Money doesn’t change you; it reveals who you are when you no longer have to be nice. — Tim Ferriss

Money doesn’t change you; it reveals who you are when you no longer have to be nice.

Author: Tim Ferriss

Insight: We like to think we're fundamentally decent people, but most of us are never really tested. A surprising number of genuinely unkind behavior gets masked by practical constraint—you're polite to your boss because you need the paycheck, you smile at difficult relatives because you depend on family connections, you volunteer patience because you can't afford the reputation damage of snapping back. Money removes that friction. Suddenly, you don't need anyone's approval quite as desperately. You can walk away from annoying people, demanding situations, or anyone who bothers you. And that's when the real character check happens. Some people become more generous and relaxed once the pressure lifts. Others? They become noticeably meaner, more impatient, more willing to dismiss people they once had to tolerate. The unsettling part is that both versions were always there. The money just answered the question of which one was default versus which one was performance. It's a useful mirror to hold up to yourself before you actually get tested by circumstance. When you imagine having real freedom and resources, who do you actually become? The person you hope you are, or someone a little more honest and a little less comfortable to know?

Source: The 4-Hour Workweek, p. 71, 2007