Hedonic Adaptation - It Cuts Both Ways

[DividendGuy]

On my journey towards financial independence/early retirement I find myself asking myself if I'll be happier once I'll no longer have to wake up way too early in the morning and go to a job I generally dislike. I imagine I will be because I'll be able to spend my time how I want to, but I wonder how hedonic adaptation fits in to ERE.
MMM wrote an excellent article on the evils of hedonic adaptation here:
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2011/10/ ... o-a-sukka/
This article makes me think "yeah, awesome...I don't need a bunch of consumerist crap because it just puts me on a treadmill that continually must speed up to achieve the same results. All that "stuff" will cease to make me happy until I get more stuff, and then I'll need even more. That's crazy! I'm glad I'm on the ERE journey."
But hedonic adaptation cuts both ways. Once you reach ERE, waking up at 10 a.m. instead of 6 a.m. will be great for the first few months, but will eventually lose its luster. It'll be just another morning at 10 a.m. after a while. Getting to eat lunch at home on your own time will be great for a while, but eventually you'll adapt to that as well. All the things I'm looking forward to I'll adapt to and therefore they'll eventually lose that special appeal. Will I feel let down?
In fact, in this article:
http://unclutterer.com/2010/08/09/hedon ... you-happy/
Hedonic adaptation was first looked at as prisoners eventually learn to adapt to their circumstances as it becomes a "new normal". If one is bound to adapt to one's life either way, will ERE lose its appeal? I would certainly hate to get to the point of early retirement just to adapt and then go back to work to fill a void.
Does anyone ever think about hedonic adaptation the other way around, as you adapt to less and need something different to continue being happy?

[secretwealth]

This is an important issue to consider. I've experienced this with traveling, which I've had the (mis)fortune to do for most of my adult life.
I think the importance of financial independence is that it gives you the financial freedom to choose how you spend your time, and thus to adjust your schedule on your own terms. Think of Jacob's recent retirement from retirement, which I assume he did not for the financial reward but because he wanted to do it--and he could afford to wait around to get that opportunity thanks to ERE.
I see financial independence as offering me my own communist reality. I know this sounds weird, but hear me out. Marx never defined communism, but he saw it as a post-scarcity economy "where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes" and an individual can "do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticise after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, herdsman or critic." This isn't too different from Jacob's ideal of the renaissance man, as I see it.

[jacob]

Yes!
Everything gets "normal" after a while. If you thrive on being static, RE is great. If not, then change.
Personally, I don't thrive on static, so RE didn't work out.
FI was great though!!
(Probably a lot of the closed-minded people would have understood if my next adventure had been traveling or some such ... )
On a related subject note, this is the pro-argument for making "sacrifices" ... it will eventually feel normal except when you get something that was previously considered normal, it will be awesome. Meanwhile, you'll be saving money ...
It's funny, because I'm simultaneously reading Reissman's Capitalism along with a Buddhist text with the former arguing that any increase in consumption is progress and the latter arguing that attachment leads to all kinds of unpleasantness.

[secretwealth]

I wouldn't take the Buddhist text too seriously. The most Buddhist societies (Japan, Korea, China, Thailand, Indonesia) are also the most aggressively capitalistic. For the matter, ascetic tendencies in Christianity didn't slow down early European trade/imperialism/economic theory. Human beings are amazing at compartmentalizing their ideals and indulging in cognitive dissonance.
Back on topic: I strongly believe our generation has too short of an attention span, and we're prone to hedonic adaptation. I look at my family and simply don't get how they can live in the same place and do the same stuff for 30+ years.
This has a major impact on my ERE plans. Since I probably won't stay retired forever, that lowers the pressure on building a nest egg.

[Hoplite]

It’s important not to have false expectations, like the prisoner who expects every day to have the equivalent emotional charge of the first day of his release. You will get used to aspects of any lifestyle. And of course ERE (or anything else) will not make life a bottomless bowl of cherries. Life’s problems and mundane tasks will often crowd out the joy, but you will be in a better position to handle them as they occur.
There is also adaption to the absence of common annoyances. After a while, you avoid traveling during rush hour, going to the post office at lunchtime, and showing up anywhere at 9:00 am unless you REALLY want to, because formerly trivial things will now drive you crazy.
As to the void created by the lack of employment, almost everyone I’ve seen leave paid employment will sooner or later express the fear that they can never go back. Not that they can’t get a job, they can, but that they couldn’t accept it; they’re too long out of the cage. And then they are faced with the fact that no job will fill the void anyway; that particular evasion becomes unavailable. At that point they may or may not take a job (depending on the job and their ambitions), but the person taking it will not be the same person who left the last one.

[secretwealth]

"Not that they can’t get a job, they can, but that they couldn’t accept it; they’re too long out of the cage."
Bingo.
I don't like going into too much details about my personal situation, but I don't actually work 9-5, Monday to Friday; I'm very lucky to have a job that demands a high level of personal responsibility, where I'm expected to meet quotas and can work from home or more or less on my own schedule, with limited meetings and face time. However, my contract is ending in 11 months and I'm pretty sure this setup won't last long, hence my motivation for early retirement.
Part of my motivation stems from the fact that I simply cannot work in an office 9-5, Monday to Friday again. I haven't done it in almost 10 years and I don't know if I could adapt again without serious mental and physical health issues. (I'd love to hear how Jacob has adapted--from his first journal he seems to be taking the transition in stride.)
There are also the minor irritations involved with office life that I can't imagine--seeing the same people everyday, many of whom I am apathetic to, dislike or are actively plotting against me; having a manager or boss hovering over me or pushing me in directions I can't/shouldn't/don't want to go; the massive incompetence of colleagues and bosses; the inability to come and go when I please.
Honestly, hedonic adaptation won't be too big of an issue if I can remember the reality of office work.

