Why can't I grow for the money

And there are genetic reasons for this.

Almost everyone who graduated from high school knows that there is the concept of "homeostasis" - the constancy of the internal environment of the body. And, at the same time, rarely does anyone know about the concept of "allostasis" - the constancy of the internal environment through the interaction of the body with the external environment.

Allostasis and allostatic overload. A little stress tones and energizes the body. The body systems adapt to the stress factor without overvoltage. With allostatic overload, the body finds some kind of balance, but it works with difficulty and gradually breaks down.

In fact, maintaining homeostasis requires support from the behavior of the body: where to live, what to drink and eat, whom to avoid, what to strive for. As the organism is genetically programmed to maintain a constant internal environment, so its behavior should not disrupt homeostasis - otherwise the mechanisms of natural selection for this organism will work.

Allostasis as an example of eating behavior

A person’s living standards reflect themselves in the processes of life: if you are used to eating meat three times a day, the biochemistry of the body adapts to this method of supplying nutrients for work and will rebel with a sharp change in diet.

If the meat is eaten twice a day, the body will still tolerate, the transition to vegetarian food will cause a pronounced adaptive reaction - within 2-3 weeks the body will adapt to unusual food. Depending on the adaptation reserves, the overall condition will be either too good or too bad. If you persevere further, you can fall into a depletion of the adaptation reaction and get sick amid well-being, or fall into a depressed state.

Usually, after 2-3 weeks, a rollback period begins - when it is unbearable to eat unusually.

At this point, old eating habits usually return, which prevents the depletion of adaptive mechanisms. It is easy to feel this moment when you return from a country with exotic cuisine to your homeland - it’s good there, but at home, native.

The same situation occurs with a change in income: with a sharp decrease or increase in income, an adaptation reaction occurs, as a result, the body tries to return to the previous level of well-being.

A simple test for the level of allostatic load for money

Try your senses when thinking about how much money you can safely spend. Record your feelings on each level.

5 rubles
10 rubles
20 rubles
50 rubles
150 rubles
450 rubles
5,000 rubles
20,000 rubles
80,000 rubles
350,000 rubles
1,000,000 rubles
10,000,000 rubles
100,000,000 rubles
1,000,000,000 rubles

Initially, the amounts do not cause any tension, as the amount grows, a feeling of optimum appears - this I can easily afford. The higher the amount after the optimum, the more anxiety is that so much money can be spent, right down to the horror (“Yes, I won’t earn so much for life”).

At some point, the psyche simply ceases to accept large numbers, and for most people spending 1 000 000 000 just seems unrealistic and it’s impossible to feel about it - billions of billions of budget expenditures are read so easily.

Allostasis and a sharp increase in income

The same situation occurs when you set yourself new financial goals. It is difficult to increase incomes or raise money for a very expensive purchase at times, because the body will try to maintain allostasis.

Many money trainings set super-goals for increasing income: “Become a millionaire or die.” At the peak of adaptation, people sometimes get great results, enthusiastic reviews about the training appear on the wave of results. However, after 2-3 weeks, there comes a period when the body says “enough” - a rollback occurs.

Often income sags in such a way that it would be better to stay in the old state - the body requires allostasis to return to its usual state and tries to prove to the consciousness that it does not need such harsh experiments.

At the same time, there is a more comfortable growth model - to get used to the increase in disposable income gradually. Usually, for homeostasis to catch up with a 30% change in income, it takes from 6 to 12 months.

Knowing that allostasis has a certain optimal speed of adaptation, it makes sense to gradually, in small portions, allow yourself to get used to a better standard of living before increasing your disposable income: as part of your income, buy better food, slightly better clothes or shoes, buy expensive toilet paper. The more the body gets used to the new quality of life, the easier it is to find sources of growth for income.

What to do if income has grown by more than 30% in a short time? Safe from the point of view of allostasis, the behavior is to exclude this extra money from everyday life. Someone will merge them in the casino, someone will put on a long-term deposit in the bank, someone will drink / distribute to the poor.

Allostasis and a sharp drop in income

When the usual income level falls, the homeostasis system also requires the return of allostasis to its place. And this is noticeable by how quickly a job similar in income level is found after losing the old one. About one or two months - and a healthy person closes the need for the standard of living to which he is accustomed.

This recommendation is based on the recommendation on the level of financial “airbag” for two months of optimal life.

More information on the concept of allostasis as a continuation of homeostasis can be found in Robert Sapolsky's book “Psychology of stress. Why zebras don’t have stomach ulcers. ”

UPD

There was a place for invitations to open classes on March 26 and 28.