Author Derek Sivers was on the Modern Wisdom podcast recently and gave an illustration that highlights how counterintuitive and illogical human reactions are.
He paints a picture of three Olympic athletes standing on the winner's platform after their competition and asks, "Which one is happiest?"
Well, the Gold Medalist is happiest, of course.
But then Sivers asks, "Who is the next happiest?"
Your first instinct would be to say the Silver Medalist would be next in line, but then you pause and consider the situation... Maybe not?
Sivers maintains that the second happiest is the Bronze Medalist and his reasoning has the ring of truth to it.
The Bronze Medalist is thinking, "Out of all those who competed, I am one of the few to stand here and represent my country before the entire world. If I had been a fraction of a second slower, I wouldn't be here, but I made it to the platform!"
On the other hand, the Silver Medalist is the least happy of all on the platform - by a long shot. He is standing there thinking, "I just barely missed it - if only I had pushed myself a little harder, I could have had the gold. I could have been first place."
I think Sivers is right. And I think it says something profound about how we allow our minds to frame our experiences.
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