I was convinced hitting my savings goal would be one of the greatest feelings. Seeing the number in my account and thinking how satisfying it would be.
And then I hit it. And I actually felt nothing. Like overwhelmingly nothing. I even forgot about it within the same week.
Why is it that the pay raise or hitting “the number” doesn’t actually make us any happier?
Thousands of years ago we were taught being satisfied was dangerous. If you were satisfied, you stopped gathering. If you stopped gathering, you wouldn’t survive the winter.
Our brains have not evolved to keep up with modern living. We are hardwired to stay unsatisfied. But our current reality is filled with abundance and it creates two psychological money hurdles…
1. Hedonic Adaptation: We hit a goal, celebrate for an hour, and then immediately reset. The new salary or bonus becomes the new normal, and the cycle starts over.
2. Impact Bias: We are terrible at predicting our future feelings. We think the big number in the bank will provide months of bliss. In reality it’s a dopamine spike that lasts a few days at most.
This is why having enough feels like a forever moving target. I know I am guilty of it too.
The happiest people I see don’t treat having enough money as a destination. Instead they use it as a tool to align their life with their values today, acknowledging that hitting a specific number won’t provide the lasting joy they are looking for.
