Finding the Balance between Making Money and Being Happy
Silicon Valley Millionaires don’t feel that they are successful or rich enough, according to yesterday’s New York Times article on technology entrepreneurs and executives.
These disgruntled millionaires are already wealthy but they are still caught up in the race for social prestige, a factor that is heavily based on their net worth and the amount of money they earn.
The result of this is exhausting 80 hour workweeks with additional peer pressure to make even more money, in order to reach the top rungs of society within the affluent Silicon Valley area.
Fear of an unstable financial future and the desire for more recognition drives all these already rich individuals towards these punishing lifestyles.
When chief executives are routinely paid tens of millions of dollars a year and a hedge fund manager can collect $1 billion annually, those with a few million dollars often see their accumulated wealth as puny, a reflection of their modest status in the new Gilded Age, when hundreds of thousands of people have accumulated much vaster fortunes.
Jealousy or Envy doesn’t Help You to Make Money
Social envy or jealousy is meaningless and not productive. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve been envious of some of my competitors’ success, especially when they have a product, website or service which I feel is inferior in features, price or value.
Jealousy will easily lead to bitterness when left unchecked. Because of this, one might even write an snarky article about your competitor or leave rude comments on other blogs about their business or site.
Unless the competitor in question has directly attacked your reputation or product, this is usually unnecessary, time consuming and futile. It’s important instead to develop goals and markers for measuring your own success.
While it sounds like a zen-cliche, your strongest competitor is yourself. Use others as yardsticks but discard them when they are a cause of constant stress or negative emotions.
Jealousy and envy are tools that motivate you to reach a similar level of income but it’s easy to let it overpower your thought processes and focus. Let it make you hungry for personal success and go no further than that.
Sometimes it’s just easier to not frequently compare your website with others because it can lead to disappointment and frustration.
Money and the Art of Happiness
The discontented Silicon Valley millionaires are stuck in the mold of social pressure and motivated by envy to make more money, despite the fact that they are already sustainable.
This is partially due to environmental influence and the fact that they place a heavy emphasis on acquiring social prestige and view money as an satisfying end-goal.
The article reminded me of what was discussed in The Art of Happiness
- The purpose of life is happiness.
- Happiness is determined more by the state of one’s mind than by one’s external conditions, circumstances, or events—at least once one’s basic survival needs are met.
- Happiness can be achieved through the systematic training of our hearts and minds, through reshaping our attitudes and outlook.
- The key to happiness is in our own hands.
Perhaps something to keep in mind when you’re working hard to make money online.
Nice article! I look at making money online as a game of sorts. If I make money online it’s great and a plus to the game, but if I don’t make anything online, it’s not a total loss, because well, it’s just a game.
To many people let money control their lives when they could be much more happy if they woke up and took a look around at everything they do have, rather than everything they want. Some people are just never satisfied.
Very nice article. I think it’s great that you focus on stuff like that, as well as money making posts. Btw you have no reason to envy your competitors, your site is by far the best in its niche.
Best Regards Mia
Maki Im actually pretty jealous of the great work you have done on this blog but i would never come by and leave a bad comment. I simply work hard on my new venture and try to get as much (if not more) success as I can get myself
Set goals and then visualise reaching them
Great post. Was actually directed here from one of the delicious bookmarks i saw under the headline, Top100 xxx blogs. (can’t remember).
This post is nice and serve to re-awaken everybody and me too as i just participated in this blogosphere.
Regards,
Jaklang
Who said ‘Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can enable you to buy a huge yacht and pull up alongside’?
Seriously, you make a valid point as usual, and it’s true that sometimes you read a blog and just think ‘but mine’s so much better!’. Such is life, all you can do is keep going…..
I think the article showed that it wasn’t money, but income that was important to these people. Income was what helped them continue living the lifestyle they’d got used to and income was what they were afraid to lose if they quit.
Thankfully what I do online is enough to live on and if I fell sick tomorrow or stopped working for a month I’d still be paid. Most people aren’t in such a happy situation and stopping work = no paycheque each month.
Very valid point here. It’s hard to find a balance sometimes..
