I saw on the news the other day that New Zealanders had spent $1.4 million in 1 week on lottery tickets.

$1.4 million that could have been invested in themselves or at the very least spent on something sensible, wasted on pointless gambling.

This is the human drive to seek the quick fix, the instant gratification, the dream of putting in a tiny comfortable effort to get a massively rewarding return.

This dream kills you.

I've looked into people who spend a lot of money on lottery tickets over their lifetime, and every time I see that if they had just invested that money either in their own education and training or in things like stocks or real estate or whatever, they would have received a massive return.

It would have been similar to winning the lottery but over a longer term period of time, if they just resisted that urge for the quick win.

Nearly every major philosophy has concluded that delayed gratification - the art of accepting hardship and struggle up front to earn a higher reward - is a far more successful approach than chasing an instant win.

And yet people still do it.

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