GMueller said:
However, I'm still curious about the second part of my original question: when you finally reached some predetermined goal/amount, whether it was $1M or some other figure, did you have the temptation to raise the bar. I'm asking for an obvious reason. I'm closing in on a figure I set a long time ago as my goal. Now that I have nearly reached that goal, I'm finding it difficult to resist the temptation to "add a little cushion." I can't really say that a cushion is actually necessary, but I still hear the siren call to "add a little more." Adding "a litttle more" would not entail an inordinate sacrifice, but I wonder whether if, after reaching the new goal, I'd feel compelled to bump up the bar another increment. My question is whether that is a common phenomena. And, if so, how have others dealt with it?
Yes, it's called "paralysis by analysis", but it stops when you die.
It also stops when something makes you realize that you've reached diminishing returns. In my case it was retiring from the military, a clear break that required either a job search or a longboard.
Others' diminishing returns are reached when:
- they have a health scare,
- they have a family crisis,
- when the weight of their BS bucket exceeds the weight of the benefits bucket,
- when their boss decides that they need to have a bad day,
- in the middle of a truly sucky meeting,
- when they realize that their airplane includes two sets of wings, a backup set of rotors, three parachutes, and a pogo spring. You can only pad so much and at some point you're missing more than you're gaining...
You've also read Bernstein's five-part "Calculator From Hell" articles, right?