Tom Smith on Spend Your Days Like Dollars, Going Big with Integrity, Optimism, and a Life Well Lived

Summary

Going Big! with Kevin Gentry

Episode: Tom Smith on Spend Your Days Like Dollars, Going Big with Integrity, Optimism, and a Life Well Lived
Release Date: July 7, 2025

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Introduction

In this compelling episode of Going Big! with Kevin Gentry, host Kevin Gentry engages in an enlightening conversation with Tom Smith, a distinguished investor, philanthropist, and visionary. Recognized for his unwavering optimism and integrity, Tom embodies the essence of "going big" in both his professional and personal life. This episode delves into Tom’s journey, his profound beliefs about America, investment philosophies, and his insights on living a purposeful life.

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Early Life and Education

Tom Smith opens up about his humble beginnings, growing up during the Great Depression in a small, blue-collar town. Contrary to assumptions that success stems from privileged backgrounds, Tom shares, “I grew up in the Depression and in a small town. I think my high school graduating class was 42. And three of us went to college. It was blue collar” ([07:22]).

His transformative moment came in junior high when a civics teacher recognized his potential. Reflecting on this pivotal experience, Tom recounts, “He took me to a concert... at the intermission, he said, you should go to college. And that's when I decided to go to college” ([09:15]). This encounter not only changed his educational trajectory but also instilled in him the importance of mentorship and personal growth.

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Navy Experience and a Life-Altering Decision

Tom’s path led him to an ROTC scholarship and subsequently to the Navy as a naval officer. Initially content with his naval career, a moment of introspection during his service on the flagship of the Sixth Fleet catalyzed a significant life decision. Observing the vibrant lights of the Riviera, he muses, “If I stay in the Navy, I'll never know anything about those lights... a life that's mysterious” ([11:48]).

This contemplation resurfaced years later when faced with a pivotal career choice in the North Atlantic. Tom realized the importance of pursuing a life filled with curiosity and the unknown, ultimately deciding to transition from the Navy to the investment world ([12:34]).

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Transition to Investment and Entrepreneurship

Upon leaving the Navy, Tom ventured into the investment sector, eventually founding his own firm. Addressing the inherent risks of entrepreneurship, he confidently states, “I didn’t think it was taking any risk at all” ([17:08]). His conviction stemmed from over a decade of experience and a clear vision of his investment philosophy.

Tom emphasizes the significance of company culture and integrity in his investment decisions. “The main ingredient in most businesses are people. You want to help them find who they really are... I have a class of students... ask yourself, grade yourself, get in that habit and you're going to live a different life” ([18:13] - [21:05]). He believes that fostering a positive and honest work environment is crucial for long-term success and sustainability.

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Philosophy on Investment and Culture

Tom elaborates on his investment criteria, focusing not just on business models but also on the character and integrity of the people behind them. “I wouldn’t invest in a firm that seemed to have a good plan for making a profit but had questionable integrity” ([21:18]).

He underscores the importance of real cash flow over mere accounting profits and insists that integrity is non-negotiable. “They’re going to have results” ([21:53]). This philosophy extends to his mentoring approach, where he encourages continuous personal and professional growth.

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Views on America and Its Future

A significant portion of the conversation centers on Tom’s deep-seated belief in America's unique founding principles and its role in fostering innovation and progress. He asserts, “Our founding was so unique... protect the electorate against big government” ([03:23]).

Tom also addresses contemporary challenges facing the United States, particularly the burgeoning national debt. He expresses concern over the country’s financial trajectory, stating, “The greatest threat will always come from within... exploding bureaucracy and exploding debt” ([26:21]). Highlighting the escalation from a $5 trillion debt during the Clinton administration to $37 trillion, Tom emphasizes the urgent need for fiscal responsibility and sustainable economic policies ([27:07]).

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Optimism and Public Policy

Reflecting on historical economic challenges, Tom draws parallels between past crises and current issues, advocating for optimism as a catalyst for growth. “Economists tend not to focus on optimism... but optimism is crucial” ([31:33]).

