No-one dies wishing he’d spent more time in the office, says Snakes & Ladders picking up on HBR’s article, ‘When Virtue is a Vice’.
People tend to place a higher premium on work than play. But authors Anat Keinan and Ran Kivetz have done research that suggests you’ll forgive yourself faster for an indulgence today than if you deny yourself happiness for too long.
They asked current college students and alumni how both groups felt about how they’d spent their winter breaks. The alumni who’d not travelled or splashed their cash had lingering regrets — they lasted longer than those of the students who’d spent more freely or studied less diligently.
Likewise, indulgent business people were less sorry about having slacked off as time went by, while those who’d been more conscientious felt twinges of regret over the fun they’d missed.
People who refuse to remove their hairshirts suffer from ‘excessive far-sightedness or hyperopia’. They are what author Tal Ben-Shahar would call ‘rat-racers’, working hard and postponing the fun till later. (There’s a sad end-note to Lord Maclaurin’s ‘Tiger by the Tail’ that should be a cautionary tale to any hyperopic CEO.)
Keinan and Kivetz have a marketing message, too. They asked 57 shoppers to anticipate how they’d feel about two different types of purchase. One would be an indulgent buy to make them feel happy; the other a cheaper item that would allow them to put a bit aside for a rainy day.
Those who expected to feel immediate regret bought the low-end product. The authors suggest anyone marketing expensive goods should try asking consumers to think longer term about how they might feel if they forego an indulgence — “For instance, a travel company might ask customers to consider how they’ll feel about having passed up a family vacation package once the nest is empty.”
It seems pretty manipulative. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see a slew of ’seize the day’ marketing messages as the credit crunch deepens.
