From Here to Financial Happiness

Day Nine Running the Treadmill

Yesterday, we discussed the General Social Survey. Why hasn't our happiness climbed along with improvements in our standard of living? At issue is a notion known as hedonic adaptation, or the hedonic treadmill.

We imagine that if we go on a Caribbean cruise, or we buy the bigger house or faster car, or we get a promotion and the accompanying pay raise, we'll be so much happier. And if these things come to pass, we will indeed be happier – but only briefly. Soon enough, the cruise is over and we rarely think about it. All too quickly, we're used to the bigger house, faster car, and larger paycheck, and barely notice these things. Instead, we're onto something else – hankering after another promotion, or a vacation home, or an even faster car.

All this might seem discouraging. But keep two things in mind. First, while we might quickly take the promotion and our latest purchase for granted, there was much pleasure in the pursuit of these goals. We got a lot of satisfaction from working toward the promotion and we were excited as we anticipated the house purchase. The destination may have proven less thrilling than we had hoped, but the journey was great fun.

Second, there are ways to counter hedonic adaptation. We can take a minute to relive the moment when we heard about the promotion. We can pause as we get out of the car and think how lucky we are to own such a fine vehicle. We can look at the photographs from last year's vacation and remember ...