Hacking Hedonic Adaptation

Ever heard of hedonic adaptation?

It’s why people who win the lottery aren’t happier than everyone else.

They win and are incredibly happy, but then a few weeks later they are back at where they started. Having lots of money is suddenly the new normal.

Interestingly enough, the opposite is also true. People who are paralyzed after an accident return to their normal level of happiness after a few weeks.

You can apply this to many things – but for most people, big purchases and lifestyle inflation are when they experience hedonic adaptation the most.

So equipped with this knowledge, we can genuinely ask ourselves whether things like making more money and acquiring things will really make us happier.

But I have found a way to use hedonic adaptation to my advantage.

I recently moved to a new apartment because I had to leave the old one. There are countless things to fix, and a myriad of things to take care of.

But instead of doing everything at once and creating the “perfect” home in a few days, I do it one at a time. [*]

So when The Delight I feel when using my new faucet will fade away, I’ll finally get around cleaning the windows. I’m already looking forward to the experience of just looking out of a clean window.

In this way, I hope to play with hedonic adaptation instead of against it. And stay in this slightly-above-average state of happiness.

This is an excerpt of a post on Mental Garden, a regular newsletter designed to help you become a better human through guided introspections. Read the full post and sign up now.