#medium chill

[infamousbrad]

Words to Live By

Dave Roberts, a much better writer than I will ever be, once spat a perfect sentence (new to me today) that reminded me of a research finding that he didn't mention: the lowest hard-core gambling addicts are, per dollar of wealth, more generous than anyone else on the planet and we know why: because deep down they believe in luck and, by comparison, the rest of us just don't. Or as the original @drvolts just put it:

"I think everyone could stand to be more cognizant and appreciative of a) the logarithmic connection between wealth and happiness, and b) the substantial role of luck in life’s outcomes. Or to put it another way: The poor need money more than the rich do, and the fact that the poor are poor and the rich are rich is largely a result of chance and contingency."

(Dave Roberts, "The Medium Chill, Revisited," Grist.org. May 1st 2013)

[reoffender]

If we wanted, we could both do the “next thing” on our respective career paths. She could move to a bigger company. I could freelance more, angle to write for a bigger publications, write a book, hire a publicist, whatever. We could try to make more money. Then we could fix the water pressure in our shower, redo the back patio, get a second car, or hell, buy a bigger house closer in to town. Maybe get the kids in private schools. All that stuff people with more money than us do. But … meh.

David Roberts on how to live a "medium chill", "good enough" life.

[tornbread]

And in America, no matter how much you've got, someone next to you has more. This is what Chris Hayes once described to me as "fractal inequality." America's top 10 percent are far, far better off than the other 90 percent, but the top 1 percent is far, far better off than the 10 percent, and the 0.01 percent is far, far better off than the 1 percent.... That's how you get people in the U.S. making $200,000 a year -- unquestionably rich relative to the median -- whining that they're just humble middle class. They look with bitter envy on those making a million, just as those making a million aspire to the tens of millions, and so on.... There is no plateau, no place to stand where you're not looking up at your next-door neighbors. And thanks to the magic of television, every family in the country gets to compare themselves to the richest of the rich every single night.

David Roberts ("The medium chill," Grist)

[murphyslaw71]

I saw this yesterday via Rachel Maddow's blog (and citing David Roberts at Grist). This is sage advice. Don't always shoot for the stars, but start satisficing by accepting the good-enough option, not the ideal. Here's to lowering expectations for a better you!