Let me clear my mind

The topic of today’s post will be philanthropy. Many would view my mission statement as selfish and probably reasonably so. I don’t really list selfish at the bottom of the list for desirable qualities.

Today Danny was skiing in Breckenridge and he hurt himself pretty bad. He got rushed from Breckenridge to Denver in an ambulance. By the time he got to Denver he was stable and they decided to hold him overnight for observation. I made a point to go down and bring him some things he needed and hangout with him during visiting hours. While I definitely enjoy hanging out with Danny going to see him definitely does not align with my personal mission statement. I strongly believe I made a decision that did not improve the EV of my happiness. I do other philanthropic things but I usually do them because I want to and because I enjoy them. This situation is unique because I believe the best way to maximize my happiness was to stay home.

The main reason I bring this up is because it is somewhat eye opening. While the happiness of my friends and family makes me happier there seems to be another factor at play. I seem to be willing to surrender a small amount of my net happiness (my sacrifice – residual joy from a friend) in order to increase the happiness of a close friend significantly. It is hard for me to explain what this means to me now, but I will track this effect on my decision making and see if there is more to it.

There is still no progress with obtaining temporary employment with the CU football team. But, I have taken steps to improve my chances of landing my ideal job out of college. I E-mailed the father of a kid I coached in little league and asked him to ask his father to write me a letter of recommendation. I only met his father twice but he is NFL legend Tom Flores so I think it could be a valuable connection. My other valuable connection just recently got hired as GM of the Tennessee Titans. Hopefully, Nashville here I come. I also learned that first year GM’s can expect to make 800-900 grand a year. My dream job is more lucrative than I imagined. Spending a considerable amount of time crafting that E-mail was certainly in line with my personal mission statement. A small investment of time now could have considerable effects on my future happiness.

Another decision recently that requires some reflection was my decision to go skiing on Saturday. Friday I had a lot of fun skiing despite frigid temperatures as low as -45 with wind-chill. Unfortunately, I suffered from minor frostbite on my toes. Five and a half days later I still have not fully regained feeling in tips of my toes. I do not think I fully understood the damage I had done to my toes when I decided to go skiing on Saturday. I had a good but unexceptional day of skiing. Was going skiing a decision that optimized my happiness. At the time I certainly believed so, but, knowing what I know now I disagree.

This brings out two very important things. One, information is the key to correct decision making. Personal growth, a category I specified as an important contributor to my happiness, could also contribute to more effective decision making. Second, I have to be careful when assessing my decision making not to be results oriented in evaluating my decision. My goal clearly states to maximize my expected value and not my happiness directly because I am aware I am incapable of predicting the future. The best I can do is evaluate my options and the percentages afforded their potential affect on my happiness. Making a series of optimal or close to optimal choices should lead to success in my life goal.