”Anyone who spends their lives chasing satisfaction or happiness from the possession of new and better products is doomed to living on an endless treadmill of dissatisfaction. The happiness you derive from a new sofa / fridge / car is only short term. The same goes for hobbies: Parasailing or white water canoeing are fun but fleeting distractions. Real happiness is what you get when you do something useful for someone else. The returns on that kind of investment last a lifetime.”

From New York: ”I am very satisfied to have a home, a place which covers my head when it rains and keeps me warm/cool as appropriate. When I do the yard, rake and cut the lawn etc., I get a feeling of gratification not only because that obligatory job is done for the week, but because it makes the place look nice. It feels good having put in the sweat it takes to accomplish this. Were I to come into a great deal of money, or perhaps a perpetual source of income, I do not believe my level of satisfaction would be enhanced by a newer or bigger house. My satisfaction/gratification is generated internally, and is independent of material trappings. The work I do on the house is what feels good.

Similarly in FS When I see a review ... I’ll drive myself nuts until I get the damn thing. Purchasing the add-on is very gratifying. But, I get a great deal of satisfaction when I’ve been able to manipulate the program to do what I wish it to do, whether it is an improvement in mesh/scenery, FPS or whatever. It is in the bending of the software/hardware to my will - completing a flight or finding a way to add a cargo door button to a PMDG panel and then watching it work in another flight - that is where the satisfaction comes in.”

A thought provoking article.

nice one.

Yes.