Happiness And How We Percieve Money

Happiness is very similar to how we perceive money. 

Imagine you're making $5,000 a month.

Maybe you're on track to earn $10,000 a month a year from now.

Awesome.

Spending one dollar at the local store doesn't bother you.

Why would it?

More money is coming in.

Next month.

And next year.

You're moving forward.

Now imagine you have $10 million in the bank.

Sounds great.

But there's one condition:

You can never earn another dollar for the rest of your life.

No new business.

No job.

No investments.

Nothing.

Remember that part.

You can't earn another dollar.

Suddenly, your relationship with money subtly changes.

You become more careful.

Maybe even anxious.

Not because you're poor.

But because every dollar you spend is one less dollar you'll ever have.

After buying an apple for one dollar, your $10,000,000 becomes $9,999,999.

Objectively, that's nothing.

Psychologically, it feels different.

Because there's no way up anymore - only down.

Happiness works the same way.

Most people think happiness is a destination.

They think one day they'll finally make enough money, build the business, find the relationship, buy the house, achieve the goal, and then they'll be happy.

But the moment you think you've arrived, you've created the same problem as the person with $10 million: 

You've convinced yourself that you've reached the top.

Now you're no longer creating happiness.

That's the dangerous part of arriving, or believing you'll be happy when you achieve (x).

The goal is NOT to "become happy." 

The goal is to continuously be happy.

And that requires continuously creating reasons to be happy.

New challenges.

New projects.

New ways of thinking.

New ways of behaving.

Stronger relationships.

The same way the person earning $5,000 a month feels relaxed because more money is on the way, we feel alive when we believe more growth is ahead of us.

Happiness is found in creating more of it.

And the chase only ends when you die.