As an example from my own life, Job hunting has often been the other way round - when I have had no job, I would take anything - shelf stacking at a supermarket comes to mind. But I remember going through a period of fast turn around when I worked full time but spent most lunchtimes calling and emailing for my next job and literally tripled my salary in 12 months.

So sometimes having the backup plan let's you make better choices.

It's very easy to imagine the opposite being true and Cortez' troops falling into despair as their leader supposedly turned insane and ordered them to destroy their most valuable assets. Goes for your example too: Maybe not all people are extremely motivated by severe setbacks in life.

Not all, sure. But enough to make it real. Evolution has reinforced the trait over millennia. We wouldn't be here otherwise.

There are plenty of counterexamples of this. Like every parolee who reoffends