Yesterday, my best buddy and I won $1,000…each.
It was a raffle for subscribing to The Hustle, an extraordinary newsletter on the worlds of tech and business. I’m a sucker for those things…
“For each person you refer, you both could win a billion free socks!” Or something like that. My friends often roll their eyes. But look who’s laughing now.
The $1K comes in the form of an Airbnb gift card. This is phenomenal because it feels like I’ve won free experiences, as opposed to the less-sexy prize of $1K in my savings account.
I’d be grateful either way. And this blog is about that ‘g’ word.
God.
Lol jk. It’s about being grateful.
Something happened five minutes after I saw we won. Something I’m embarrassed to share.
I started thinking about all the trips I have planned in 2022 and about how nice it would be to have my lodging paid for. Brooklyn in February, road trip to Florida in April, NYC again in May, European road trip in July…
Then I thought, Ah man…There’s no way $1K is going to cover all of that. If only it were $5K…
I actually thought that. It took five minutes for me to feel like a free $1K wasn’t enough! Am I insane??
I immediately laughed at myself. “Yeah Dill, some people really have it awful. What ever are you going to do?” Silliness.
Unless I’m a sociopath, the point of sharing that is to highlight the human tendency to always want more. That’s why conditional happiness (or the hedonic treadmill) is a dead end.
Conditional happiness: “I will be happy/fulfilled/satisfied once I have or do this thing.”
Then we get whatever that thing is and we are happy…for five minutes. Then we go right back to our default state.
One of my clients got his dream job, his dream car, and is financially set for life. He told me that none of that brings him sustainable fulfillment. Robin Williams was loved by the world, made millions of dollars, and pursued his dreams successfully. And he hung himself. I got free God damn money and got upset it wasn’t more.
It’s up to us to build a default state of gratitude and appreciation.
I’ve decided to forgive The Hustle for only sending me $1K. Please send your condolences directly to my email.