The real wisdom here lies in what Hsieh is correcting: most of us naturally reverse the order, making money the north star and hoping purpose follows. What he's actually observing is that focused excellence—the kind that comes from genuine conviction rather than financial calculation—creates the conditions where compensation becomes inevitable. Consider how the best teachers, artists, or entrepreneurs often report that their early choices were made despite financial uncertainty, yet somehow the economic rewards materialized once their work gained genuine traction. The counterintuitive part isn't that money matters; it's that money becomes *easier* to obtain when you stop treating it as the primary target.