Decision Making – Rich vs Poor

Rich vs. Poor Series

On average, Rich people get more practice making decisions, are less stressed when making a decision, and are more emotionally detached from the decision, allowing them to use more logical reasoning to make a good decision.  They are also better educated, and so have more knowledge with which to make a better decision with.  All these factors make the Rich better at making decisions than the Poor.  By learning what sets the Poor back and what helps the Rich succeed, you can benefit by applying the lessons to your life and improving yourself.  Here’s a more in-depth examination:

Rich people can afford to be in more activities than poor people, and they are more likely to be involved in helping to organize or run events or organizations, placing them in a position to face more decisions in general.  Practice makes perfect, and the Rich get a lot  more  practice than the Poor.

A consequence of this unequal distribution of decision making is that the Poor, by facing so few decisions, are more affected by each one.  There are several reasons for this: impact, memory, and money. When you have $10, making a $1 decision is difficult; when you have $100, it’s easier to make a decision about $1.  Same idea.  Also, if you only make one decision a day, you’re going to remember that one decision, whereas if you make 20 in a day, you are more likely to forget most of them.  Finally, Poor people dwell longer on the decisions, classically conditioning (wiki) themselves to feel certain emotions when faced with a decision.   They dwell on past decisions more because they don’t get many opportunities for upward mobility, so the few times they did have an opportunity stand out.  These emotions toward past decisions are usually negative, because it is unlikely for them to be making good decisions due to all the reasons we’ve covered. In fact, the fact that they are still poor is a daily reminder of their poor decision making.  All this translates into stress that would affect anyone’s ability, Rich or Poor, to make a good decision, and this stress, anxiety, and negative emotional state are all triggered by decisions, which significantly reduces a Poor person’s chance at improving their decision making.  Rich people are less at risk for this because Rich people make many decisions that change the course of their lives, and constantly make new ones to flush out any bad memories of the old.  This contributes to the Poor being stuck mentally and emotionally in the past and being unable to move forward and progress, which in turn keeps them poor.

The role of emotion in decision making is also fundamentally different: for the Rich, they believe that the best decisions are made using critical thinking, and leaders are honored for remaining calm under pressure (How Successful People Stay Calm – Forbes).  For the poor, since they are uneducated, they don’t have the knowledge or frameworks to think with logic anyway, so instead they rely on the only thing they have to make decisions: gut feelings and emotions.  This is why a crafty salesman will succeed at manipulating a poor person, because the poor person will be led on by the feel good tactics of sales, but will never trick a smart and savvy investor who uses numbers and financial intelligence to make purchases.  Thus, a Poor person is more likely to be taken advantage of than a Rich person, making the chances of a Poor person making a good decision even worse.

Read more about articles in the Rich vs. Poor Series here.

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Understanding Your Body Image

Identity, Social Skills

People who focus on looks are often accused of being vain and shallow.  However, the wrong conclusion to draw from that is that you shouldn’t focus on looks because it makes you superficial: that’s not the whole story.  The full picture requires context (if a TV Show is looking for an actor with a certain look to play a part, it’s not shallow as much as trying to tell a story properly) and balance: If you focus on looks to the exclusion of all else, then you are imbalanced and more shallow than not, but if you use it as one of many possible metrics for judgment, then you remain balanced (A Time and Place for Judgement).  If you ignore it completely, that’s also an imbalance that isn’t good.

Taking care of your body image is tremendously important, because it influences how people treat you: whether you like the fact or not, it is still a fact that good looking people get treated better and have more advantages than less good looking people.  One example is of respect: it’s easier to command respect if you are well dressed than if you look sloppy and unkept.  You will lose a lot of time convincing people you are neat and organized that way; it is much more efficient to just show them you are–the communication is faster and more concrete and believable.  Research has also shown that psychologically, we make more positive assumptions about good looking people than not good looking people; if you make a mistake, we’ll forgive you quicker if you’re good looking than if you’re not.  If you don’t want to miss out on advantages in life, you should put some time and effort into your body image.