He reminisces about the transformative impact of President Ronald Reagan’s optimistic outlook, which he credits for reigniting economic growth after decades of stagnation ([31:35]). Tom believes that maintaining a positive and forward-thinking mindset is essential for overcoming national and global challenges.

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Advice to Listeners: Living a Life of Purpose and Integrity

In the concluding segments, Tom offers invaluable advice on living a purposeful and meaningful life. He introduces the concept of treating each day as one would spend a dollar: “You have to think about spending a day like you spend a dollar. You have to get something in return” ([33:32]).

This philosophy encourages continuous self-improvement and intentional living, advocating for daily growth and reflection. Tom emphasizes that by adopting this mindset, individuals can lead more productive and enjoyable lives, ultimately contributing to their personal and professional success.

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Conclusion

Tom Smith’s journey from a small-town upbringing to a successful investor and philanthropist is a testament to the power of integrity, optimism, and purposeful living. His insights on America’s unique role in fostering innovation, the critical importance of fiscal responsibility, and the profound impact of daily personal growth provide listeners with a roadmap to "go big" in their own lives.

As Kevin Gentry aptly summarizes, Tom’s story is one of inspiration and actionable wisdom: “No matter what you do, you have to do the best you can do it the best you can do at every job... your life's going to be a lot more productive, a lot more enjoyable” ([33:32]).

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Notable Quotes:

• Tom Smith ([00:00]): “The real unit of exchange in life is not a dollar. Most important unit of exchange in life... is a day.”
• Tom Smith ([09:15]): “He took me to a concert... at the intermission, he said, you should go to college."
• Tom Smith ([21:18]): “Would you invest in a firm that seemed to have a good plan for making a profit but you thought had questionable integrity? Oh, no, I wouldn’t do that.”
• Tom Smith ([33:32]): “You have to think about spending a day like you spend a dollar. You have to get something in return.”

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Resources Mentioned:

• Friedrich Hayek’s Works: The Road to Serfdom and The Fatal Conceit.
• Hayek Book Prize at the Manhattan Institute

For more insightful conversations and strategies on transforming your leadership and organizational success, tune in to Going Big! with Kevin Gentry available on Spotify, iTunes, Amazon, iHeart Radio, Pandora, and YouTube. Visit TenXStrategies.com for additional content and resources.

Transcript

[A]

Time is precious and so are our pets. So time with our pets is extra precious. That's why we started Dutch. Dutch provides 24,7 access to licensed vets with unlimited virtual visits and follow ups for up to five pets. You can message a vet at any time and schedule a video visit the same day. Our vets can even prescribe medication for many ailments and shipping is always free. With Dutch, you'll get more time with your pets and year round peace of mind when it comes to their vet care. No matter what you do, you have to do the best you can, do it best you can, the best you can do at every job. But also, you know the unit of exchange in life is not a dollar. Most important unit of exchange in life. People think of it that you spend a dollar and you get something in return, but the real unit of exchange and you don't know how much those units you have, is a day. And you have to think about spending a day like you spend a dollar, you have to get something in return. And if you practice, if you think about a day like that, your life's going to be a lot, a lot more productive, a lot more enjoyable.

[B]

Welcome to the Going Big Podcast. I'm your host, Kevin Gentry, and this is the place where we celebrate bold moves and big ide. Each week I sit down with inspiring leaders, entrepreneurs and change makers who are making a significant impact in their careers and in their communities. Whether you're looking to level up your leadership, pursue your passion, or just get inspired to take your next big leap, this is where those stories come to life. Now, if you're listening on iTunes, YouTube or anywhere else you tune into podcasts, be sure to hit that subscribe button so you'll never miss an episode. Now let's dive in to what it means to truly go big. Well, ladies and gentlemen, it is great to be with you today. It is a tremendous treat for me to be interviewing my dear friend, Tom Smith. Tom is an enormously successful investor, generous philanthropist, has a wonderful family, he is a friend to many anyone knows him. Tim will tell you that with great enthusiasm and he has a terrific outlook on America and the future and he just embodies going big in my book. And so it's a treat to be with you, Tom. We're going to have some fun today. I'd like just to kick off, with respect to going big, you've had a background in investment. You believe in America.

