Chapter 37 6.i Our misconceptions about time and money

Someone said: "Success is too slow, happiness is halved." Many people will think that this is too true.In fact, this is not correct advice, but just a correct description of how most people feel. It is somewhat superficial to think that quick success is a derogatory term.In fact, eager for quick success is the nature of all people, but only a few people finally think through it through the power of their minds. In fact, eager for quick success is often a behavior pattern with risks higher than rewards. Why do people naturally have the idea of ​​quick success?The reason is that our brains tend to underestimate the value of future rewards and at the same time, tend to overestimate the value of current rewards.For example, let you choose: a) earn 1,000 more today; b) earn 1,000 more today next year; without thinking about it, you will of course choose a) option.Choose again: a) earn 1,000 yuan more today; b) earn 2,000 yuan more today next year; in fact, most people will still choose option a) directly, isn’t the old saying: a bird in hand is better than a hundred birds in hand Forest!

In a sense, such a choice is quite rational.Because people know that 1) any time after this moment is full of variables - conservative choice is usually the best behavior mode to avoid risk; 2) 1000 yuan today may end up being more than next year because of interest and other opportunities At the same time, inflation may make the value of 2,000 yuan on this day next year far less than the value of 1,000 yuan today-this is the result of thinking about using economic common sense. The survey even found that people tend to underestimate the value of future rewards based on the fact that they have little experience and the predicament they face today.For example, when faced with the choice "a) earn 1,000 yuan more today; b) earn 10,000 yuan more today next year", many people still can't wait to choose a) option based on so-called "rational" reasons.Although, in fact, it is difficult to turn today's 1,000 yuan into next year's 10,000 yuan today, no matter whether it is the use of interest, luck, inflation, or future variables-the difficulty coefficient is above 0.99.

In fact, many college students' so-called "working after school" is actually based on this misunderstanding.If family conditions permit, college students are best not to spend their precious youth time on "part-time jobs", because, in most cases, the actual returns are too little--relative to spending time and energy on appropriate studies. Therefore, in terms of the returns that can be obtained in the future. Psychologists call this overestimation "Delay discounting".If you're a normal human being, it's extremely important and useful to remember that your own brain has this irrational tendency: When it comes to money, people tend not only to undervalue future rewards, but sometimes to overvalue them.In addition, people generally believe that they will have more money tomorrow than they do today, although this is often not always the case.

Just as people believe they will have more money tomorrow, they also believe they will have more time tomorrow—even though there are 24 hours today and 24 hours tomorrow. Just looking at the previous sentence, you may not be able to understand it deeply in an instant, but you only need to observe your surroundings or introspect yourself.Why do you keep missing appointments?Because you were very busy when you confirmed the date, but you felt that you would have time in the future, so you confirmed a certain date; So, you have to call and apologize and say, "I'm sorry...". Take a closer look at yourself.Are you often surprised by how busy you are, and how there are so many trivial things that make thunder in a silent place?Again: trust me, you're not alone—everyone is.

From another perspective, we know why we are so slow to time.One of the most fundamental ways we, as animals, learn is through feedback—just like Pavlov's dog.For example, if you touch the iron pan where the eggs have just been fried with your hand, it will be burned, so you will know in the future that you must not touch the iron pan under such circumstances. But the problem is, in terms of time, it is difficult for us to get such feedback.There is almost no punishment for making a mistake in time - because when we miss the time or miss the opportunity, the really terrible thing is that we often don't know what we are losing, and it is really difficult for us Great regret for losses that "didn't exist."

When we learn through feedback, we often need to repeat the same feedback to generate a deep memory, so as to achieve a better learning effect.But in terms of time, we have almost no way to get the same feedback repeated-because for us, every day is different, and even every moment is different. When we're busy working on something, we often don't really know how long it will take.For this reason, we may even foolishly assume that tomorrow we will not have as much shit to deal with today.As Dr. Gal Zauberman of the University of Northern California and Dr. John Lynch Jr. of Duke University have observed, we, like all of us, believe (or hope) that the future is perfect and the refrigerator is full , the sky is clear, the train is on time, and the meeting will definitely end on time... I think of the name of a song that was once popular - "Tomorrow will be better".

To recap: 1) People also generally believe they will have more money tomorrow than they do today; 2) People generally believe they will have more time tomorrow.The two doctors just mentioned, Gal Zauberman and John Lynch Jr., through a large number of experiments and verifications, have come to such a generally accepted conclusion: Among the two obvious distortions in theory, people's distortion of time is far greater than that of human beings. Much higher than the misinterpretation of money. "Tomorrow after tomorrow, how many tomorrows" is the lament of a dying person-it must be such an experience when time is running out.Ten years before this lament was issued, this person would have felt like most people, "It's early, time is not so tight."

This explains why most people procrastinate.It's not that they don't have the will to work hard, it's just that they are limited by their own brains, thinking that they will have enough time to do what they want to do in the future. Once again, this is an opportunity to use your mind to change your destiny.When you know the limitations of your brain, you will find ways to struggle to control your brain in turn, to be the master of your brain instead of being controlled by it.Don't think it's too hard -- it's not easy, but you'll find it's fun in the end.This is how I look at this matter: because I want to understand that I have to control my brain, I suddenly find that I have one more toy than the people around me, and it is a toy that I will never get tired of playing with - my brain.