<story><title>The Unhealthy Desire for Prestige</title><url>https://www.financialsamurai.com/the-unhealthy-desire-for-prestige-is-ruining-your-life/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>factsaresacred</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;I asked John how his product was doing, and he said that he’s looking to hire a CEO with more product experience...when I talked to him further, he said he was still looking to launch his MVP...So after 1.5 years, John basically spent $10,000+ attending financial conferences, collected no revenue, and hasn’t even launched a working website&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;Laughing at how real this is. This is exactly the situation with me and a friend. We both had an idea for different businesses 2 years ago.&lt;p&gt;He prints business cards, incorporates a business, talks about partnerships, a launch party, worries about getting too big....and has no users.&lt;p&gt;I quit my job to code away in the morning, reply to user feedback in the afternoon and emulate my competitor&amp;#x27;s marketing at night. I did this every day....and just passed 100,000 users. Hardly anybody knows what I do.&lt;p&gt;The difference between us: he works for a big tech company where everyone talks about their &lt;i&gt;app idea&lt;/i&gt;™ over lunch and lives in a city where splashing $1000 on bottle service is seen as smart instead of foolish. I don&amp;#x27;t. Instead I grind for two simple reasons: to be free of a boss and to make something people find valuable.&lt;p&gt;I love my friend and I&amp;#x27;m not knocking his approach, nor saying mine is better. But printing business cards before gaining users is a bizarre way to order one&amp;#x27;s priorities.</text></comment>
<story><title>The Unhealthy Desire for Prestige</title><url>https://www.financialsamurai.com/the-unhealthy-desire-for-prestige-is-ruining-your-life/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>mrleiter</author><text>To seek prestige runs far deeper in our minds than one would think. It comes from a place of uncertainty and fear.&lt;p&gt;There is an interesting theory called &amp;quot;social comparison&amp;quot; [1], which states that one way to define ourselves is to compare us with our peers, either upward or downward. It&amp;#x27;s pretty on point in my personal opinion, because I do it as well. And when I have mentioned this theory while chatting with friends, they confirmed that they do it, too.&lt;p&gt;We humans are brittle creatures that pretend to be very strong and independent in order to survive and not be vulnerable.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.psychologytoday.com&amp;#x2F;us&amp;#x2F;basics&amp;#x2F;social-comparison-theory&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.psychologytoday.com&amp;#x2F;us&amp;#x2F;basics&amp;#x2F;social-comparison-...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>