[A]

Yes.

[B]

Is America still a good, smart, long term investment? And if so, why?

[A]

Maybe more than ever in the history of the country, really. Yeah. Our position with regard to every other country in the world is better than it's ever been.

[B]

Well, what, what makes America so special in your mind? You're a big America fan. Whenever I visit you, you've got an American flag flying outside your home. Why is America so special?

[A]

Well, our founding was so unique. We had people. They weren't the elite of the rest of the world that came over as immigrants. We had two oceans. We have a continent that has an abundant of resources and a temperate climate. We have the largest network of navitable rivers in the world. And we have founders that apparently read all the great books at a time when probably the only book in the household was a Bible. And as a result, they had this miraculous document called the Constitution that really was very concerned about protecting the electorate against big government. That was an incredible thought then. That founding was so unusual and we remain an unusual country.

[B]

Well, you're steeped in the ideas and we'll get to how that came about in your life. It wasn't at an early age necessarily, but you've talked about. I think it's. Is it Deidre McCloskey that's talked about the hockey stick of human progress that really, I mean, the world was flat. The world's prosperity was dismal and flat for a long time until. What do economic historians now think happened?

[A]

Well, there were two economic historians that tried to quantify mankind's progress, and they concluded that in the last 270 years, mankind has progressed 41 times. Now, that's an incredible project undertake. So you might have issues with the numbers, but not the essence of what they said. They pointed out the previous 2,200 years, there was no progress.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

We tend to take progress for granted. So when I got to thinking about why we had such progress, it occurred to me that the world was a bit more free. And there was. And the United States is 270 years old. And we have a country that the sovereignty rests not with a dictator or with a king or queen, but with the people. And that was that freedom. And that United States, as an example, encourages innovation and creativity. And innovation and creativity is what great progress is all about.

[B]

And that's certainly been a hallmark for the United States and the innovation economy and everything else. Well, there's a lot to touch on in this conversation. And many times we see someone who's been successful in life and we think that's been their life forever. Maybe you were born into, as you mentioned, the elites coming over from Europe. A privileged background or something. How did you grow up?

[A]

What do you mean?

[B]

How was it in a privileged background? This is a little bit of a leading question because I know a little bit about your background.

[A]

Well, I grew up in the Depression and in a small town. I think my high school graduating class was 42. And three of us went to college. It was blue collar. And I had three stepsisters and a stepbrother and a stepfather, and two of them went to high school. That was not unusual then.

[B]

Right.

[A]

And so that was my background.

[B]

What did you do for jobs growing up? I want to get a little bit into your education and some influences there. But what did you do as a job? I know people of that era were desperate to do anything, but what were some of your first starts?

[A]

It was natural to work. And I set pins in a bowling alley, incidentally. You talk about AI losing jobs. There's no pinsetters and bowling alleys anymore.

[B]

No, there's not.

[A]

But that when the pinsetters came along, exploded the industry. And that, I think, is going to happen in AI going to explode employment. And I drove.

[B]

That's a great point. Many people think it's the reverse, but of course, when you have these gains in productivity, prosperity increases, and there's just more opportunity broadly.

[A]

And I caddied. I drove a truck collecting eggs and chickens and horse manure and horses. I worked in a factory. I worked in a cemetery. I might have left a few jobs out.

[B]

How old were you when you were driving a truck?

[A]

15.

[B]

15, okay. Times were a little different back then. Amazing. Well, if I recall correctly, you weren't necessarily thinking big at that point in your life. And so I always ask guests on this program about what effect a particular mentor or coach or teacher had in their life. Was there something that happened at your life at that point that changed your perspective on how you might be able to go big?

[A]

I was a smart aleck in junior high school.

[B]

You were a smart aleck?

