What's the new American Dream?

secretwealth · Post by **secretwealth** » Fri Nov 30, 2012 5:52 am

I saw this question asked on Reddit, and the highest voted answer was: "NEW American Dream = Do what you love (and somehow make money with it so you can continue to do what you love)".
This seems quite ERE-compatible, yet the vast majority of people I know certainly aren't pursuing this dream by any stretch of the imagination. Do you think this is the new American dream, or just a sort of self-aggrandizing denial of reality?

Post by **jacob** » Fri Nov 30, 2012 6:22 am

Self-aggrandizing denial of reality? Sounds like the average teenager, as frequently seen on reddit.
Actually, I thought the new American Dream was the iPhone5. At least it's more environmentally responsible than buying a new hybrid.
Seriously though, doing what you love sounds good in theory, but it's worse in practice. Maybe that's why it's a dream(?)

tonyedgecombe · Post by **tonyedgecombe** » Fri Nov 30, 2012 10:36 am

The trouble with doing what you love for a living is you go from a state of having intrinsic motivation to do what you love to one of extrinsic motivation, ie getting paid. For many this removes the passion they had in the first place.

Felix · Post by **Felix** » Fri Nov 30, 2012 11:47 am

Isn't that dream what ERE allows you to accomplish in 5-10 years? Do what you love, because your money already follows.

secretwealth · Post by **secretwealth** » Fri Nov 30, 2012 3:12 pm

"The trouble with doing what you love for a living is you go from a state of having intrinsic motivation to do what you love to one of extrinsic motivation, ie getting paid. For many this removes the passion they had in the first place."
Very well put--I would say I am doing what I love for a living now, and I have noticed the psychological shift to an extrinsic motivation has made me love it less, and I fantasize about other kinds of work. If I wasn't getting paid--or at least wasn't dependent on the income for my livelihood--I imagine this shift wouldn't be happening, or at least wouldn't be as pronounced.

jennypenny · Post by **jennypenny** » Fri Nov 30, 2012 3:32 pm

>>you go from a state of having intrinsic motivation to do what you love to one of extrinsic motivation
>>I have noticed the psychological shift to an extrinsic motivation has made me love it less
I understand these statements and I realize that this happens frequently. My argument would be don't let it. Don't make the shift. Isn't one of the main tennants of ERE to remove extrinsic motivation from most aspects of our lives?
This seems like a psychological problem more than a financial one.

lilacorchid · Post by **lilacorchid** » Fri Nov 30, 2012 3:39 pm

Yeah, I like tinkering with things and solving problems to get something to work again, but doing it eight hours a day really takes the enjoyment out of it. Often, I'm less likely to tinker or fix in my off hours because I've done too much.
I certainly don't love my job, but it is tolerable, and I even like it on some days. In the end, it pays the bills. I try to keep money and love out of the same room for the most part, unless one needs to see the other for some reason.
As for new American dream? Who knows? I'm Canadian! American TV would have me believe that it's having a pile of stuff and being famous for something some people would be embarressed about.

KevinW · Post by **KevinW** » Fri Nov 30, 2012 5:25 pm

The Onion: Congress Debates New Sex-Based American Dreams
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0hVAJEWmmQ
"Sex With A B-List Celebrity" is just one of several proposals being proposed as the dead American Dream's replacement.

sheepstache · Post by **sheepstache** » Sat Dec 01, 2012 1:44 am

Well, the old American dream turned out to be kind of impractical too, didn't it?

FrugalZen · Post by **FrugalZen** » Sat Dec 01, 2012 3:16 am

I once knew a man (sadly deceased) who along with his wife ran an Orchid Greenhouse outside their home.
If you had come by looking to buy something you had best hope his wife was there.
Orchids were his hobby and under no circumstances would he name a price or take money for anything that was for sale....it would no longer be his hobby he explained.
That way for almost 40 years.

Dragline · Post by **Dragline** » Sat Dec 01, 2012 4:54 am

Blechh -- sounds like the unstated theme of Nic Adam's "Radical Frugality". It's a baby-boomer idea. And the kind of pie-in-the-sky thinking that's bound to disappoint a great majority of the population.
There is no reason to equate doing what you love with income or to even think that they are related in any way. Until you have saved enough, your income has mostly to do with what other people love you to do.
Be happy when they overlap to some degree. For many people they do not. See "Office Space".

George the original one · Sat Dec 01, 2012 4:55 pm

> Until you have saved enough, your income has

> mostly to do with what other people love you to do.
I have a new catchphrase!

jzt83 · Post by **jzt83** » Sat Dec 01, 2012 5:09 pm

Buy buy bye bye bye.

TheWanderingScholar · Post by **TheWanderingScholar** » Sat Dec 01, 2012 5:21 pm

Well according to my textbook for my online college class, it goes like this.
American Dream-a financial secure, happy and healthy life, with upward social mobility, attained through an individual's hard work and persistence.
Someparts of that I agree others iffy since they can be interpreted in different ways.