The top earners saw their hourly wage climb 27 percent between 1979 and 2016.11 But for the middle class it grew just 3 percent over those same years. Just 3 percent since the Walkman was invented, and as other costs have skyrocketed.

But Bentoism also believes that our definitions of “rational” and “self-interest” are too narrow. We think rational value means financial value. And self-interest is all about satisfying our immediate desires. But neither perspective comes close to the full spectrum of what’s valuable or rational. Today’s thinking goes: It’s rational to behave in y

Our self-interest doesn’t stop with us right now. We don’t exist in a vacuum. We live within communities of people who are affected by our decisions, and whose decisions affect us. Our decisions impact our future selves, too.

EXPANDING VALUE Bentoism isn’t a utopian clean slate. It builds on the world around us. Like financial maximization, Bentoism strives for rational and measurable principles. Bentoism seeks to expand some of the tools of financial maximization to a wider set of values. And like Adam Smith, Bentoism believes good things happen when people act in thei

Financial maximization says that in any decision, the rational choice is the one that makes the most money. This is the underlying “why” behind many of our choices. The right-hand turn of modern life.

Pink names three drives that he believes speak to our higher values. Pink identifies: Autonomy: the desire to have a say over what we do Mastery: the process of getting better at what we do Purpose: the meaning behind what we do

LIFE GOALS

The truth is that everything is made up. The same way Kickstarter was made up. Some people think of something and try to bring it into existence. If other people start believing in this new idea, it becomes real.

You hear that phrase a lot when it comes to new ideas: “it seemed like the thing to do.” If other people agree—as people did with the high five—it becomes A Thing. There’s no steering committee that gives the green light. There’s no stamp of approval. There’s not a grand design. It just happens. The truth is there is little order. The status quo pe