[A]

Yeah. Well, I had my own card to go to work in and things like that. And I was acting up in a civics class, and he said, stay after school. And I did. And he asked me. I was prepared to give him a smart remark. And he asked me, this is your teacher? Yes. He asked me what I'm gonna do on Sunday. Well, generally I worked on Sunday. I said nothing. So he said, I'd like to take you to a concert. So he took me to a concert in Cleveland at the Severance Hall. And at the intermission, he said, you should Go to college. And that's when I decided to go to college.

[B]

Wow. So you know, that's awesome that a teacher would do that. I don't think you hear that as much these days. But that the teacher would take an interest in you. He saw something in you that you were leaving something behind by being maybe a smart aleck or what have you. Did you go to college as a result?

[A]

I had to change my personality in classes. So I moved from the back of class to the front and I did homework and I made sure that everybody knew I changed. It took a little while doing, but I did that.

[B]

And if that teacher hadn't done that.

[A]

I don't know what would happen. I have no idea.

[B]

Yeah. So you went to college on an ROTC scholarship and then you went into the Navy as a naval officer. What was your plan then? Navy for life. How did you see the world then as a result of the changed perspective of going from a small town blue collar spot to college to the Navy?

[A]

Well, I was a regular naval officer and not a reserve. So I was on the best duties you could have as a regular naval officer. The best ships and my captains made admiral. So I was going to stay in the Navy. I knew the Navy and I knew blue collar world. That's what I knew and I liked. And I had a lot of really fine officers in the Navy, pretty fine officers.

[B]

But you didn't, you didn't stay in the Navy. What changed?

[A]

The first duty I had as a, as an officer, I was on the flagship of the sixth Fleet. And when we were with the sixth Fleet, my home port was Ville France.

[B]

So that's the Mediterranean coast. That's down along the Riviera. Right.

[A]

Nice place, run a nice duty. And then I had a 12 to 4 watch and midnight to 4. And the only thing you had happening was sailors were coming off leave and a lot of them had too much to drink. And I was standing there and I saw all these lights on the Riviera and just a passing thought, I thought if I stay in the Navy, I'll never know anything about those lights. That was a passing.

[B]

Well, say that again. If you stayed in the Navy, you would only know it from the coast.

[A]

No, I would never know anything about.

[B]

Those lights and what was behind them, what was living there.

[A]

Everything about those lights. Everything. Gotcha. And that, I don't think that thought came up again in my mind for a long time. And then a number of years later I was in the North Atlantic and a destroyer escort and I had to make a decision. And I had applied to go to flight school and it was really rough seeing. And suddenly those lights popped into my mind and I thought, the decision I'm making has to do with a life that's rather well known. Exactly what's going to pretty much what's going to happen for the rest of my career in the Navy versus life that's mysterious.

[B]

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[A]

And to me, and so I decided to choose the Life that's Mysterious.

[B]

Nice. So, all right, so that's an important theme I want to return to pursuing the life of the mysterious, the unknown. You've got this curiosity. So my understanding is you went and studied, went into grad school, studied economics and went into the investment world. And you, My understanding is you rose pretty well, but you were working for others and you made a kind of a decision based on some circumstances to go out on your own. When you were relatively young, I think early 40s, you had three, four daughters at home, you decided to do this. What prompted you to step into that world of the mysterious? What was going on that motivated you to move out of what otherwise might have been a very comfortable, financially comfortable life?

[A]

Well, yeah, I was a regional partner for one investment firm running in California. Then I came back east. I was a managing partner for another firm. And there's a lot of activities that were so counterproductive, a lot of meetings that wasted your time. And so I, because I didn't start.

[B]

My own firm, and with respect to. And I'm sure you weren't profitable right away, there's a lot of risk associated with that. Give us a sense of the feeling of risk. How did your wife and family react to the fact that you quit your job and were starting something like that?

