Q: Why aren’t people happy when they get what they want?
A: Because they’re borrowing other people’s definitions.
Many people want love, success, wealth, freedom, and health. And it would seem, to achieve any one of those things would make someone happy, to achieve all of them would be incredible.
But what does “love” mean to you?
How do you define “success”?
How much is “wealthy”?
“Freedom” from what?
Where is the finish line for “healthy”?
We do well to say we want things, but we don’t push further to define what that means to us. We would do well to spend some time defining our wants, and forgetting how other people define the things we think will make us happy.
Actionable Question: If I got what I wanted, would I know it?
-Andrew Nemeth
If you want to read another short blurb about this topic, check out this note from James Clear (who inspired today’s Answer): https://jamesclear.com/3-2-1/september-16-2021