I am very fortunate in where I live because I am surrounded by trees and parks and it is only a two minute ride to bike paths that will take me into town or out to the burbs (why the hell I would want to go there I have no idea) Being near a bike path means that we get a lot of weekend warriors stopping at our local milk bar/cafe which is beautifully situated opposite one of the parks. In winter you can grab a sausage sizzle and go watch the local footy and in summer plonk your bum down with a Dixie Cup and watch the cricket. As one might expect such a place is a magnet for blokes who do not look in the mirror before going out on their bikes. If they did they wouldn’t wear lycra because to steal Clive James’s expression they all look like condoms stuffed full of walnuts. Lycra on men of a certain age should be banned under the Geneva Convention.
Our rotund and somewhat shrink wrapped hero’s park their $5,000 bikes and proceed to eat everything in sight. This phenomena of do a little bit of exercise and then pig out is known as hedonic compensation. It is a well known problem within the field of exercise science and nutrition. It arises out of the the twin problems of people grossly overestimating how many calories a given activity burns coupled with not understanding how calorie dense food is. It is why cafe’s around gyms tend to do quite well, the zumba wobbleathon finishes and all the participants file next door a for muffin the size of Ayers Rock.
However, the phenomena of hedonic compensation is not restricted to exercise, it occurs with traders as well. I am a fan of people rewarding themselves after either a successful period of trading or even after a spectacularly successful trade. However, my notion of reward and other peoples does seem to differ quite markedly. My view is to wander down the local milk bar buy a Kit Kat and sit in the sun for an hour. Others seem to have the view that you spend most of what you have just made. This desire to spend most of what you make is an interesting form of self sabotage and it does seem to afflict some traders. The notion of self sabotage is when behaviours in the short term interfere with long term goals. The intriguing thing about self sabotage is that it is not a behaviour that many are aware or if they are it is only on the periphery of their consciousness. Subtle hedonistic behaviours are not seen as harmful because they are rationalised as I am merely rewarding myself for a job well done.
From my naive perspective the interesting thing about this sort of behaviour is that it is quite different from other forms of self sabotage such as negative self talk and the inevitable doubting of ones ability that springs from this. It is different because it springs from an unseen voice that we often dont know exists. Undoubtedly many of those who frequent my local cafe are not setting themselves up to be a better version of themselves, they are quite content to be blobs on wheels. But my guess is some are trying to better themselves in therms of their health and fitness, and their little binges do cause them momentary pains of guilt. The same is true of traders who upon refection will wonder why they spent a good portion of their trading win on another useless thing.
I go cycling twice a week with friends. .Each Saturday pm we ride along a very nice bike track along the beachfront near where I live. We do a 15km round trip & I enjoy a flat white coffee. It’s a social gathering & it just happens to be more enjoyable to ride our bikes than to take the car. Every Tuesday (weather permitting) I ride into the city to join another group of friends for lunch – a round trip of about 16km. The point here is I don’t set out to perform a feat of exercise per se but simply use my bike as a more pleasant means of getting to my destination. Because of that I don’t have a psychological need to give myself a reward for effort.
However if I have a highly profitable trade, I like to reward myself by spending no more than 10% of my profit on something which takes my fancy – eg it might be a nice meal in a restaurant. On the other hand maybe I should fine myself if I disobey my rules & take an impulsive trade & lose money.
It seems that’s just human nature Chris. I know a couple who started trading/investing just pre GFC. Under the advice of a “financial adviser”
they turned a nice approx. 50k profit. Went straight out and bought a brand new Kluger (the car, not the gun). Market went belly up, they lost their house. On the bright side though, they’ve still got their Kluger. They are also very well aware that it was the markets fault.
There is a lovely bloke I see jogging along Balmoral beach each morning.
He is around 70 and has been putting in a huge effort with a decent length run and swim each morning for at least 2 years.
However, nothing has changed.
The rather impressive gut remains.
I asked him how he was going one day and he said that maybe he should change what he was eating.
Not only that but he needs to change his exercise routine to fat-burn (not ego burn).
Body type = input – output
And you have to measure it …
There is a Tibetan saying – don’t be like the man who boiled water in a wooden pot and ended up where he started.
Time to take my now advice I think.
Great post Chris.
Basic thermodynamics should be compulsory for everyone.
Hey Chris,
Thanks for the Blog.
I’ve just started riding with a faster bike group.
These guys and girls do not muck about.
They basically expect that you keep up and if not …
see you back at the café at the end of the ride.
My take on it is that if I keep showing up I’ll get there.
Estimates vary about how long this will take. Initially
someone said 4 years, today someone said 3 years.
Yay! I just saved a year 🙂
The other thing is, at the café no one eats anything.
To say that the people you associate with are important
is a huge understatement.
Cheers
Bruce
Wasn’t the Clive James ‘condom full of walnuts’ reference about Arnold Schwarzenegger?
I love to ride my ($150 ebay buy) bike to work when weather permits – not just for the fitness, but for the joy it brings me. while I’m riding I float with the clouds, and fly with the birds. No hedonic compensation required. 🙂