#Microblog Monday 239: The Enough Line
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I’m reading Annie Duke’s Thinking in Bets (which is fascinating), and she talks about how our brains are hardwired to compare ourselves to the people around us, and then create a mental narrative of where we stand based on those comparisons. She writes on page 107: “Our brain is built to seek positive self-image updates. It is also built to view ourselves in competition with our peers.”
It reminded me an article that I read a few months ago about why the ultrarich still strive for more money even though their rational brain knows that they don’t need to hoard more cash for a rainy day. The article asks: “But at a certain level of wealth, the next million isn’t going to suddenly revolutionize their lifestyle. What drives people, once they’ve reached that point, to keep pursuing more?”
And then: “Norton says that research regularly points to two central questions that people ask themselves when determining whether they’re satisfied with something in their life: Am I doing better than I was before? and Am I doing better than other people?” Like Duke’s book, this is also an interesting piece, especially why we latch onto money instead of other measures of success for answering those questions.
It feels overwhelming to stare into a bottomless goal. An ever-moving enough line.
Your thoughts?
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9 comments
Oh interesting. I had always wondered about the richer getting richer mentality as well.
Though I guess I don’t see it as a bottomless goal because at any point in time, we’re only looking at one.
definitely thought-provoking, I do believe that after a certain amount of money the next “conquest” is not about the dollar amount but about competition either with yourself or your peers.
I do my best to not worry about how I measure up against other people or even think of other writers etc as my competition. I really believe that when we help each other do better, everybody ends up doing better.
If you looked at it from the other side, someone is doing something, it makes them richer, they must be good at their something, why stop? Maybe they enjoy what they do?
(OK, I broke up with the partner who was always unhappy no matter how fat his bank account / portfolio was and could hardly ever enjoy a vacation)
Or maybe we just don’t see the rich who become less rich as much, since that same mentality would stop them from boasting about it…
I’ve read that before, and understand that it is well documented, at all levels of society. I believe it.
Definitely thought-provoking. I do believe that after reaching a certain point it is no longer about the dollar amount but about competing with either yourself or your peers.
I believe that the line is ever-shifting. I have seen people strive for money, get the crazy money, and just strive for even more, never satisfied. I do like the idea of “Am I better than I was before” — a comparing yourself to other iterations of yourself, instead of to other people where you don’t always know the whole story.
Our mind is always comparing ourselves with others! True.
But, our mind is built to do it that way is a strange thing to know. No wonder, not to get into or stay in the comparison mode (with others) requires so much effort.
I am joining Microblog Mondays this week after ages.
Fascinating. Social media feeds right into this. And this helps explain my teenagers (and me!).