envy not jealous less

Envy vs jealousy
Something I didn't know before starting on this blog .. so let's get that clear first, the two terms mean very different .. Envy involves wanting to have something you don't already possess. I'm envious of my colleagues BMW car. (I don't have a BMW car). Jealousy involves wanting to hold on to what you do have. The woman was overcome with jealousy when she saw her husband talking to his secretary.
We will mostly focus on envy in this blog because I have an interesting Warren Buffet story to share on this topic :) , but remember that dealing with jealousy is equally important. I am sure right now several parents are screwing up atleast one of their kids by comparing them math score to math score and class rank to class rank making them feel envious of the other for being more favorite to the same parent. I guess that example explains sufficiently that the lower rank kid's jealousy is going to have far reaching implications both for the kid himself and his parents in the coming 40-50 years of their life together and it is not going to be a pleasant one.

Well let's move on to the easier and lighter topic of envy now.

Owners pride neighbor's envy 

Who does not remember this envy devil from Onida (mirc electronics)? 

Some might say that envy is natural. It helps you get competitive. Some might say that they are content with what they have and they don't envy at all. Trust me it is more prevalent than you would like to believe. Think about it, almost all the ad and marketing campaigns in the tech, consumer, and luxury segment is about how buying a certain product will make others envy you. Look at all the smart phone, luxury cars, real estate, beauty product, deodorant ads more carefully. Slowly and steadily we are being injected with this desire of being better "relative" to others or being the object of envy for others so that the manufacturers of these products can increase their sales volume, revenue and profits. That's how prevalent and exploited envy is. We feel it ourselves and make every effort to make others envious of us and spend a better part of our life trying to achieve such meaningless goals. It is prevalent because everyone goes through the same social pressures. We think, everyone feels it, so its fine, not a big deal, that's the way of life.

Buffet (Stock Market) wisdom to the rescue
Fortunately I came across a video of Guy Spier talking about his $650,000 lunch with Warren Buffet. Guy Spier mentioned in his interview that the lunch date was more of a life lesson for him instead of an investment lesson and thankfully so.
He asked Warren about how to deal with envy, something he was struggling with for sometime now in his professional life. He was expecting a huge dose of wisdom from Warren in reply to his question. He was very serious about it since it was impacting his life and career and happiness. Warren simply answered that he doesn't know.
Guy Spier was kind of disappointed and unsatisfied with Warren's response and was left to introspect on it by himself. He kept on thinking about Warren's response .. and finally after a really long time he got the answer .. Warren Buffet is so much self aligned that envy is something he doesn't know about at all. Envy by definition is an emotion of wanting to have something that you don't have and you see others having it and crave for it. There was no such thing for Warren Buffet. He was perfectly self-aligned. There was nothing that he desired based on what others had. Not just by virtue of being richest person in the world but because he was completely and perfectly self-aligned. Warren Buffet might be the richest person but then he is not Johny Depp of hollywood or Steve Jobs of the tech world and he doesn't care. He is happy most doing what he does best, fund management and value investing, perfectly self aligned.
Imagine the greatness of this man, even by not knowing something, he has such profound lessons to offer. Envy grows on you more and more as you become less and less aligned with yourself and desire to align with someone else or what they possess. In the process you lose sight of what you have  or are capable of achieving while craving for what is not meant for you, which to a large extent poisons your mind. On the other hand if you are completely self aligned, you are in prefect equilibrium, you make the best out of who you are as an individual and what is best for you. In this perfectly self-aligned state of mind you can reach the heights that no one else has scaled in your domain of expertise and liking. Now tell me .. wasn't the lunch worth the $650,000 price tag for Guy Spier? totally worth it ! Fortunately for us it is free :) .. so as far as possible envy not and jealous less .. listen to music and enjoy life !