brad garland

This is an article I did for CUES Skybox blog.

People want success. Most people, oddly enough though, couldn’t define what that success would mean to them. Instead, they work towards success of someone elses idealistic goal of the American Dream. Spouse, kids, house, dog, car, white picket fence. Why? Following others ideals only leads to anxiety, depression, and unhappiness.

College students have seen for the last 10-15 years their parents work very hard, late nights for years and still come home stressed about barely being able to pay their bills. So what do the parents do to solve this financial problem? They work even harder, later nights, to make more money only to encounter what? The exact same outcome. It’s called the hedonic treadmill. Kids grow up learning lessons from their parents of what to do and what NOT to do in life and college students are learning to look for things that will ultimately make them more happy than rich. It will ensure, in any economic situation, they will enjoy what they do and also train them to more fiscally responsible and understand that by living like that they are more likely living THEIR American Dream.

Below is a video I found from the Get Rich Slowly blog that does a nice job of taking a scientific approach to this problem: