If there's one thing that unites all the people who are broke, it would be happiness. And if there were two things, the second thing would be pride- in either their identity, or the work that they do, or the work that they have done. I'm not talking about ALL those who are broke- some of them have never had a chance to make it big (or even reasonably alright). But if you are middle-class or above and have consistently underachieved in life, these two are the main reasons. I do realise that making money is not the purpose of life and hence if a person is happy with being happy and proud and broke, I'm perfectly alright with that BUT if you (kind of like me) wonder at times why you tend to just fall short of making it big the idea deserves some thought.
The underlying reasons for being happy (with yourself, and your surroundings) may vary- you might be too lazy or not have the motivation to accept facts and become sad about the shit that keeps on happening to you. Or you do not know enough to be sad about your unfortunate situation. To a large extent, I've tried to not be too happy with myself at any stage of my life because of this- though it probably has occurred more due to a subconscious effort more than anything else and I realise it in retrospect. The second reason- pride is however something that has plagued me pretty much throughout my life. From getting accolades throughout childhood (they weren't much but they were enough for making me 'overconfident') to naturally being afraid to show weakness or to fail, and in general having a slightly superior intellect-cum-IQ(see what I mean?) pride has definitely made me underachieve compared to others with similar skills.
In all models of economy which are not market-based, pride and happiness play a really important part. I've stressed in a few of my previous posts how maximising money isn't the sole aim of man and that there are non-monetary benefits that people look for. Now, if you're the kind of person who isn't too excited by your identity (for example you aren't too proud of being an Indian or a Hindu or a young bloke or being attractive or whatever is it) then there's not much motivation for you to go after the non-monetary benefits of doing things which would not pay much but make you happy/proud. While a religious person might spend a day at a temple say every week, you could save on that time and read up The Economist. It's well known that Roman emperors used to conduct games and plays so that people would not think too much about their poverty and revolt. While the normal lower middle class to poor person enjoys going to a play everyday and eating roadside food and the small things in life (mainly because his parents and their parents realised that these are the only things they can have) the prince knows that being rich and famous is the key to being really really happy. Thus, people cultivate different utility functions and everyone is happy being themselves and would not want to be anyone else in this world.
In environments where merit isn't rewarded with money or where , pride comes in again. This happens in PSUs, crappy companies, communist societies and in jails. Pride in small communities and happiness with otherwise pointless things crowd out the search for success and money(which are beyond a person's reach in these cases).
So, if you feel that you're not achieving as much as you should- think about your present situation deeply and consider how miserable it really is. Thinking about the billions of people who cannot even have food three times a day will make you satisfied (a kind of happiness) with what you have. Be sad, miserable and thus do something productive in life.
The underlying reasons for being happy (with yourself, and your surroundings) may vary- you might be too lazy or not have the motivation to accept facts and become sad about the shit that keeps on happening to you. Or you do not know enough to be sad about your unfortunate situation. To a large extent, I've tried to not be too happy with myself at any stage of my life because of this- though it probably has occurred more due to a subconscious effort more than anything else and I realise it in retrospect. The second reason- pride is however something that has plagued me pretty much throughout my life. From getting accolades throughout childhood (they weren't much but they were enough for making me 'overconfident') to naturally being afraid to show weakness or to fail, and in general having a slightly superior intellect-cum-IQ(see what I mean?) pride has definitely made me underachieve compared to others with similar skills.
In all models of economy which are not market-based, pride and happiness play a really important part. I've stressed in a few of my previous posts how maximising money isn't the sole aim of man and that there are non-monetary benefits that people look for. Now, if you're the kind of person who isn't too excited by your identity (for example you aren't too proud of being an Indian or a Hindu or a young bloke or being attractive or whatever is it) then there's not much motivation for you to go after the non-monetary benefits of doing things which would not pay much but make you happy/proud. While a religious person might spend a day at a temple say every week, you could save on that time and read up The Economist. It's well known that Roman emperors used to conduct games and plays so that people would not think too much about their poverty and revolt. While the normal lower middle class to poor person enjoys going to a play everyday and eating roadside food and the small things in life (mainly because his parents and their parents realised that these are the only things they can have) the prince knows that being rich and famous is the key to being really really happy. Thus, people cultivate different utility functions and everyone is happy being themselves and would not want to be anyone else in this world.
In environments where merit isn't rewarded with money or where , pride comes in again. This happens in PSUs, crappy companies, communist societies and in jails. Pride in small communities and happiness with otherwise pointless things crowd out the search for success and money(which are beyond a person's reach in these cases).
So, if you feel that you're not achieving as much as you should- think about your present situation deeply and consider how miserable it really is. Thinking about the billions of people who cannot even have food three times a day will make you satisfied (a kind of happiness) with what you have. Be sad, miserable and thus do something productive in life.
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