[A]

Well, I might not have quit my job. I quit or I was fired because I just refused to do something they asked me to do. So it was one or the other. Didn't make any difference. And that job, I was at the top of the time life, building big fancy offices. So I came back and I started my firm above my garage. It was an old servants quarters and there were two by four railings going up there. I put two signs on the top Tower suite, world headquarters.

[B]

Well, that's a big deal. That's a great story, but that may not be as impressionable to the audience. Without realizing that you then went on to do just achieve just extraordinary success in your field. I've asked you, Tom, for what advice you would give to others who are thinking about going out on their own, taking risks, starting a business, working in a business. What do you think are some of the attributes of a well functioning place to work that really determine success? Is it all knowledge and skills?

[A]

Well, I didn't think I was taking a great risk.

[B]

Really.

[A]

No, I didn't think that at all.

[B]

I don't think many people would take that risk in the early 40s with a family and just start at nothing. I know some people do, but it's a small percentage.

[A]

Well, I really didn't think it was taking any risk at all.

[B]

Because you had confidence.

[A]

Well, I had been in investment business for over 10 years, so I had strong convictions on what I wanted to invest in, the kind of investments I wanted to make. And so I didn't think it was risky at all. And I just, I wanted to focus on the process of investing rather than raising lots of money and managing lots of money for lots of people.

[B]

And so you're, you're. So your business model was to invest in others. And do you, do you, do you invest in ideas? Do you invest in businesses? Do you invest in people? Do you invest in what do you invest in? If I could.

[A]

Well, I don't think there's any one thing. You have to have a, you have to have a company with the right culture and they have to have a business model that understands the importance of profits and profits in terms of cash flow, real cash flow, not an accounting profit. So that was sort of the fundamental.

[B]

What do you mean by culture?

[A]

Well, the main ingredient in most businesses are people. And you want to help them find who they really are. And listen, they're in business a big chunk of their life and a culture allows them to become a better person, a more productive person. And you know, the other thing is I have a class of students that we, my wife and I were supported for many years in New York. And these are people trying to get an education, the bottom of the scale. And I tell them I'm going to give them a Secret not a success. Let it succeed. Okay, I'm going to illustrate this mathematically. I'm going to give you a thousand dollars a day for one month. That's $30,000. I'll give you a penny. Think of yourself as a penny in a world where there are lots of thousand dollar people. Okay, $1,000 is a lot more than a penny. It's a hundred thousand times more than a penny.

[B]

Right.

[A]

I'm going to double that penny every day for one month penny double that. Every day for one month is $5.4 million.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

What if it's a 31 day month? Now what does that tell you about how to live your life?

[B]

Okay, so this is not just the time value of money. This is about how to think about living your life. What do you mean?

[A]

That's what I'm. I use this mathematically to tell my student, these students, how they a secret and how to succeed. What does that tell you about life? That tells you the importance of growing every day of your life. Get up in the morning, try to say to yourself, I'm going to really do something better day. I'm going to be a better person today. And that before you go to bed, ask yourself, grade yourself, get in that habit and you're going to live a different life because you'll be a different person.

[B]

So when you. Well, that's some good advice. When you talk about culture, you're talking about virtues and values. Then you're talking about respect for others and humility and.

[A]

Well, I'm talking about integrity.

[B]

Would you invest in a firm that seemed to have a good plan for making a profit but you thought had questionable integrity?

[A]

Oh, no, I wouldn't do that.

[B]

I'm not sure everybody would agree with you.

[A]

Well, that's not unusual. I've lived that way all my life. It doesn't bother me.

[B]

But you think that's pretty important.

[A]

I do. I've invested a lot of really fine people that are really unique and have impeccable integrity and they're not going to try to shave earnings to make a quarter in the long run. That's really. Well, that really will have results.

[B]

Well, I want to go back to your. To the point I made earlier about. Well, the reference to the ideas. The ideas and the principles that have motivated a lot of your life. You talked about the founding principles of the country. I think you shared with me that you grew up a Democrat.

[A]

I did.

[B]

But things changed. You were exposed to some ideas. Some people. Tell me a little bit about how that change with Respect to you.

