of the new journey don’t make up for the sense of purpose I lost.
Now, let me tell you why you should still embark on such a journey, but take the experience and learning to become smarter in the process.
Experience
So, should I just set my mind on one thing and chase that without ever questioning if that’s the right thing?
No.
What I’m telling you today is the result of me experiencing what it feels like to be distracted from things that add meaning to your life by a shallow metric: money.
Money in itself doesn’t create meaning.
You can spend it on meaningful things to improve your life, but the thing itself is useless.
By focusing on making money, I accidentally paused the thing that was already really meaningful and fulfilling to me.
However, I don’t regret this because no amount of money could have bought this experience.
I had to experience giving up meaning to chase an arbitrary goal.
LDD
I’m back to focusing on education content in the little spare time I have as a father. This is thanks to Lifestyle-Driven Design (not sure if this thing exists, but consider it TDD for life).
And I didn’t think much about it.
Yes, people told me I should launch more apps and try, but their advice, although they weren’t wrong, was approaching this from the perspective of making money.
While my perspective is creating more meaning in my life and the lives of others.
To tie back to the quote I shared at the beginning, and wrap this up, you can’t be the:
The bodybuilder
Starting their new business
While running a YouTube channel
And a podcast
Trying to be present with their family
While having the calm mind of a Shaolin priest
Should you experiment?
Yes!
But you should also take that learning to reinforce your main character.
Create a feedback loop of:
Understand what adds meaning to your life
Trying out new things that you think give additional meaning
See if you ended up feeling a stronger purpose
Think of a lifestyle you’d want and reverse engineer it.
Maybe you’re already living the life that you want.
Hit Reply to this mail or on the platform and let me know where you’re in this journey.
Until next time,
Akos
I can relate, doing the same experiments myself :)