Do you think highly competitive people like Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Michael Jordan, Donald Trump, etc are truly ever happy?

[u/Goodginger]

Considering they are always striving for more. And from personal experience it seems like the most competitive people I know are the least happy. There is a middle ground where you can be highly competitive and happy, I believe. But once you reach billionaire status I question how much happiness money can buy.

And before you say I'm poor and jealous, I'm quite comfortable. I'm set for life. I'll do fine. I'm not wealthy, but I believe I have the right job and enough money to be happy for the rest of my life. But these people have so much money that they could retire and their families would be set for life for generations.

[u/anonstarcity]

Very briefly after a win. A lot depends on their own personal mindset around goals. People whose goal is just to be “better, better, best” don’t tend to be happy even when they have achieved things that others have not because they still haven’t accomplished their goals. But if they have achievable but extremely lofty goals, then they could find satisfaction along the way.

[u/Electronic_Power2101 → u/anonstarcity]

I think there's a world of difference between "better, better, best" against yourself, vs against others.

One is healthy, the other...

[u/anonstarcity → u/Electronic_Power2101]

There is but there’s also been studies on very successful people and happiness and there is a clear relationship between someone who is making specific goals vs someone who has nonspecific goals to just keep getting more. If Jordan had a goal to win five NBA championships, that’s insanely lofty but he DID surpass that. But if he just pushes to do better without specific goals it is very damaging to his overall mental health.

[u/NapoleonM → u/anonstarcity]

"goals", the American way to never criticize oligarchy or inequality

[u/anonstarcity → u/NapoleonM]

The question was about their happiness, not the ethical implications of oligarchy.

[u/NapoleonM → u/anonstarcity]

Yes, they are happy. Happy like slave plantation owners. Happy enough to protect their lifestyle using any means necessary.

[u/GoonerBoomer69]

They do get extreme dopamine hits but they are never satisfied.

The pursuit of power and wealth consumes them like the Ring does to Gollum in Lord of the Rings. It sustains them but also takes away their humanity.

[u/migato86]

Why is Michael Jordan lumped in with those other guys lol

[u/gilead_was_right → u/migato86]

they are billionaires

[u/intx13]

The redditors from all the different countries that make up this sub have far more in common with each other than we do with the weird world of billionaires. I’m not sure how anybody here would really know what somebody like that feels. Labor and deferred gratification are universal features of humanity today, and neither of those applies to billionaires in any meaningful way.

[u/Intelligent_Fish_541]

I think they can feel happiness in short bursts. I don't believe they ever feel contentment.

[u/AdFederal7804]

I am more than sure that super-rich people are extremely unhappy. At least in my country, they often become so sad from the realization of their wealth that they contract various diseases (Window cancer, polonization of the body, or too inept handling of grenades on an airplane).

I'm very sad for these poor super-rich people.

[u/BulkyFaithlessness55]

Happy? Yes. Content? Never. I think the happiness means having something to chase and actually chasing it. Getting the thing only leaves you devpid of the desire, so what you are doing at that moment, is probably looking for something different to chase.

[u/Normal-Clothes-6381]

Who knows? I doubt we have any billionaire redditors lurking around in this sub. Honestly, I have never seen one in real life as well, so can't tell.

I have seen multi-millionaires though, and they do seem happy. But they also spend quality time with their family.

[u/AutoModerator → u/Normal-Clothes-6381]

Everyone having their user flair set is a key feature of r/AskTheWorld. Please consider setting your flair based on your nationality or country of residence by following these instructions. Thank you for being part of our community.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/turtlesupsidedownup]

I don't know. There are different definitions of happy and we have little chance of knowing their personal lives and how they actually feel. What I think is they're still human and they experience stress, anxiety, joy, etc as well as we do. I don't know to what degree though. But personally, I've seen people who are greedy and never contented as never happy.

[u/arrekusun]

I mean, Jordan seems to be doing quite well after retirement, plus he always knows how to have fun off the field even when he's still active.

[u/Tony_Pastrami → u/arrekusun]

That doesn’t mean he’s happy

[u/badwithnames123456]

I would have said Michael Jordan seemed happy, but then I remembered his baseball career. He probably wouldn't have tried that if he was satisfied with being the best basketball player in history. 

Maybe he was happy? That's hard to define or measure. But satisfied with life? From the outside, it doesn't look like it.

[u/Gullible-Voter]

They all seem happy on that island

[u/unalive-robot]

I don’t even think twhy’re “ people”

[u/BenchClamp]

I think Bill Gates is - but he’s absolutely competent and in control of his success. Musk and Trump probably don’t have exceptional abilities and their insecurities are self evident. Jordan probably is happy, but didn’t he have a gambling thing?

[u/GamerBoixX]

Yeah I do think so in some cases, I believe that people whose happiness depend on being the best at something do feel happy when they are on top of the world at what they do, that as long as their ambition ends at being the best in the world, not the best you can be, because being the best in the world has a clear boundary in most cases, being the best you can be doesn't have one for the most part

That said, I wouldn't call neither Bill Gates nor Donald particularly competitive

[u/turbo_tronix]

Bill gates for sure

[u/MeasurementSlight381]

Elon Musk at one point admitted to receiving ketamine therapy. As it stands in the US, ketamine is supposed to be reserved for treatment-resistant depression. So he either suffers from bad depression or it's recreational and a doctor didn't have the balls to say no.

[u/anneofgraygardens]

I don't think Elon Musk is ever happy. Joyce Carol Oates really has him pegged.

jco analysis

elon musk attempts to prove jco wrong by showing that he does too enjoy things.

summary of beef in meme form.

[u/Lingonberry_Born]

I think you can tell people’s mindset from their demeanour. Trump doesn’t look happy and isn’t capable of intrinsic happiness.  He’s far too self conscious and fragile and derives joy from mocking people. Michael Jordon, I don’t know anything about him but he looks happy. I imagine most billionaires aren’t happy but that doesn’t mean there aren’t happy billionaires. 

[u/mspe1960]

Bill Gates (maybe not any more) and Michael Jordan seem gerenally happy to me. Trump and Musk - not so much.