[A]

I was in my 40s, and I started reading Frederick Hayek.

[B]

Wow. Did somebody recommended that? Not everybody stumbles upon Hayek.

[A]

No. I had a number of books I wanted to read, and that was one of them. And even now, when I think of the first exposure to Friedrich Hayek, I get chills in my back because he was so thoughtful. And especially not just the Road to Serfman, but his Nobel Prize address is entitled the Pretense of Knowledge, in which he pointed out that the intellectual class, which he said, people with education and authors and people like that that are professionals, he says, they tend to have the fatal conceit. They think they know more than is knowable. That was a. Because I always try to figure out how come I don't know as much as I should know. And Hayek gave me a little bit more comfort in that regard, and that changed my thinking. I didn't necessarily become a publican then, but I didn't. I left the Democratic Party now with Pat Moynihan.

[B]

I recall you were his finance chairman. He was an interesting guy, very smart guy and intellectual, grounded in the ideas. How did that partnership with him work with you?

[A]

Well, I wasn't his finance chairman, but I was on the executive committee, and they became very close friends. We had lots of dinners together. He was an extraordinary intellect, had a prodigious memory. And he had an extraordinary wife, Liz, and she was always the chairman of the Finance Committee, and if not the name chairman, she was really the chairman. And I remember one time in the primary, Sharpton was running against patients, and he told everybody Pat was an alcoholic. And if you offended Pat Moynihan, Liz was your enemy forever. And so after he was knocked out and we. He was.

[B]

Moyhead won the primary.

[A]

He won the primary. Yes. And the Sharpton people called and said, we'll have a photo op and then endorse him. They all knew they better check with Liz. And she said, in essence, you tell him we didn't need him when the civil rights movement started, and we don't need him now. No photo op.

[B]

Wow.

[A]

That's who Liz was.

[B]

Wow. Well, you've worked with some extraordinary people over time, and you've supported many, especially in the idea space as well. Tom, I want to begin to wrap this up, focusing on some advice that you might have to give others about thinking big. But what's the thing going on in the country? I mean, you're very bullish on the country, but what's the thing that concerns you most today about the future?

[A]

Well, I'm not so sure. I think that. I think big.

[B]

Well, you achieve big, so you go big in that way.

[A]

I think the United States today faces the greatest threat in our history. And it's not Russia and it's not China. The greatest threat will always come from within. Always come from within. And today it's the exploding bureaucracy and exploding debt.

[B]

Well, if I could ask you about that, I agree with you, but we've been talking about the debt for decades, and I believe some people begin to think, well, is it really a threat? Is it really going to catch up to us? Why is it such a big problem? Would you help folks understand why is it a problem today?

[A]

Well, just put it in perspective. Go back to Clinton's administration, right? He had a surplus every single year.

[B]

That's right. That's hard to believe. That's amazing.

[A]

And the debt was then about 5 trillion. And he pointed out that in a talk, he said we could pay the debt off in 15 years. Every administration that since that time, Republican or Democrat, has saw the debt go up. And Today it's about $37 trillion. The interest on the federal debt today is over a trillion dollars. That's more than the defense budget.

[B]

The annual cost of servicing the debt is over a trillion dollars, about a trillion yuan, which you say is more than what you spend on our defense.

[A]

It's about a trillion one. And I was at a dinner recently at a Republican, Republican senator was there, and I basically said the same thing with regard to the threat we have in the country. And I said to him, what is the Republican Party doing about that? And he gave me a long, convoluted answer. And he said that we have a plan. We think we can balance the budget in four years. Well, I think the threat is far more serious than that. And if you're going to balance the budget in four years, the debt will not then be 37 trillion, maybe 40 trillion. The interest rates will not go down. People will start feeling uncomfortable about the United States. But if the interest rate of Federal debt is $2 trillion, what if it's bigger than all the entitlements? Will this republic survive as a republic? This debt is serious and it has to be handled now. It has to be thought of as a serious threat to our country as we've known it now.

