There is a serious defect in the thinking of someone who wants - more than anything else - to become rich. As long as they don't have the money, it'll seem like a worthwhile goal. Once they do, they'll understand how important other things are - and have always been.

The Cost You Can't See Until Later

We've all noticed the strange gap between what we think we want and what actually satisfies us once we have it. The person obsessed with getting rich imagines that money will finally solve their restlessness, give them security, prove their worth. But there's something almost tragic about achieving that goal and realizing the satisfaction doesn't stick the way you expected. The money arrives, and suddenly you notice how much time you've missed with people you love, or how disconnected you've become from work that actually engages you, or how your anxiety didn't actually require a seven-figure account to disappear.

The real insight here isn't that money doesn't matter—it obviously does. It's that the very focus required to chase it relentlessly can blind you to what you're trading away in the process. You can't think clearly about tradeoffs while you're making them. It takes having the thing to finally see what it cost. The defect isn't wanting money; it's wanting it so intensely that it becomes the only lens through which you evaluate your life. By then, the years of single-minded pursuit are already behind you.