Morgan Housel

That's going to allow you to make different decisions than you otherwise would have had to.

I mean, there are people, and again, I say this with empathy, not with any sort of shame or criticism or telling you, you should just be more grateful for what you have.

There are people who earn very little money and are totally satisfied with it.

And I think oftentimes that is just unique to their personality.

That's not a learnable skill.

It's not a teachable skill.

It's just who they were.

They were just blessed with that of just being like, oh, I got a little apartment and a pair of shoes and I'm good.

That's all I need.

Those people exist.

And the opposite of that exists too.

Maybe this is a more pertinent example of the people who make $20 million a year and feel broke.

because their life is not complete in their mind unless they're earning 25 million, because that guy over there is earning 25 million.

Those people exist absolutely as well.

And so you realize the power of expectations is enormous in how we feel about ourselves.

And it is true.

I'll give you an analytical example of this.

You have to be careful with this because you have to wrap it in the context of expectations and empathy.

But the average new house today is almost three times the size of a house in the 1950s.

Three times.