Money and Happiness

Was reading an article on CNN money today morning. There was a survey carried out in which a group of people was asked the following question.

Option A] You are given a salary package of 100K but your contemporaries get a salary of 120K.
Option B] You are paid 90K but your colleagues get 70K,

what option will you choose?

What option would we have chosen? It is interesting to note that most of us, as in the survey , will choose option B even though it is almost 10K less than option A.

The point that article was trying to prove was the relation between happiness and money. If money was directly related to happiness most of us would have chosen option A.
Bottom line- We are not looking for happiness. We are actually looking for relative happiness. We are not looking for salary. We are looking for relative salary. We are not looking for careers. We are looking for relative careers.

Most of us chose IT (Information Technology) as a career not because we were interested in IT. But because we did not want to be left behind others. Hence there was a factor of relative unease.

I guess one of the greatest needs of a modern man is to be better than others- not better in absolute ways.

Why men? Even countries. They are not happy enough if they are self-sufficient. They want always to be ahead on all fronts than other or neigbouring countries.

May be that's what drives a man. Always to be ahead. Not happy but ahead. So next time anyone asks me, do I want to be happy, my answer should be NO. N,O No. Because I do not want to be happy. I want to be ahead. And if I am ahead of others I will be happy.

How difficult is it to detach ourselves from the rat-race? I would say very difficult. In fact impossible. If we want to remain socially acceptable we need to be on our toes constantly.

I really appreciate those who stay committed to their convictions. Not follow the herd. And stick back with what they really want to do. It takes guts, trust me.

I think most of the success stories of this world will tell you one common thing. The hero never followed the masses. He followed what he believed was the right and the only route. But it is easier said than done.

We can't help but constantly compare ourselves with others. We even sometimes get vicarious pleasure out of others failures and often get uneasy with others success.

The last time I was really happy was when I got a better offer than my colleague's in my previous company. But soon that happiness fizzled out when I came to this new company. I realised I had not negotiated well enough to compare my salary with my new colleagues. So my happiness was short lived.

So if you want to be happy , make friends who earn less or are likely to remain below you as far as career, knowledge and money go. Or keep yourself updated all the time and remain in the rat race for ever. -:)