I am not a book blogger, but part of my semester goal was to develop a reading habit in a variety of texts. I began reading “Happy Money” by Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton in order to improve my entrepreneurship skills and ended up learning a valuable lesson.
“If you think money doesn’t buy happiness, then you’re just not spending it right.” Dan Gilbert, author of “Stumbling on Happiness.” If you have been informed in the last happy-money investigations, there has been an agreement that experiences make us humans happier than wealth. I believed that this theory was correct until I read “Happy Money” and realized that the investigations were partially correct.
To begin with, I would like to share a key idea: experiences are essential. It is true that experiences are the best way to learn something. I remember when I was in the world cup playing water polo. I was 40 days out of my country and went to places like Serbia, Turkey and USA. I grew as an athlete immensely, when I saw my games in film, I couldn’t believe that it was me; my dream had come true. I remember this and think that I will remember it through out my life. Huge experiences will always stick in your head because they increase your human capital and shape you as a person.
To begin with, I would like to share a key idea: experiences are essential. It is true that experiences are the best way to learn something. I remember when I was in the world cup playing water polo. I was 40 days out of my country and went to places like Serbia, Turkey and USA. I grew as an athlete immensely, when I saw my games in film, I couldn’t believe that it was me; my dream had come true. I remember this and think that I will remember it through out my life. Huge experiences will always stick in your head because they increase your human capital and shape you as a person.
Last semester in my ESS class, we went to Tambopata (a place in the amazon jungle). Through this trip, I realized that I had a passion for the environment that had never been touched. In other words, this trip happened approximately 7 months ago and I haven’t killed a bug because I believe that they deserve to live. Once again, valuable experiences change who you are and make you a little better.
Trips and sports are definitely great experiences but you can also get some amazing experiences through learning; for example: BlendZ. Our student runned business is one of the best experiences that I’ve had in my life. Starting a real business from zero and making it be popular in school was not something easy but it made me grow and gave me valuable skills. I do believe that learning is a type of experience since it provides you with different skills that you will need in the future.
With this said, and with the help of the book happy money I realized that money is essential to be happy. I am not going to argue that experiences are what really make you happy because its true, but in order to have a really valuable experience you generally need money. I wouldn’t have been able to go to the world cup without the money that the government invested in me and my team, I wouldn’t have been able to go to Tambopata without money and finally kick starting a business without capital is really difficult. This is why as the cover page of happy money says “If you think money doesn’t buy happiness, then you’re just not spending it right.”