I agree with everything except the point about material possessions - they're not bad, most of the times they can help you do things better and faster. It's just that you need to accept their imperfections and problems and stop spending time worrying about them. Radiator broke down? Whatta gonna do, repair it and keep going, don't think too much. USB drivers not installing? Find another way. Your equipment needs maintenance? Well of course it does, schedule some time and do it.

It's all about the mindset. I used to worry about stuff like this too much, until I realized that it doesn't really matter. Here's a quick way to test your mindset on this: if you have a scratch on your phone's screen and it bugs the hell out of you, you're too attached to your possessions :-).

Reminds me of the saying "you don't own possessions they own you". This is only true if you let them own you and worry about them. When my TV breaks down I might get another one. But there are loads of people who buy another TV because they've seen a bigger/thinner/nicer one.

Great point on scratch. Luckily, these things don't bother me :)

Throwing away all your worldly possessions in the pursuit of happiness is not always possible.

For instance, having a car to drive your 5 year old kid to school can be a lot less stressful than taking a bus or train.

But, yes, seeking to own the best car money can buy is rather unnecessary.

Overall this article offers simple, good advice. It was a good read.

"having a car to drive your 5 year old kid to school can be a lot less stressful than taking a bus or train"

And living in a location where your child can walk to school is a lot less stress than driving - especially if you can also walk to work.

Yes, I agree that throwing all possessions isn't the best of ideas. What I was trying to suggest was that just craving for more possessions just for its own sake is avoidable. For example, if you are happy with 5 year old car, why take a new one?

I agree with that, however you have to consider the returns on investment, too: the difference between a personal car and public transport is that you can get to wherever you want in 15 minutes instead of 1 hour, for example, but if you have a 5 year old car that works fine, there's no reason to buy a new one, indeed.

It's even more complicated in software - while a lot of tools are good enough as they are (like Windows 98 :-)), upgrading to a new version can make a huge difference.

I do agree that having a lot of possessions is harder on your mind, and it ties you down to one place - I found that out when I had to move and leave a lot of stuff behind - in the end, it turns out I could live perfectly fine without it.

Of course it depends from person to person, but in many cases the advantages gained by upgrading are marginal. If you don't do serious photography, your 5MP phone camera may be more than enough for you. If you all you do is Microsoft Word and Internet, Windows 98 may be sufficient for you. Of course, if something you absolutely need (not desire) requires an upgrade, you have to do it.

Enjoy advantages of modern technology but don't get too obsessed for its own sake or because others are doing it -- there are far more important things to do in life.

I always find those posts about what matters in life and what not a bit troublesome. I can't really shake the feeling that the author just seeks some confirmation from his peers for his newly found virtues in life. an important aspect of growing up is figuring out what actually matters to you.

Of course, it is personal opinion but if it helps others discover what matters for them, what's wrong with that? They can always disagree with the author's points.

well of course my opinion isn't in any way less subjective than the author's and you should consider both with a grain of salt.

I agree that some of the petty things we pin our ego on can lead to stress and unhappiness, but I'm not sure ego per se is a terrible thing.

The thrust of the article almost seems to be that you'll be happiest when you define yourself by your relationships with other people, your experiences of other things. These are good things, but I strongly believe that you need enough ego to feel like you're standing face-to-face with the world before you've lived a truly satisfying life. Perhaps I'm just misunderstanding the use of 'experiences' in the article, but I'd really rather build my own parthenon than spend my life staring at someone else's.

He forgot "mitigating existential risk". Oh well :).

You can take the human out of the jungle, but you can't take the jungle out of the human. We are social creatures, cultivate strong and loose relationships. Happiness shared with other people is happiness multiplied.