Earlier quoted context omitted.
Frank obtains power, not security.
What is the difference.
There's a lot of competition at the top of power structures.
Pursuing status will never bring true happiness
141–150 of 164 posts
Re: Pursuing status will never bring true happiness
#142When you look at individuals who have achieved things you admire, it's so often true that they themselves came from outside the status system that existed at that time. They now sit within, or atop the current one, but it's often something they themselves have created to a greater or lesser degree. There's a huge lesson there, I think. Being in that position in the current status system is not and never was their goa…
Unfortunately, this is rare because status traps blind people to these possibilities.
I mean, look at this article’s comments: defense after defense of status as the most important thing.
Bluntly: this article isn’t for you if you’re so invested in the idea of status. Given the quasi-finance values that tech represents now, I can’t say I’m super surprised. The author speaks of a life beyond such pursuits.
Re: Pursuing status will never bring true happiness
#143https://twitter.com/naval/status/1002103497725173760 > Seek wealth, not money or status. Wealth is having assets that earn while you sleep. Money is how we transfer time and wealth. Status is your place in the social hierarchy. https://twitter.com/naval/status/1002103627387813888 > Ignore people playing status games. They gain status by attacking people playing wealth creation games. From @naval’s Twitter thread “how…
Material wealth is status. Money is status. Assets that earn while you sleep is status. Money is arguably the ultimate status game.
Status is based on attention, deference and so on other people give you. You can, to a degree, buy that, in different qualities, from different audiences. It doesn't mean wealth is status.
Re: Pursuing status will never bring true happiness
#144Earlier quoted context omitted.
I disagree; wealth can be displayed as status. Money can be spent in status-seeking ways. But money can also be earned so that one can care for sick family members (or a sick future self), or to put kids through college. Or money can be spent on enjoyable experiences that no one else will see. Money is not the ultimate status game, even though it is an important ingredient in most status-seeking activities.
Caring for sick family members is status. It's something which people of lesser status are not able to do.
It’s privilege and luck (as much wealth is luck), not status. There is a difference.
Re: Pursuing status will never bring true happiness
#145Pursuing status makes sense where the value of the decision rights or autonomy you get outweighs the cost of the pursuit.
The value of the decision rights or autonomy can vary from person to person.
Re: Pursuing status will never bring true happiness
#146Status and money is essential, people with high status make good money, and you need it just to get to retirement, money that is. I do not like X good think will not bring happiness, its a pattern of X where X = working hard, money, status, etc does not bring happiness. Its dangerous and bad to teach people to be anything other than selfish in a constructive way.
I share your skepticism to some extent, but where I think I also think the perspective of the post has some merit is in recognizing that those things you equate with X are not all the same, and not interchangeable.
In my experience, you can work hard, be smart, work smart, and that still doesn't necessarily equate into money or status. This is more true the more that the system you're operating in is broken or corrupt.
At some point you question what it is you're doing, and what the payoffs are or whether or not they're worth it. Maybe getting to retirement financially is better done through a different circle with different status markers.
The thing about status is it's inherently heterogeneous. Although there are ideas of status that are more or less prevalent, everyone has a different idea of what status means at some level. I can think of very concrete, real examples that are objectively very high status under very reasonable definitions, but to me come across as gauche, immoral, and unintelligent.
Re: Pursuing status will never bring true happiness
#147in terms of employment status is a logical and ethical consideration. Tenure is status.
But status is not reported acuratly but whichever metric it is of consideration of.
and the status we think is appraised high might be a status that has actually a low apprasial.. Like being a porn star or a hollywood actor unlike Robin Williams. Or being a philisophical considerer- it might not be seen as of a high status but yet this underpins how we meet our death very much.
downvote for all the reasons
Re: Pursuing status will never bring true happiness
#148On the one hand, sure, status probably is a trap and won't bring "true happiness." And I think this is well meaning advice. But on the other hand, I think it's possible that an Ivy League educated founder/VC partner/executive coach might not be in the best position to see the whole picture. To paraphrase the Aviator[1], you don't care about status because you've always had it. I think that for many people who have ex…
Status is a completely artificial construct that completely melts away the minute you run out of money. It's an unfair advantage, but it offers no security whatsoever.
I think some of it is artificial, but I think the types mentioned in the article[1] do confer real security. For someone without status, getting a top tier company on their resume will make future job searches either. Making it into the inner ring of a company makes ones position more secure against for example layoffs. Neither of these are directly tied to money, rather I think many view it as a way to protect against running out of it.
Obviously there are limits (ie governors running for president aren't doing it for additional security), but I think it is true for many.
[1] "They begin by trying to get into a top-tier investment firm. Once they accomplish this, they find a hierarchy to navigate within the fund, then realize that the real inner ring in VC is occupied by the investors who land the hottest deals."
Re: Pursuing status will never bring true happiness
#149I think rejecting status wholesale is also a huge mistake. Here’s the harsh reality. Many people judge and make decisions based on status. You can purport be above it and bootstrap and work as hard as you want but that one guy with status will get the raise he needed and now you don’t have. You can then try to lie to yourself that that is just superficial status. But it’s not. That guy can now use those resources to…
So, I had a somewhat similar reaction and have made the same argument you are making in your last couple of sentences. It's frustrating to me when I see some of the dismissive sorts of comments as the article makes, because as you say it's often made by individuals who have it, and don't appreciate what happens when it's not there. I've even gone so far as to say it's insulting to the less well-off to dismiss it as a concern, because it does nothing to change things for the better.
Along these lines, in many systems or subcommunities, many of these status markers reflect something inherently broken about the system, often at a very deep or fundamental level. So do you just ignore this and climb up them? Sometimes, for whatever reason, you can change things, but other times it becomes impossible to do so, and you're left with the choice of playing the game and winning, or just exiting altogether and trying a different game somewhere else.
Sometimes that exiting comes across as sour grapes revisionism, but sometimes it's very real. It can be frustrating to know that your odds of achieving success are dependent on doing something immoral, corrupt, or, at best meaningless, or to know that it involves a huge amount of pure luck or systemic pathology that is never acknowledged. Sometimes you can just go with the flow, but if doing so starts to have notable costs in itself, it poses significant problems.
Re: Pursuing status will never bring true happiness
#150Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agree, and the best security is obviously money. But to me, status means warm intros for new business opportunities, or that your resume will reliably get past the recruiter screening stage. Stuff that can help you maintain or rebuild security.
best security is not obviously money. i wouldnt know of course, but there's a good scene that covers this in the first(ish) season of House of Cards: Kevin Spaceys character laments about otherwise excellent talent shortsightedly chasing the $$$ of the private sector jobs rather than strategically climbing the ladder of Capital Hill. All this to say, his point is broadly that influence and power can always find a way…
Hm it sounds like what you are saying is that power is a more reliable way to get money, but money is still ultimately the goal?