I avoid self-help, motivational books because they give me the creeps. They're a little unsettling to me. They don't seem to me like they have wildly effective advice--to the extent that they have any practical advice at all, not just some cover-to-cover affirmative statements--but they still irritate whatever gland that is that makes me feel like I'm missing out on something. How does that work? I don't know. It seems best to avoid it.

(Obvious pivot.)

Sometime last year I listened to Tony Robbins on Tim Ferriss' podcast, and this year he popped up in an old version of James Altucher's podcast that I downloaded. He was pitching his book Money: Master the Game. That title... oof. Hard to swallow. That's like someone trying to sell me a pair of pants by telling me that they're women's pants--even if they fit, no thanks.

I got it anyway. (From the library.) The book is mostly vapid so far, but it's interesting. I told my wife that my new year's resolution this year would be to learn how to manipulate people--which was a joke, by the way. This guy has definitely tapped into some frequency that keeps you looking out for the next thing coming in just a few more pages, a few more chapters. I don't want to read it, but I want to read it. What is that feeling? That compulsion? I'm somewhere around page 90 and I'd like to go to the other book I'm reading, but I also don't want to miss anything in this one.

When he was pitching the book on the podcasts, the part that attracted me wasn't the Yes You Can Get Rich part of it, but the idea that money could be a game. That really hasn't been addressed yet in the book. But the idea has stuck in my mind. I bet if I could model my finances, and turn it into some kind of game and learn how to play it better than I'm playing it now, I could do better. And feel less anxious about our national religion, Money. And I could learn how to do the coding along the way to model something like that.

So I'm expecting that aspect of the book--dumbed-down motivational guide--to help me out. There's something about having a published author give me a list of things to consider that feels more valid than ideas that I have myself. I'll take that list of 7 Simple Incredible Invincible Steps For Amazing Freedom And Empowering Empowerment And Whatnot and build a simple game out of it. I'm serious. Why not? If it works, it works. Should be rich by Friday. Gimme $20 on Monday and I'll show you how.

(Bonus: Step Right Up. "The large print giveth / And the small print taketh away.")