A Note on the Book

I never thought I had it in me to write a book. Finishing it has only deepened my respect for the writers whose words have moved, taught, and sustained me. I am grateful for their dedication and courage.

I began writing exactly a year ago. A screenplay that I had been working on for the better part of 18 months had stalled. I was flailing and not really sure what to do next. Twenty years in finance had taught me to expect constant forward movement. If I wasn’t moving forward, then it meant that I was moving backwards. And that is how it felt. I had left the world of investing a few years earlier to become a writer and thus far, I had very little to show for it.

This book emerged from that space and ultimately seeks to answer the question: “what constitutes a life well lived?”

I am no expert on this question. And when I began writing, I had no idea where it was all going. My goal was simple: to write everyday. That’s it. Soon I found myself writing about stories and experiences that had shaped me—and to make connections to my own life and to the patterns I have observed in others. I don’t want to push the image too far, but at times, I was not even sure where the words and ideas were coming from.

Here is what I wrote about the experience in the conclusion:

When I started writing I had my daughters in mind. The idea was to create a sort of guidebook providing a few signposts along their journey of life. To highlight what I have learned and the mistakes I have made. It was meant to be the sort of guide for life I wish I had been given as I set off to conquer the world. A guide that would have prevented all the flailing and failing I experienced for years and years.

What I discovered, to my surprise, is that the book wasn’t ultimately for anyone else. It was not meant for my daughters, nor my friends, nor for the strangers that might find their way to these pages. It was written for me. I needed to cultivate more of these character traits in my own life. I needed to wrestle with the why and the how in order to make sense of my own experience. It was, ultimately, an act of selfishness. And through it, I discovered my own purpose: to share my experiences in case they might resonate with others.

I have come to see that I am not alone in my search for an answer to the question of how to live well. What I have written is not the answer, but an answer. A map if you will. Ultimately, I would conclude that the book was written for readers who, like me, have begun to suspect that contentment is not something we ultimately achieve, but something discovered while on the path. Maybe it will resonate.

If so, the book is available here: For What It's Worth: In Search of a Good Life (USA) and For What It's Worth: In Search of a Good Life (UK)