Status is the Happiness Killer
September 23, 2010
I would bartend or wait tables before being a document review lawyer. Both jobs are more fun than reviewing documents, and the pay is about the same. How many "lawyers" would make that choice? Few would, because being a lawyer is "high status."
Many lawyers even choose to review documents rather than work in traffic court. Why? Status. Reviewing documents is seen as higher status than defending traffic tickets.
If you're only earning $30 an hour reviewing documents, why not actually practice law by charging clients a similar hourly rate? The upside is that there is a way up from being a real lawyer; but there is no way up from being a document reviewer.
How often does status actually make anyone happy? I've never met a happy status whore, and I've been in shin-digs where people were awesomely rich and high status. It's a rigged game.
Status is also weakness, because it puts your happiness into the hands of others. Status is concerned with how other people rate you. Why give other people so much power over your happiness?