printOur society runs on the pleasure principle: unless something is fun, it is discouraged as unworthy of pursuing. This is one reason why the many youngsters now entering the job market are so dumb, difficult ( and “dispensable”). They’ve been taught, falsely, that learning must be fun at all time: Unless you find a field of endeavor fun, don’t pursue it. (So you follow that advice and end up a surfer, a struggling “actor,” etc.)
Anyone who has studied seriously, or worked to master a craft, knows that nothing worth learning or mastering is easy or “fun,” unless you’re a genius (most of us are not), gifted at it, etc. With mastery comes fun. And mastery means hard work.
The principle extends to saving for future financial security. That’s not fun, because it means postponing immediate pleasure for the sake of solvency, or more ambitious future gains.
A survey by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling reveals that “more than half of all Americans say they don’t use a budget. Also, 26% of adults in the U.S. admit that they’re spending more than they did a year ago. And 40% of consumers are still battling unpaid credit card debt month to month.”
(“The rich,” after all, will be forced to take care of them.]
This “frugal fatigue” [sic: shouldn’t it be “frugality fatigue”?] has financial planner Lynnette Khalfani-Cox tailoring her advice to the pleasure principle: “The real problem is that relatively few of us can live happily — for any sustained period of time — on an overly restrictive financial diet.”
Ms. Khalfani-Cox’s advice is fit for infants: “Make the process of saving fun.”
UPDATE: GRAFT VS. GENIUS. Myron, didn’t I say that my recommendation did not include those who do not need to work hard b/c geniuses? On BAB, everyone knows Myron Pauli is a genius, and comes from a line of similar folks. Someone who is able to work smartly already forms a sub-section, which is a cut above the rest. Not everyone can reach a solution through abstract, creative thinking. Most have to master a method. If you discover your kid can do the former, lucky for you. But for the rest, it’s safe to assume you need to hard work.
I came up against this when I taught for a few years. It was always “make the lesson plan fun” or “make the lesson plan exciting” yet sometimes a boring drill would have been the best way. This leads to the students not only expecting an exciting lesson but feeling they deserve one. (Hey, they didn’t learn anything, but they had a great time!)
On the other hand, I would like my fellow adults to do a better job describing to the youth just what hard work means. Not only is the work itself hard, but the temptation to avoid it is just as difficult. You must learn to say “No” and to resist – qualities which will serve you well as an adult.
Let me dissent about the value of “hard work” to say that LAZINESS is the mother of inventions. Old Gronk the caveman got tired of him and his buddies schlepping all those stones up the hill so he invented the wheel. Young Carl Gauss was told to add all the numbers from 1 to 100 up so he added 1+100 = 101, 2+99 = 101, etc. and answered the problem in 1 minute (lazy slob!):
http://www.math.wichita.edu/history/men/gauss.html
which is why I tell my kid (unlike other parents) – I don’t care a hoot if you work hard – I care that you get the job done!
However, the flip side is a co-worker who tells me that his “brilliant” daughter with the super SAT score is not making elite colleges because her grades stink because she doesn’t bother doing homework assignments. My kid drives me nuts taking forever to do the work but she got 6 A’s (and a C from the incompetent baseball coach who pretends to “teach” history) even if she stays up half the night.
Count me as a bottom line guy – work hard is good, work smart is better, and goofing off entitles you to nothing!
INDEBTEDNESS – different rant!!!
“. . . unless you’re a genius (most of us are not), gifted at it, etc.”
Not even then:
“Talent is Overrated” by Geoffrey Colvin
http://tinyurl.com/3b53ogk
It’s a book that, all at once, is optimistic, inspiring and tough.
Actually, the nature of our modern Corporatist Welfare State is extremely Anti-Darwinian. It is the thrifty subsidizing the profligate. It is the productive subsidizing the parasite. It is the healthy subsidizing the sick.
It is, ultimately, anti-natural with the fittest subsidizing the most unfit. I shudder to think what humanity will be like in 1000 years – no doubt that machines will be smart but humans may be back at apelike levels.
The debtor society is also Orwellian in that people talk about losing “their” home to foreclosure. A home in which you have negative equity is not YOUR home and, arguably, never really was YOUR home. You just happen to be a deadbeat squatter with an undeserved title deed who might have been swindled by slimy lenders, builders, and brokers.
However, modern Americans would rather spend money than have money.
Wisely put and well said, as usual. Although, I have always wanted to be a surfer. Might give it a try after retirement.
” On BAB, everyone knows Myron Pauli is a genius ”
I was not aware MyRon was a colleague of Wylie E. Coyote (Genius) LOLLL !!!!
While I get the impression MyRon is pretty Cool & I do agree with him on being “Bottom Line ” but I would add sometimes it takes more smarts to overcome roadblocks put in your way that are dealt to some beyond their control !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFVGbdbhF-Q
Well, there’s the conventional definition of hard work as “shut up and keep digging”, and there is the whole applying all your skills, talents and energy to a particular problem at hand. Personally, I prefer to work *smarter* than harder, and am entirely with Myron on creative laziness (Heinlein’s “story of a man too lazy to fail” from Time Enough for Love was an eye-opener). But I realize that others’ mileage may vary.
Wile E Coyote seems to be good at finding ordnance and could come in handy:
http://www.navair.navy.mil/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.display&key=6B609F1C-EE1A-4CFA-BCBB-29675FF239F2
Of course, if he is a government employee, he will blame all his foibles on the “contractor” – ACME.
COOL! Have kids, no husband, get ADC $$ for each. No Medical Insurance, go to Emergency Room. Need extra cash, sit on a busy corner and ask for money…no taxes to pay. Look desperate hang around restaurants with sign, “WILL WORK FOR FOOD”…free eats. Need clothes, snatch them from a SALVATION ARMY box. Need to get somewhere…steal a bike or car. Need a place to live…SQUATTER’S RIGHTS. WANT TO READ A GOOD INVESTMENT BOOK, GET to Barnes & Noble or to a local library. See,what’s so hard about staying alive? Stay lazy and enjoy he Good Life.
That citizens will forgo gratification and save their incomes is the very basis of Capitalism and modern order. That’s where the capital comes from after all! We have replaced saving with borrowing and the results are catastrophic.
High savings rates are still demonstrably beneficial. Germany has emerged from the recent economic crisis as the undisputed leader of Europe and their frugality plays no small part in that. Japan, while having a massive public debt, is much more stable than the United States because the Japanese government owes much of that debt to its own people who hold that debt out of patriotism. While debt is a bad thing and the Japanese situation is still something one would want to avoid, compare it to the American scenario where the country is in debt to foreigners who resent us.
MyRon- Is the Pauli Effect transferred thru the Pauli DNA ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauli_effect