I have two jobs: one in the office making someone else rich and one during the weekends where I invest huge sums of capital and smell like cat pee or mold by the end of the night. The first job pays for an apartment and food; the second one fits my strategy for wealth. Quitting the second sounds wonderful because the work is miserable.

Yet I can’t. And when you want to quit, you can’t, either. Every day on my way to school growing up, my mom always said with enunciation like a German chef, “Try your best. You are going to have a good day.”

It doesn’t so much matter how your performance measures up to another person’s. I’m sure other people have strategies that roll in money without rolling in cat remnants like I do. But I’m going to keep plugging away, remembering not to compare myself to others, only to myself. Be the Energizer Battery and keep going and going. We all need the reminders, sometimes every day, like my mom shared to try our best.

When I know I’ve worked hard, I come home and smile. Everything might not have been perfect, I’m certain my mom knew a secret in growing knowledge and wealth because I did have a good day – a great day, really.