Run after money…..But remember! (2024)

Lot of us think about money as something which we need to have more and more. I haven’t come across anyone who has told me, God I have enough money and I don’t want more. In a way money is thought to be the key to happiness as it gives you an ability to buy everything which can give you happiness. Is it? There has been lot of scientific researches around whether money can buy happiness or not with some studies saying yes some saying no. So jury is still not clear on what stand one takes on the same. Before I say something about how you should look at money first let me show you this diagram

Most of us pursue money with a belief that this money is going to help us buy things which will give them happiness. Here you are chasing money to get somethingelse. Lets call it Person -Money- Happiness syndrome. Most of us are afflicted with this and chase money with a firm belief that it is the route to happiness. I am not saying it can’t but one thing which makes me think about this approach is that is it possible for us to be immersed in the pursuit of money so much so that we forget the very reason why we started pursuing it Or is there an alternate route to reach that coveted state of happiness. Can't we imagine an alternate route to feel happy by not pursuing the PMH route.Will something like that look like the diagram below. Is it possible? Have we given it a thought?

I am sure there are alternate ways to be happy and that means that we have is short cuts available to feel the same positive emotions which we thought money could buy for us. (Would detail those short cuts in a different article). Let me continue with money and share few interesting findings to put this first route (person-money-happiness) in context.

1.Pursuit of money is like being on a constantly running trade mill – Its simple, the more money you have, the more you want to have. Why? Because, money is like any addictive drug which requires you to consume more quantities increasingly, if one wants the same level of kick as you get used to the previous dose. Say 5 mg of a drug gave you 10 happo (my unit to measure happiness), after few months when you get used to this 5mg quantity, you may need to consume 10mg of the same drug to get that 10 happo. That’s how you get addicted. Pursuit of money is extremely addictive. The more you get, the more you want not because of increased utility but because you are addicted to the kick this increased money gives you.

2.I don’t get any kick now: Is there a threshold after which money ceases to give you additional kick. This is a subject lot of researchers have put their mind to and a 2010 Princeton university study tells us that money is a great kick provider to your mind till you reach a salary level of $75,000/- per annum. After that it ceases to give you the level of kick which you were used to before this threshold. Still, lot of us don’t understand it and keep pursuing with a false belief that it would continue giving the excitement as it gave in the past.

3.Adaptation is the biggest enemy: I have interviewed several hundreds of people in different parts of the world and everyone tells me that they get used to the increased salary levels even before it comes to their bank account. The mind already makes a mental picture of the increased money and what you would be doing with it and in reality when the money hits your bank account, you have already adapted to your increased worth and hence it doesn’t provide you with any further excitement.

4.It’s not the absolute money: Most of the researchers have found poorest of poor people in a happier state of mind on one hand and billionaires being unhappy with their life. The question is why is so? And one of the plausible answer we get is that it’s not the absolute money which matters, it’s the perception of our self with regards to money which makes a difference to our happiness level. Do I feel, I can buy anything which I need? Or Do I feel, I have enough to take care of me and my family and if the answer of these questions are in affirmative then the absolute money becomes irrelevant. It’s about how you train your mind.

5.Comparison – the killer: Researchers tell us, it’s not how much you earn makes you happy or unhappy, most of us feel the pain or ecstasy when we compare our money with others. Just for an example who should be happier a person making $10,000/- per month or someone making $2,000 per month. The question looks simple but it is difficult to answer. What if the person earning $10,000 is surround by people who make $70,000 a month and feels awful about himself on the other hand the person making $2000 is surrounded by people who make $100 per month and he feels elevated. So money is always relative and this constant comparison with others is the source of our disappointment over money matters.

So what should one do? Stop running after money? Yes, if you can but most of us won’t be able to do it. In that case we would be happy to remember above 5 points to keep things in perspective. On the other hand it’s not only about earning money which has a bearing on our happiness, the other part of the equation which is ‘spending’ also has equally profound impact on our happiness. So as much you worry about earning money to feel happy, time has come for you to start thinking about your ‘spending habits’ too.

Is there a way in which you can spend money to maximize happiness – yes, there is and that would be what I would write in my next article.