Today’s topic fits right in with the holiday season. The chapter “Pay Now, Consume Later” from the Happy Money: The Science of Smarter Spending by Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton discusses the happiness boost and benefits of looking forward to and waiting for something you want.
I know for me, especially when I was little, one of my favorite parts of the holiday season was the time before Christmas. I would have the pleasure of wondering and dreaming about what gifts we were going to get on Christmas day. I did not want to know what we were getting. I remember some children who searched for and found hidden gifts. That was not me. I loved not knowing and having the enjoyment of thinking of different things and possibilities that we may get. I wanted the surprise of the gifts. (Christmas was a BIG deal in a household of seven children.)
This reminds me of one of the reasons I don’t like surprise parties or surprise trips. I don’t get the pleasure of looking forward to it.
The Happier Money book and research confirms what I have discovered about gifts, trips, parties, and shows – you get more happiness for your money if you have to wait, if you pay now, and consume later. There is additional pleasure and fun in the dreaming and looking forward to things.
We live in a culture that values and wants everything NOW. We often get things immediately through electronic communication and same day delivery which goes against this happiness increasing concept of having to wait.
In a 2009 experiment, Belgian adults were asked to spend a few minutes each evening envisioning positive events that might happen the next day. The participants experienced a significant increase in happiness after two weeks of fantasizing.
The French use the verb se rejouir to communicate the experience of deriving pleasure now from anticipating the future. This activity is free and it adds to the joy of actual consumption. Why do we derive more pleasure from things coming in the future than from things already received? Partly because it hasn’t happened yet. It is still ambiguous, unclear. Things look more perfect or have the possibility of perfection from far away. The details and imperfections are not there yet.
What is your favorite day of the week?
Friday is the most common answer which reflects this love of anticipation. Even though most people still have to go to school or work on Friday you still get to think about all that is coming, all that is possible, all that might be. Don’t underestimate the joy and happiness that this time of anticipation provides in your life.
Uncertainty can magnify both positive and negative emotions which is why many cancer patients going through chemotherapy commonly experience vomiting and other side effects the day before they have received any treatments. This is a reason why anticipation is best for pleasant things rather than unpleasant ones.
I personally worry about building up my expectations too much and then that I will be disappointed.
The Happier Money book says this does happen but is rarer than we think. More often than not, the anticipation and positive expectations actually help us to focus on the positive and / or help us to experience the reality we expected. In one study, people who were led to believe a set of cartoons would be funny laughed more than those who did not have this preconceived notion. The studies found that even when things did not meet expectations the delayed consumption and allowing for positive expectations to develop helped people to still enjoy things more than those who did not wait. Waiting seemed to increase the ability to overlook the disappointments.
Delaying consumption is most beneficial in increasing happiness with the following three conditions:
- When delay creates positive expectations about details and building of excitement in the interim (like Christmas was for me).
- When anticipating the purchase creates a visceral reaction, increasing the pleasure when consumption does occur (i.e. eating chocolate). This also overlaps with the “Make it a Treat” concept too.
- When the consumption experience will be relatively short lived or fleeting. The delay and anticipation provides another opportunity for pleasure beyond the experience itself. (The example they used in the Happier Money book was going on a six minute Virgin spaceflight but I still relate it to Christmas day.)
Human nature wants to experience the good now or as soon as possible and put off the bad as long as possible. The bad is usually making payment for something. The pleasure of consumption is purest without the experience of paying for it, so whatever we can do to separate payment from consumption can increase the pleasure of the purchase or consumption.
One of the best ways to separate payment from consumption is to pay ahead. I feel like this is most common with all-inclusive vacations. You pay for your trip ahead of time and then once you are there, it feels free or almost free. This also helps in dealing with sunk costs. If you paid for some tickets to a show months ago and then when the time comes for the show if you don’t feel well or something else comes up, most of us are more likely to skip it because the payment is in the past. The longer the time the better we are about viewing it as a sunk cost. If you just bought the tickets this morning you would be more inclined to force yourself to go, even if you don’t feel up to it.
We are taught the time value of money so that a dollar today is worth more than a dollar tomorrow. This encourages us to wait to pay for things as long as possible (assuming no interest is being charged). Mathematically and logically this is correct if your objective is purely to maximize your money BUT as I hope these articles are showing you, increasing your money is not nearly as important as increasing your happiness. There are many different ways for us to increase our happiness and also spend more wisely.
I am hoping and wishing you and your family have a fabulous holiday season. I hope you can relax, recharge and dream.
Start anticipating whatever it is that will provide you happiness and joy this next year.
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