Some people use body image as a form of rebellion.  This is fine, I just want to say that silent rebellion is definitely the wrong way to do it: if you chose to look like something for a specific reason, nobody will know that reason unless you explain because no-one can read your mind.  If you don’t explain yourself, you are more likely going to disadvantage yourself in life, than succeed in making a protest or stand for something. (Manage Your Rebellion Intelligently)

You should also realize that body image is another form of identity (explained in Who Am I?), which means that what you think of your body is different from what each person you meet thinks of your body image.  Some will think you’re fat, others skinny, others normal.  You decide who to believe–no-one is objectively right or wrong, it’s a subjective opinion. You will also never be good looking to everyone, so don’t worry about it (in fact, it’s bad for dating if everyone thinks you’re cute: read the OK Cupid Study). Psychologically, who you think you are is heavily tied to who you were in your childhood, because that’s when you were forming your identity in the world: you can break free from that identity if you want, there’s no need to be trapped in the past.  You are constantly changing and you can guide that change if you want to.

An example of this is my story: I grew up poor and skinny from lack of food, so I never thought about or worried about being  overweight, because I figured I was underweight if anything.  However, life improved, I bought new clothes, then after a few years, I started exercising, and now none of my clothes fit–they are all two sizes too big.  This means my body image must have increased from skinny to normal, at least from the point of view to other people, but I personally never noticed.  Therefore, your body image identity to yourself really comes from within, not from what other people think or say, and what other people say only affect you if you let it–when people said I was loosing weight after I started exercising, I didn’t believe them because I didn’t think I could lose any more, but doctor’s records prove that I did.

Extra reading

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How to Become a Morning Person

Life Advice

Chances are, if you say you’re not a morning person, it’s probably because you wake up feeling bad; you’re cranky, slow, lethargic, etc.  Waking up this way doesn’t actually mean you’re not a morning person: it actually means you did not get a good night’s sleep.  It does not mean that you’re not born to be a morning person, so much as it means you have the habits and/or a lifestyle that results in you not getting enough hours of sleep.  This is typically due to going to bed late or not resting enough for how much you’ve been working.  You should be aware that if you had a particularly exhausting day, or series of days, then it may take several days of good sleep for you to recover–waking up tired is a sign that your body needs rest, not a sign that you’re not meant to wake up early.  

The solution is therefore to go to sleep earlier and get the rest that your body is telling you that you need.  Some people think this is an impossible task, but here’s one reason why it’s not: If you fly to another country in a different timezone, you may start off feeling horrible and jet lagged, but eventually, after days, weeks, months at most, you will adapt to the new timezone.

Adjusting your natural sleep and wake up time is like traveling to another timezone, without actually traveling: you need to shift your habits and decision making, and act like it’s 1AM when it’s 11PM. Instead of setting an alarm in the morning to forcefully interrupt your body’s resting period and wake up, set an alarm for 15 min before you want to go to sleep, and when that alarm rings, go into your pre-sleep routine, shutting down all distractions, and wind down the day to go to sleep.  This will allow you to wake up naturally, and improve your overall health.  I like to write down how many hours of sleep I get per day, so if I see a few days go by of not enough sleep, I’ll be sure to schedule in some more time for sleep to make up for it.  (Approximate sleep needs are: Adults, 7-9 hours; 10-17 yr olds, 8.5-9.25; 5-10 yr olds, 10-11 hours.  Try to sleep in 1.5 hour increments, as that’s how long your sleep cycles last, read more )

Getting to sleep early is difficult.  It is a battle between the short term gratification of staying up late and the desire for a healthy improved life.  Winning this battle has two stages, first you have to decide that sleep is a priority, so that given ideal circumstances and self control, you actually want to choose sleep over whatever fun options may be available. You have to want to become a morning person; the reason you want it can be anything, but the fact that you want it needs to be there.  Next, you use self awareness, will power, and self control to make the choice to sleep when the time comes.

In the end, modifying your routine and waking up early is worth it for several reasons: 1. because you’re getting enough sleep, you’re healthier, physically as well as mentally and emotionally.  2. You’re waking up naturally or very close to when you would wake up naturally, so you feel well rested instead of exhausted when you wake up.  3. On the rare days that you wake up unusually early, you get to jump start your day and be extremely productive before the time you or anyone else is usually awake.  It also comes with another advantage: “Take an extra hour for yourself in the morning. Work will just be part of your day, rather than the reason you got out of bed.” – Actual Advice Mallard (link here)

Read my resource to Understand Sleep next!

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