You’re millionaire but you don’t feel rich

A very interesting article from www.nytimes.com mentions that “In Silicon Valley, Millionaires Who Don’t Feel Rich”. This is quite a true statement in my opinion. The rich will never have enough money. They do not feel they are rich. The reason is not because they are not rich but simply is because all of us as a human being, we’re born to compare with others. Those millionaires compare to the millionaires who are richer than them, therefore they do not feel they are rich.

Let’s do a test to prove my statement whether you’re born to compare.

Job A:
Your salary is $5K per month and all your colleagues’ salary is $4K per month.

Job B:
Your salary is $6K per month and all your colleagues’ salary is $7K per month.

Think carefully, which job will you choose to have a happy life? Job A or Job B? If you choose Job A, this proves my statement is correct. Human is born to compare with others. If you choose Job B, then you prove me wrong. Keep in mind that in Job B, you’re doing the same job or same tasks but your colleagues’ salary is higher. Do you think you will still feel happy?

Sometimes I realize we try so hard forcing ourselves not to compare with others, but how many of us can actually achieve that? Can we really go against it, our human nature? So a lot of real smart people (of course not those millionaire in Silicon Valley) realize this fact and they choose Job A, live in the small town and become a king, appreciate and enjoy the rest of life. Sometimes we have to understand that we do not even need to fight to win a game.