The Geometry of Wealth: How to shape a life of money and meaning
Auteur: Brian Portney
Ma note: 8/10
Mes highlights
In 1979, General Motors employed 840,000 people and earned profits of about $11 billion. Meanwhile, in 2012, Google employed less than 38,000 people and generated profits of nearly $14 billion. In case you’re wondering, these profits are adjusted for inflation.15 So on an apples-to-apples basis, the labor necessary to produce great profits has plummeted. In this case, there were comparable profits, but fewer than one-twentieth the jobs.
Our job is to find a few intelligent things to do, not to keep up with every damn thing in the world
Dan Ariely explains, “Thinking is difficult and sometimes unpleasant.
Building and executing on a plan is, in itself, a source of happiness
eudaimonia. Technically, it translates to merely happiness or well-being, but its more robust interpretation is that of “human flourishing,” of the realization of the best version of one’s self.
hedonism of Epicurus and others, who defined happiness in terms of the attainment of pleasure and the avoidance of pain
The evidence of the importance of social bonds for a meaningful life is overwhelming.60 Noted psychologist Timothy Wilson suggests that “Happiness research will tell you that the number one predictor of how happy people are is the quality of their social relationships.”
Tying yourself to anything from environmental causes to a sports team (I am a proud member of Steeler Nation) to a group of hobbyists (boating, chess, online gaming, dog lovers) is one of life’s most powerful motivators
Tribalism is deeply wired
Being good at something you care about is one of life’s most profound sources of fulfilment
Indeed, the most meaningful work experiences of my life all involved a fairly painful process of grinding toward success
It’s not just work that matters, but hard work
Jonathan Haidt smartly observes that “Whatever the origins of religiosity, nearly all religions have culturally evolved complexes of practices, stories, and norms that work together to suppress the self and connect people to something beyond the self.”
Research has shown that smaller, frequent experiences better defy the hedonic treadmill. Take these two experiments. In one, subjects were each awarded a $50 prize, but some won two $25 lotteries, while others won just one for the full amount. In another, a group of subjects each received a three-minute massage session. One group received two 80-second massages with a 20-second break. The other group received a full three-minute massage. In both experiments, people reported achieving more pleasure from the first instance with the shorter recurring experiences rather than the longer single experience
The researchers discovered that those who spent money on others were measurably happier than those who spent it on themselves, even though there were not systematic differences in happiness levels at the beginning of the day
no way to know until the end of life, at which point it would be too late to act accordingly.
we are more motivated to avoid loss than make a gain
We like risk, especially in the quest to avoid loss.
The potential reward of starting your own business is huge, but so is the potential downside. The latter weighs more heavily on our psyches.
Our future identities are a moving target.
“People may believe that who they are today is pretty much who they will be tomorrow, despite the fact that it isn’t who they were yesterday.”
Psychologist Robert Emmons suggests two steps to benefit from gratitude. The first is to acknowledge the good things you have in life. This is harder than it sounds because it’s difficult to resist comparisons to others. There is always someone who has more, or what appears to be better.
it’s healthier to think about one’s own progress rather than ranking ourselves by another’s measuring stick.
This means that one must move from the inner feeling of gratitude to its outward expression. Saying thanks, including expressions of kindness, is one of the most positively selfish things one can do on the path toward contentment
Over the 20 years through the end of 2015, the U.S. stock market nearly quintupled. An average buy-and-hold investment gained 483% over that stretch. But the average investor in U.S. stock mutual funds gained just 251%. This difference is referred to as the “behavior gap.”
For those focused on daily market action, those new highs release dopamine in the brain (new highs physically feel good), which makes us more likely to invest more.
First, we prioritize being “less wrong” over being “more right.” Managing risk is a priority over enhancing returns
“Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is an absurd one.” – Voltaire
Thus, having more choice translates into a greater sense of safety. We naturally want more, not primarily because we are greedy, but because we want to survive.