My wife is a big fan of American Idol. And I must admit that I myself like the first part of the season when all the people are trying out. And anything that inspires a post for Weakonomics can’t be half bad. Scratch that, it usually means it’s all bad.

Let me tell you about an observation we’ve all made but rarely discuss: We’re obsessed with the big win.

We want to see people go from nothing to something almost overnight. We’re fascinated with the stories of kids in rough neighborhoods growing up to become basketball stars, little country girls from the rural Southeast making it big on American Idol, and of course every story of a modest guy or girl that wins millions in the lottery.

Why do we care about these stories? Because we’re obsessed with the big win. We’re not really happy for any of these people going from little to a lot overnight. We’re happy because they seemed to do it with minimal effort. In the terms of lottery winners, that’s very much the case. With basketball players, it’s not, but they make it look easy. The same goes for American Idol.

We’re obsessed with the big win because it gives us hope that we can “make it” too. We’re lazy, and don’t want to do the work necessary to get rich and famous, so we watch the 0.0000001% of people that actually do make it with minimal effort and everyone thinks odds are in their favor now.

American Idol tryouts, as shown on TV are filled with talented singers, and people who think they are talented. Many of them walk into the show with the expectation that they’ll surely make it to the next round. I’m sure many of them are just acting out to get on TV, but even I have to believe some of these people are so stupid they actually believe they stand a chance.

The truth is that most people with more than a million dollars in their accounts have been busting their butts their entire lives. In fact, if you look at the richest people in the world, most of them have done nothing but work for their entire adult life. Many of them went to college, then entered the workforce, then climbed their way to the top of a company by being a good worker. They were never distracted by the big win, they remained focused.

The tragedy of the big win phenomenon is that it’s just as important to the economy as anything else. We need people that hold out their entire lives, working for low wages and hoping for that powerball win or that one of their kids becomes an NFL star; few actually pay off. We need people motivated by only going from rags to riches, and not pursuing something in the middle. Because we need people to work low wage jobs.

It’s that hope that keeps them from trying to do more with their lives, it’s that hope that keeps them on Jerry Springer instead of CNBC, and it’s the obsession with the big win that keeps people from reaching their full potential.

By The Weakonomist

The Weakonomist is the founder of Weakonomics. Clicking the picture of the puppy will tell you more about him. If you like what you're reading consider subscribing to the blog, following him on Twitter, and checking out the related posts below. Please consider a donation if you really enjoy Weakonomics.

categories: media, personal finance