--- 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: 2026-10-08T08:26:14.077Z 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 > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Each week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published weekly. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=f06d9a76-fa7b-46d8-af01-07d22b63451d&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Michael Lewis Talks Donald Trump [Watch (HLS stream): Michael Lewis Talks Donald Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/SnS5T07l.m3u8) (1:32)  _Published 2016-12-06. Author of the book "Moneyball" talks about the President-elects' administration._ by [Alana Abramson / Money](https://time.com/author/money-magazine/) ## Alana Abramson / Money Mar 27, 2017 8:40 PM UTC 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) ## Transcript He's going to allow the elites to prey on the common people. [ MUSIC ] I watched this campaign where Mr. Trump seemed to be speaking on behalf of common people. But everything he's done since he's been elected suggests that he's going to allow the elites to prey on the common people. And go back to doing exactly what they were doing in the run up to the financial crisis. And roll back various disincentives to bad behavior in the name of growth. I don't know Politically if he's gonna get away with that. Maybe he will, maybe he won't. I don't completely understand why he would even want to. He was right in the first place in suggesting that we live in a world now where ordinary people do need to be protected from elites, and that's a shame. I mean, we live in a world where, I feel, the elites have kind of abdicated a lot of their responsibility. To the rest of the society. And in the financial crisis was the microcosm of that. But letting them do bad things all over again, that seems to be a recipe for a revolution. So God knows what's gonna happen But if he eliminates the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, he will have done the American people a huge disservice. And we'll see. He hasn't done anything yet. He just appoints the people he loves what they gonna do. 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