219 | Michelangelo

To those amazed by Michelangelo's completed David sculpture, he said, “I created a vision of David in my mind and simply carved away everything that was not David.”

Our relationship with money isn't that different.

There aren't that many things to know or to do well - just ask a kid as the sun sets on his lemonade stand.

But life tends to cloud that "vision in our mind" enough to keep us from "simply carving away everything that isn't".

We digest news or misunderstand how something works and the stone calcifies.

We use generic advice or prioritize the little things and gauge out a chunk.

We see snippets of someone else's sculpture and forget that their lion isn't our school bus.

It took Michelangelo about 3 years - likely working daily - to "carve away everything that wasn't David".

We aren't that committed and we can't disappear to a studio, so we chisel for a lifetime - imperfectly revealing a masterpiece...

We shirk the responsibility of our work and the arm looks funny for a time.

We save in a way that makes sense for now and reveal the shape of a torso.

We invest in a way that's not meant for us and temporarily deform the knee.

We spend a little better and uncover a nose or ear.

David is there, but we have to carve everything else away.