I was in junior high. It was 1984, the album was 1984, and the band was Van Halen. “Jump,” the only Van Halen song ever to hit #1 on the charts, began with a dramatic synthesizer solo that became the band’s signature sound. At that time I knew one thing: I had to have a synthesizer.
I was so captivated by the then-new, techno synthesizer sounds that I even agreed to take piano lessons. My parents said if I’d stick with piano, they’d split the cost of a less-expensive electronic Casio® keyboard with me. It wasn’t a real synthesizer, but I wanted that keyboard more than anything. I daydreamed about it, studied its specifications, made detailed drawings and talked about it incessantly. Looking forward to my keyboard kept me going for months.
Making Me Wait
Anticipation is a great bargain, because envisioning future purchases can produce a very positive emotional response. When it comes to money and happiness, imagination is a powerful capability of the human brain that lets us experience happiness even before we spend a dime.
Sometimes anticipation is better than the actual purchase. Studies show that looking forward to a happy event can produce more pleasure than the experience itself because fantasy is not intruded upon by reality. In the case of my keyboard, the reality of the plastic keys was disappointing compared to the weight of the ivory piano keys I’d envisioned.
Even when reality meets or exceeds our expectation, anticipation is a deal sweetener. We get pleasure from the actual item or experience plus the extra happiness of anticipation beforehand. Interestingly, several studies have suggested that positive feelings from anticipating a future event are stronger than those from recalling a pleasant event in the past. In other words, people seem to prefer a happy future more than a happy past.
Getting Extra Happiness Free
Here’s how you can buy a bigger slice of happiness using your very human feelings of anticipation:
- Avoid “consume now, pay later”: You get a better deal on happiness by saving for a purchase than from the immediate gratification of charging it on the spur of the moment. “No interest, no money down” offers may be stealing some of your happiness! When you wait and save, you eliminate the possibility of regretting the interest applied to a credit card later and increase your happiness up front. You might start practicing with small pleasures because it takes less time to save for them.
- Give yourself time to anticipate: To get more from an expenditure, let yourself eagerly look forward to what you buy. Take extra time thinking about it, and enjoy reminiscing afterward.
- Use anticipation as free happiness insurance: Anticipation makes a purchase worthwhile even if the reality is disappointing. You can savor the idea of a Mexico vacation even if your luggage gets lost and the water doesn’t agree with your stomach. Without anticipation, you just have a bad memory of a bad vacation.