We all hear two voices in our heads. One says, “Do not fall behind.” This is the voice of social pressure and of our fear of missing out. It makes us work overtime, use all of our salary to buy nice things, and spend our time befriending the coolest or sexiest people around. This voice believes that your short-term success determines your long-term happiness. The second voice says, “Do not risk what you cannot recover.” This is the voice of prudence. It makes us take the safe choice, sacrificing outer-world success for safety. This voice believes that worst-case scenarios prevent you from achieving long-term happiness. The tricky part is that both voices are right. If you only listen to the first voice, you’ll take too many risks, and sooner or later, you will end up broke, alone, or dead. However, if you only listen to the second voice, you will fall so behind that you will also end up broke, alone, or in a dysfunctional state. Ergodicity is a novel concept that helps you figure out which voice to listen to and which posture to adopt. Happiness Ergodicity
The easiest way to increase performance is to restrict the scope of its definition. Sadly, it is also the easiest way to incur problems. For example, we can restrict the definition of fast from “fast during a whole championship” to “fast in this particular slope.” Or, we can restrict the definition of happiness from “a fulfilling career, a happy family, a good social life, and a healthy body” to “a prestigious job title” or “a coveted spouse.” Happiness Performance Big Ideas