[J.O.S.H.]

Practice giving up the things you love. I've gone into mini-retirements (> 3 months) twice. Makes you stronger, to go back to work. FI really isn't about not generating an income, not as much as it is about not needing *any* income, if that makes sense.
My average job search lasts less than a month, so if you take the strategy that your nest-egg requirement gets loose because you are going back to work eventually, then by similar logic, am I FI after I save up one month's expenses? I could quit, at that moment, theoretically, and be fine. Honestly, there's a strong logic to that, if I've predetermined that I will work my whole life. Everything is a matter of degrees, or everything is a risk tolerance issue.

[JasonR]

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[before45]

I agree that hedonic adaption can be a problem with any lifestyle, including ERE. The way I try to counter it is with mindful gratitude. When I was on sabbatical last year (which was somewhat like a test-run of retirement), everyday I reminded myself that I had complete control over my time and that that was awesome! I think adaptation is mostly unconscious, so developing a habit of consciously enjoying and being grateful for what you have can help keep your appreciation of your life fresh.

[Scott 2]

You don't have to be FI or retire early if all you want to do is sleep and eat on your schedule. Get some skillz, land a work from home gig. Start your own business. Etc.
I work from home. My experience is that owning the schedule of when I sleep and eat was novel for about 6 months. Now I get up early, do some chores, exercise, eat, and get started on my work. I schedule stuff throughout the week that forces more structure on my time. It makes me waaay more productive, which pleases me. I treat my weekends the same way, just no work.
While I agree each person has a basline level of happiness, I think each person does have certain environmental triggers that will stabilize them below that baseline.
It is important to understand what those are for you. I know interacting with more than half a dozen people a day does it for me, as does spending a lot of time in a car. Working from lets me be happier, as a result. If I was the type of person who easily got lonely, I might not feel the same.

[JulianoBR]

I tried to address a similar issue in the topic viewtopic.php?t=2245
In this sense, taking some regular sabbatic years can make us see again and again how good is ERE compared to 9-5 work.
When we work, we don't have time to face questions like the meaning of life. But to early retirees this may become very important, because it's necessary to do something meaningful with all the freedom obtained.

[Canadian Dream]

I think you have to consider are you running away from something to get to FI or are you running towards something in FI? Those that are running away from the result will likely suck over time as the fear and disgust of your previous situation will wear off and you can get bored. Hence the waking up at 10am will cease to be fun.
Yet if you are running towards FI because you love to paint, write, brew your own wine, help out with important causes, read, try out making stained glass, build you own eco house and track your investments...then you will be fine. I want out of 'must work' because I have too much other stuff I want to be doing with my time. The concept of being bored in ER is laughable to me since I always have much more I want to do than the time to do it.
So in the end, it's your point of view that will drive your happiness, also you might end up going to 'work' because of an interest...that isn't wrong either.
Tim

[George the original one]

> The concept of being bored in ER is laughable

> to me since I always have much more I want to

> do than the time to do it.
Ditto.
The question of "why don't you make a job out of the activities" is that the activities, for me, would be ruined. I might be able to earn a few dollars from the activities without the activity becoming unpleasant, but not enough to provide, say, 10% of my current living expenses.

[chenda]

I was thinking about this today oddly enough. We had an unsually hot and sunny day today, so I spent my lunchtime laying in a beautiful cemetary enjoying the heat, thinking how only a month ago it was so cold and caked in frost. Even the ugly concrete city I work in did'nt look so bad in the sun. Part of me wished it was like this all the time, but if it was, I'd never appreciate it.
Perhaps scarity is the friend of contentment.

[mikeBOS]

But hedonic adaptation cuts both ways. Once you reach ERE, waking up at 10 a.m. instead of 6 a.m. will be great for the first few months, but will eventually lose its luster.
I don't know about that. I never hedonically adapted to waking up at 6 am. Hated it every single time.
I might take for granted that I can sleep late whenever I like. But whenever that few times a year comes up where I actually do have to wake up early, I'm reminded of how nice it is not to have to do it everyday. Or even when I hear someone else complain about having to get up. I'm just grateful it isn't me.
As before45 and MMM was getting at, mindful gratitude can help to "trick yourself" into fighting the adaptation. Envisioning your life without the niceties you already have, or thinking/writing/saying what it is in your life you are grateful for on a regular basis works as well, to sort of trick yourself into experiencing that happiness high on a regular basis that you experience when something good first comes into your life.
People's happiness mean, that they revert to after emotional highs and lows wear off (some positive psychologists call it a 'set point'), is different for everyone and appears to be unalterable. Some people need very little effort to be very happy, and others need to actively work at reminding themselves as to why they ought to be happy.
My set point's a little on the high side so it doesn't take much to make me smile.

[BeyondtheWrap]

Yeah, maybe anything would feel normal after a while. But the question is, which "normal" is the one you want?