The Arrival Fallacy

Quote of the Week: "The only way to find happiness is to understand that happiness is not out there. It's in here. And happiness is not next week. It's now." - Marshall Goldsmith Content of the Week: Have you ever heard someone say (or maybe you've said), once I get this, I'll be happy!

"Once I get into this school, everything will work out." "Once I get this job, I'll have made it" "Once I get promoted, I won't have to do this anymore and I'll be happy"

This mindset of "once I achieve X, then I'll be happy…" is called the Arrival Fallacy. The Arrival Fallacy is a cognitive bias that leads people to believe their happiness will significantly improve once they achieve a specific goal. Unfortunately, research and personal experience consistently show that the euphoric feeling associated with achieving goals is short-lived, and we quickly adapt to the new circumstance and reset to our baseline happiness. Why do we care? We care because this fallacy leads many of us to postpone happiness and well-being. We are constantly chasing that "I'll be happy when…" and we stop appreciating the present moment. By understanding this fallacy we can begin to shift our focus from external achievements to internal sources of contentment, such as gratitude, mindfulness and personal growth. Happiness is a journey, not a destination. Big Questions of the Week: How many times have you assumed that your lasting happiness was on the other side of a big goal or milestone? How many times were you proven wrong? Challenge of the Week: Conduct an accomplishment review. Go back through those major accomplishments which were supposed to change everything and write down how they make you feel now.

Photo of the Week: My step brothers Fabian and Cyril are training for a 100 miler! Last weekend I joined them for a trail run (they already had 14 miles under their belt when I met up with them… crazy people). The views were amazing, but the company was even better. Till next week, be kind, be curious and work hard. Tanner