Interesting that you post this after I just finished watching The Way of The Peaceful Warrior. Perhaps it’s a sign that I’m trying too hard to find happiness in my bank account or traffic log when I need to look within.
Thanks for the post.
Unfortunately, happiness is not going to put my two kids through college.
I agree with ‘your strongest competitor is yourself’ .. I also wrote that in one of my posts recently…
“but discard them when they are a cause of constant stress or negative emotions” … seems like you’ve been reading 48 laws of power !?!
will be buying the book you mention here too… very nice article..
yup. I was running two blogs and soon couldn’t handles it because i no longer had time for myself, i was losing sleep and couldn’t call it. I turned one of my blogs to a free dating website. So if you need to meet some nice people take some time off and click on the blue by the date or go to yeoq.com. I am a have fun making money, you would be happier richer.
Hey Maki,
Great post!
Jonathan Haidt, author the The Happiness Hypothesis, revealed some fascinating research on this topic.
Beyond being able to comfortably pay your bills and steer clear of poverty, there is little relationship between “absolute” wealth and happiness. But…
There is a strong connection between “relative” wealth and happiness. What the heck does that mean?
If you earn an astonishing amount of money BUT those around you or those who fill your aspirations earn a lot more “relative” to you, you’ll actually be less happy than if you earned the exact same thing, but were surrounded by people making the same or less than you.
So, huge absolute wealth won’t make you more happy, but lower relative wealth will make you less happy.
Jonathan
I used to work for a web development company whose owner had become very successful over a short period of time. He went from average joe to millionaire in the period of about 2 years. I have never seen such a drastic change in a person. A once nice person became mean spirited and paranoid. The biggest though was and still is paranoid. He is constantly looking over his shoulder at what everyone is doing. He monitors his employees phone calls, emails and even goes so far as to try and tell employees what they can and cant do on their personal time. He has all the toys; new mercedes, convertable 60’s mustang, 70 foot boat, new 6ooo sq foot home, etc…. but is one of the most empty and miserable people I have ever seen. I hope if I ever meet with the same success that I dont become like him. What is so sad is he thinks he is the most popular person around and behind his back everyone, even his own employees and family laugh and make fun of him. Very sad.
Money is not the answer to happiness. It is nice to have, but when it starts to rule your life you are headed for much bigger problems.
Totally! If you can’t be happy doing what you do to make money, might as well not.
I used to think I would love freelance writing, and I totally gave it up when I would procrastinate every article I wrote. I dig blogging so I made a few more and I love it. I look forward to voicing my opinions.
I make less money at the moment, but I am most certainly happier!
Thanks Novice SEO for telling us a real example. Money changes peoples attitude in most of the cases. Money has its own power. You need to be really strong and wise enough to manage your life while sleeping in a bed of roses.
Thanks Maki, this article couldn’t have come at a better time. I’ve been spending a lot of time trying to make my blog grow. Sometimes I feel like I’m in a race and the results aren’t coming fast enough. Maybe just enjoying small improvements, will lead to more happiness. Thanks, Emma
Yes, i’m agree with you. The envious and jealous makes my mind hampered. And i can’t reach my happiness. That is the important point you must avoid to make your own product.
As Weird Al said in the mid 80s, “If money can’t buy happiness, I guess I’ll have to rent it”.
Actually, this idea is something my circle of friends and I have been discussing a lot lately. I think everyone eventually reaches the age where they realise that bank balances and expensive stuff isn’t gunna make you happy. Some just reach that stage earlier than others.
Thank you for another excellent article. I have only recently started reading your articles and I’m really impressed. Your advice is very welcome and helpful. I am a novice in the blogging world and your tips have come in very handy. Inadvertently, you are doing what would make more people happy – sharing your knowledge. Thanks again.
Thanks everyone for leaving a comment and sharing your thoughts on this topic. I do appreciate it. Looks like all of you have got your priorities right when it comes to making money and being happy.
What an absolutely well written, wonderful article. I’m going to have to subscribe to Dosh Dosh RSS feed. I’ve read several excellent articles already. Keep up the good work !!