[B]

Well, I hope others will hear. I know you've done a lot to do that. You've taken out ads in the Wall Street Journal. You've help found different organizations, you support different things. I think the Hayek Book Prize that you've done at the Manhattan Institute is very important in its own way. And the way you go back to these ideas and you try to raise up those that are trying to publish important messages as well. What would be your hope for the United States with respect to public policy over the next couple of decades?

[A]

Well, it's hard to imagine what the world would be like without a United States of America.

[B]

Well, it's a great point.

[A]

I think Western civilization would be a lot different without the United States of America. There's absolutely no doubt that we're the greatest country in the history of man and we have to survive. And I think we can.

[B]

Go back.

[A]

To the end of the 70s. We had three presidents. All of them were economic illiterates. Boyd, Carter, Nixon. The market peaked in 66 or 68 and didn't break that peak until 1983.

[B]

That long, really?

[A]

That's right. And think of what was going on then. You had inflation. That was never going to stop. Our confidence in the country was the lowest it's been since we. Since we measured it.

[B]

Right, right.

[A]

You had unions, management and government or adversarial. Strikes were all over the place. Japan could walk on water. There was just.

[B]

There wasn't a whole lot of hope back then.

[A]

Well, that's why the market sold as low as it did. There's no. And taxes were confiscatory. They were just horrible. I remember nobody sold things because capital gains were so high. He kept trading and along came Ronald Reagan, and he brought optimism. People don't. Economists tend not to focus on optimism as an important ingredient with a guide to the future. But optimism is crucial importance, and he brought it. And I remember I quoted in the letter I wrote then I quoted an economist in Harvard. I can't remember his name, but he's a very famous economist. He said the engine of growth in the Western world has shut down and remained that way for decades.

[B]

Wow. And this was from the 1980s or.

[A]

70S, at the beginning of two of the greatest growth decades in the history of the world.

[B]

Exactly.

[A]

So it tells you a little bit about whether or not you should listen to all those.

[B]

Well, the fatal conceit. Right?

[A]

That's right. That's right.

[B]

Well, that's a great way to conclude. And you're a very humble guy. I know you're reluctant to give advice to others, so maybe I'll just ask it in the form of looking back. What advice was best for you? What has served you best that you think could serve others? Whenever you're talking to a young person today who asks, tom, you told me to live my life better tomorrow than I did today, and today better than yesterday, and next week better than tomorrow. What should we all think about in terms of living a life of purpose and meaning, where we're all, in a way, going big?

[A]

No matter what you do, you have to do the best you can do it the best you can do at every job. But also, you know, the unit of exchange in life is not a dollar. Most important unit of exchange in life is people. Think of it. You spend a dollar and you get something in return. But the real unit of exchange, and you don't know how much those units you have, is a day. And you have to think about spending a day like you spend a dollar. You have to get something in return. And if you practice, if you think about a day like that, your life's going to be a lot more productive, a lot more enjoyable.

[B]

Ladies and gentlemen, if you caught some of those recommended readings, Friedrich Hayek, you should check it out. If you don't H A Y E K the Road to Serfdom is the classic, but as you say, the Nobel Prize address where he talks about the fatal conceit, the pretense of knowledge is very important as well. Check out the winners of the Hayek Prize at the Manhattan Institute. If you're looking for some good reading, there's some really good books there over the years. And Tom, it's just what a great pleasure to be inspired by you over the years and thank you for helping inspire a few more today.

[A]

Thank you. Thank you very much.

[B]

Thanks for tuning in to the Going Big Podcast. I hope today's conversation left you feeling energized and and ready to tackle your biggest goals. Don't forget to subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes, YouTube or wherever you listen to podcasts. It really helps spread the word and it gets these inspiring stories out to more people. You can also find more content, resources and updates at our website goingbigpodcast.com Remember, the only limits are the ones you don't challenge, the limits that you impose on your yourself. Keep pushing, keep growing, and above all, keep going big. See you next time on the Going Big Podcast.