Everyone wants to have done this

Name: Everyone wants to have done this
Uploaded: 2025-11-24T07:01:59+00:00
Duration: 7 s
Channel: Sam Parr
Description: In this short YouTube conversation, speakers A and B explore the paradox that many people desire the status of having written a book while few are…

24 Nov 2025 · 0 min

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In this short YouTube conversation, speakers A and B explore the paradox that many people desire the status of having written a book while few are willing to endure the effort required. They discuss the substantial downsides of book writing: it typically takes one to two years (or longer, as exemplified by George R.R. Martin’s 13‑year effort), has very low odds of commercial success, and offers limited return compared to alternative projects such as building a company, creating a podcast, or other portfolio‑building activities. The speakers argue that writing a book should be motivated by personal fulfillment rather than external validation, emphasizing that the only sustainable reason to write is for oneself.

Everybody wants to have written a book. Nobody wants to write a book. And so the very first thing is you got to figure out, like, do you want to have written a book or do you want to write a book?
I always hear people say writing a book is hard. Tim Ferriss was like, I don't wish it on my worst enemy. And I'm like, really? This sounds pretty great. You just spend all this time thinking and writing and you get like 2 years to do it. That sounds lovely. But what are the downsides?
I mean, there's a ton of downsides. You don't do this if you're looking for anything quick. You don't do this if you're looking for a high chance of success. The 2 things I think most people want. It's typically a 1 to 2 year process, sometimes 5. George R.R. Martin's sitting there still trying to write a book for like 13 years. So, you know, these books take a long time, very low odds of success. And even when they do succeed, it's nothing compared to like if I went and built a company or like in my portfolio right now, there's things that are far easier, far more valuable to do. Podcast, far easier, far more valuable to do than to write a book. You don't write the book for other people. You write the book for yourself. I think is the only way to do it.