"I was surprised -- and not, at the same time -- that mindfulness didn't really impact on it," said Dr. Philip Muskin, a professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York City. "Because being mindful in your approach to things doesn't pay the bills, and paying the bills for many people is very scary."
These study results align with what's already known about "people having basic psychological needs to feel in control, to feel autonomous and to be able to sort of predict their environments," said Mindy Shoss, an associate professor of industrial/organizational psychology at the University of Central Florida.
"It matters how dependent we are on volatile sources of pay," Sayre said. "So basically, if you're working a sales job and 80% to 90% of your pay comes from a steady salary, and you get a small commission or performance based bonus that makes up the other 10% to 20%, that's not so bad. You can handle volatility when it makes up a relatively small proportion of your pay.