The Rat Race

May 9, 2011

Interview with Todd Buchholz, author of the book Rush: Why You Need and Love the Rat Race

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Mike Carruthers:
Getting out of the rat race, slowing down, reducing stress it’s a goal for many but it may not be all it’s cracked up to be.

Todd Buchholz:
In fact challenges and new endeavors are what our bodies and our brains needs in order to feel that rush of dopamine, in order to feel alive.
 

Economist Todd Buchholz, author of the book Rush: Why You Need and Love the Rat Race

We can handle stress and in fact we thrive with some level of stress. And trying to escape from it is probably not a way to escape into happiness but more likely you’re going to escape into further despair.

One offshoot of this idea that we need to simplify is that we should reduce competition.

I tell the story about the Washington DC school district where a survey was done of self-esteem and whether students thought they were good or bad at math (and this was a cross-country survey). They scored highest on the question of, “Are you good at math?” But when the math scores came in they scored just about dead last. So were we doing them a favor by telling them how special they were and how wonderful they were at math? No!

Todd says it’s one thing to say your Uncle Joe can’t handle the stress and he needs a simpler life.

But there many psychologists, economists and social scientists who then say that we should treat everybody like Uncle Joe’s. Well it’s one thing to make a prescription for an individual; it’s another to make a pronouncement about how society should be run.

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here