This is a fast and interesting read. You will read about his research, his life experiences, and other related research. The author, Dan Ariely, has a PhD in cognitive psychology and business administration. Therefore, a lot of his research is based on how people think and what makes them do things the way they do. Here is what I got out of the book.
Chapter 6 – Adaptation
We tend to procrastinate things that we don’t enjoy doing. However, it has been found that it is best to group everything that we don’t enjoy doing together and get it done all at once (such as doing chores, laundry, cleaning, etc) because when there’s an interruption to something that we don’t like, it just makes it worse than if we did just did it all at once since we have adapted to it ~~ especially considering that humans adapt quickly.
Likewise, it is much better to break up pleasurable activities because each time we start something we enjoy, we get a jolt of joy. That means if you enjoy buying clothes, then it is better to buy a piece one month, and wait until your joy has runout before purchasing another item rather than buying all of the clothes you think you need for a season, year, or whatever long timeframe. This also applies for the length of vacation. It is better to have short vacation trips, such as an overnight camping and boating, than to have a longer vacation. This longer vacation will cause a person to adapt to the pleasure and it will soon no longer be as exciting. On the other hand, a short vacation will be something that will stick in your mind much longer since you will not have enough time to adapt to something so new.
Humans have a difficult time knowing what will make them happy for a long time. Some people will think, this car (or laptop, house, etc) will make me happy for a long time. But eventually, people will adapt to the new product, and the excitement will fade. Soon, another item will need to be there to satisfy the human craving for pleasant things.