Hedonism vs. Discipline

This is a companion piece to my guest post on Get Rich Slowly this past Tuesday.


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Dave @ Accidental FIRE

I reached financial independence and semi-retired in my mid-40's through hard work, smart living, and investing. This blog chronicles my journey and explores many aspects of personal finance including the psychological and behavioral factors that drive our habits.

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36 Responses

  1. Kimberly Ann says:

    This is great! 🙂 Thanks for the laugh.

  2. i’m trying to figure out where i fall on the graph. i certainly have pockets of discipline which come automatically after so many years doing it, but that’s only so i can have the ribeye and cabernet. it’s a conundrum!

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Ribeye and cabernet isn’t bad. And you can run 7 minute miles. I think you fall in a pretty good place

  3. Nice one!

    But, I’m not sure about HAL. I believe there was much pleasure in not opening those pod bay doors. “Daisy, daisy, give me your answer, do…I’m half crazy…”. I think drugs possibly were HAL’s downfall.

  4. Steveark says:

    When I think of huge earners in sports who blow through their money, they don’t fall anywhere on the line. You can’t get to pro level without discipline far greater than most of us possess. Thousands of hours of grueling practice, usually lots of pain and injuries to endure. Discipline galore, just not with money. It is odd that you can have great discipline in one area of life but none in another.

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Totally agree…. I don’t think everyone has to fall on the line. I myself had great discipline in my job and with saving money in my 20’s. but drank like an alcoholic and was involved in many other hedonistic things during that time. It’s part of being human.

  5. Love the graph- made me laugh!
    I’d be ay Ghandi-like status if wine wasn’t invented…
    Cheers!

  6. I love it. Is this your next t-shirt?

  7. OthalaFehu says:

    I sorry for this answer David (in the voice of Hal) but I would nestle myself right in between those 2 green boobies, just like William Shatner would.

  8. Freedom says:

    I would love to be in Keith (or Mick!) spot with their money…😜

  9. Beautiful chart Dave, love it! I’m not sure it’s such a straight line though, maybe more a scatter plot with a relatively high negative correlation – so you’ve probably nailed the line of best fit 🙂

    Cheers, Frankie

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Oh yeah, people don’t always fall on a line, this isn’t exactly scientific. I did it with a glass of bourbon 😉

  10. A very well-balanced place to be. Have you seen the documentary Generation Wealth? It’s on Amazon Prime. Anyway, good stuff!

  11. Abigail @ipickuppennies.net says:

    I feel like Keith Richards out-hedons (totally a word) Charlie Sheen. But maybe I’m wrong. Either way, great graph!

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      That’s why I have him higher on the hedonism scale, he only has more discipline since they’re still touring and he’s 70’s.

  12. GenX FIRE says:

    Another great post

  13. Joe says:

    Nice chart! I think I’m where I want to be already. I just need to work on keeping the lifestyle inflation in check.

  14. Katie Camel says:

    You mentioned the Rat Pack, but where’s the Brat Pack? Where do they rank? Nice graph!

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      Given that Sinatra had huge mob connections something tells me the Brat Pack are lightweight as compared to the Rat Pack 🙂

      Thanks!

  15. Dr. McFrugal says:

    My goal is to fall somewhere in the far upper right quadrant. “The disciplined pursuit of responsible hedonism”. I want to believe that I am doing a pretty good job at it too!

    In my opinion, there is nothing wrong with hedonism. I think we should all strive to maximize net pleasure and happiness. We just need to do it in a disciplined, responsible, and considerate manner.

    The other extreme (no hedonism and no discipline) sounds like depression and anxiety to me. No thank you.

    Just my two cents 🙂

  16. Brilliant – can I share this on social media?

  17. OneTooMany says:

    Very interesting conversation you’ve sparked with this graph! So, I’m with you that people certainly don’t fall exactly on the line but I think we diverge based on one of your latest comments (even if it was 2 years ago hehe).

    You’ve created this hedonism-discipline space and I don’t see why one couldn’t very well live in any point on it, no matter how far from the line. I get the bourbon-induced inspiration behind the piece but it’s the internet… you never know who’s showing up to the party. Protagoras comes to mind—the art of measuring pain and pleasure, specifically. Maybe going to the dentist is a little painful but over a lifetime it brings you lots of pleasure to eat what you want and not suffer tooth pain… actually that’s probably flossing, but you get the point. Now what if knowing this eventually means it’s not just discipline bringing you to floss and go to the dentist but it’s also pleasure? Because you know the good you bring your life by doing those things you do them and it feels nice! What if you actually like a regular schedule and it just happens to be good for you? You might find yourself in the upper right hand corner of the hedonism-discipline space, no?

    Also, healthy and thin don’t necessarily go hand in hand. In fact we’re the heaviest we’ve been in history and have the longest life expectancies. There’s interesting research out there on the matter, fwiw. Strong marriages though? I’m with you.. hard to keep anywhere on your graph.

    Cheers!

    • Dave @ Accidental FIRE says:

      “we’re the heaviest we’ve been in history and have the longest life expectancies.”

      Well… but our health spans are horrible. We’ve been extending lives wrought with chronic diseases and disabilities, mostly from obesity. Thin is almost always healthier than fat, the science is not even remotely controversial on that, although there is a condition called “skinny fat” that is an exception. Thanks for the great comment!

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