Happiness is tricky. A lot of people, even when they get what’s supposed to make them happy, still struggle with it.

And I’m not immune from this, either, but I do try to think about it a lot.

Because I like to take a deep breath and feel good about life.

And I have loads of reasons to, so when I see somebody who on paper should be happy but clearly isn’t, I’ll take the lesson.

Josh Johnson recently appeared on Tom Papa’s podcast. I’m a huge fan of both of them. I think they’ve both figured out ways to be ultra creative, ultra productive, and seemingly fairly well-adjusted adults in a way I greatly admire.

So it’s no surprise the happiness concept came up.

Josh brought it up, talking about Elon Musk. “That guy is the richest man in the world and he still argues on Twitter… And he bought Twitter… That’s what should let you know that money doesn’t buy happiness. The richest man in the world is arguing with people like me on his platform.”

Tom adds, “That sounds broke to me. That’s a crazy thing to do.” He means Elon sounds financially broke, like the opposite of rich when he talks like this, and that’s what really hit me hard.

Tom’s right. He sounds broke even though he’s the richest man on earth!

Theoretically, Elon doesn’t need more money. Not to live on at least. Yet he (seemingly) craves some unlimited amount of approval. He wants all the social points. No amount of money is taking that need away.

Right now, on the internet, you have the richest man in the world, and all the broke-ass acquaintances from middle school who can’t catch a break and can’t stop posting about it, sharing the same place and energy.

It is weird. And, it’s a reminder.

A lot of life is about money, but happiness is only sort of about money. You need some, but a lot gets abstract, fast. It’s worth thinking about, using extreme cases like Elon’s.

If you were there, could you be happy? Would you be happy? What would you do differently? There’s something to learn from the thought exercise.

The entire interview is worth your time if you’re curious about people who put out too much content (see why I like Josh?) and are also obsessed with craft, across the board, including baking bread (see why I like Tom?).