--- title: Michael Lewis Says Key to Success Is Laziness description: For the bestselling author, laziness serves as a way of deciphering what is important to him. canonical: https://time.com/4714427/michael-lewis-moneyball-success/ author: Money Magazine article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-27T20:40:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:05:16.844Z og:title: This Expert's Key to Success Will Surprise You og:description: 'My laziness serves as a filter' og:url: https://time.com/4714427/michael-lewis-moneyball-success/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63b0901d9ef9cf2e/6988789d0b72e33bb96e79d6/chalkboard-to-do-list-success-betterment-work-organize.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2500 og:image:height: 1406 og:image:alt: chalkboard-to-do-list-success-betterment-work-organize-motto-stock og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Expert's Key to Success Will Surprise You twitter:description: 'My laziness serves as a filter' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63b0901d9ef9cf2e/6988789d0b72e33bb96e79d6/chalkboard-to-do-list-success-betterment-work-organize.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Expert's Key to Success Will Surprise You by [Alana Abramson / Money](https://time.com/author/money-magazine/) ## Alana Abramson / Money Mar 27, 2017 8:40 PM UTC  Molly Cranna for TIME by [Alana Abramson / Money](https://time.com/author/money-magazine/) ## Alana Abramson / Money Mar 27, 2017 8:40 PM UTC For bestselling author [Michael Lewis,](http://time.com/money/4591468/michael-lewis-amos-tversky-daniel-kahneman/) laziness is viewed as a helpful route to [success](http://time.com/collection-post/4678729/pamela-abalu-american-voices/), not a detriment. He doesn’t view the attribute, which he defines as being slow to act, as a negative, he told Qualtrics CEO Ryan Smith, [according to CNBC](http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/22/moneyball-author-michael-lewis-says-being-lazy-is-the-key-to-success.html?%5F%5Fsource=Facebook), but as a way of figuring out what he really wants to do. “My laziness serves as a filter,” Lewis said. “Something has to be really good before I’ll decide to work on it.” Lewis is the [author](http://michaellewiswrites.com/index.html#top) of the _Blind Side,_ the book about a southern family who takes in an illiterate football player that was turned into an Academy Award winning film, and several books about about financial crises, including _The Big Short, Flash Boys_ and _Boomerang._ He also wrote the hit baseball book _Moneyball_. _This_ [_article_](http://time.com/money/4710718/michael-lewis-moneyball-success/) _originally appeared on_ [_Money.com_](http://money.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4714427/michael-lewis-moneyball-success/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4714427/michael-lewis-moneyball-success/"},"headline":"This Expert's Key to Success Will Surprise You","datePublished":"2017-03-27T20:40:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:05:16.844Z","description":"'My laziness serves as a filter'","url":"https://time.com/4714427/michael-lewis-moneyball-success/","keywords":["motto","Newsmaker Interview","Success topic","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63b0901d9ef9cf2e/6988789d0b72e33bb96e79d6/chalkboard-to-do-list-success-betterment-work-organize.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson / Money"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt63b0901d9ef9cf2e/6988789d0b72e33bb96e79d6/chalkboard-to-do-list-success-betterment-work-organize.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"chalkboard-to-do-list-success-betterment-work-organize-motto-stock","caption":"chalkboard-to-do-list-success-betterment-work-organize-motto-stock","creditText":"Molly Cranna for TIME","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4714427/michael-lewis-moneyball-success/","name":"This Expert's Key to Success Will Surprise You"}}]}] ```