Nothing is as desired as much as the thing you want but can’t have. In fact, for most people there’s a hierarchy of spending that goes something like this:
As I explain in my book “The Art of Spending Money,” it hardly matters what the “something” here is — a glass of water to a thirsty person is more valuable than a private jet is to a billionaire who has two others.
This all makes sense when you understand what your brain wants, and you’ll notice it more during the holidays. By and large, your brain doesn’t want nice cars or big homes. It wants dopamine. That’s it.
I’ll leave it to the excellent book “The Molecule of More” to describe the process: “Dopamine is the chemical of desire that always asks for more — more stuff, more stimulation, and more surprises. In pursuit of these things, it is undeterred by emotion, fear, or morality. From dopamine’s point of view, it’s not the having that matters; it’s getting something — anything — that’s new.”
In other words, your brain doesn’t want stuff. It doesn’t even want new stuff. It wants to engage in the process and anticipation of getting new stuff. This is similar to actor Will Smith’s description of fame: “Becoming famous is amazing. Being famous is a mixed bag. Losing fame is miserable. The change, not the amount, is what matters.”
