Forget Bucket Lists. The Formula for Satisfaction Is Actually the Opposite, Says Harvard Professor

 We should all dump our obsession with bucket lists. Reverse bucket lists are where it's at.

Bucket lists are filled with wants and dreams. When we get what we want or achieve our dreams, it's a nice feeling, at least for a while. Then we need something else.

It all comes back to the "satisfaction formula": satisfaction = getting what you want.

 But you never really stop wanting things, and so, well, are you ever really satisfied?

The real formula for satisfaction:

Satisfaction = what you have/what you want.

While we can, to some extent, increase our haves, our real control lies in our wants. If we whittle down the wants, our satisfaction increases. In others words, if we create reverse bucket lists -- lists of wants to do away with -- we'll find ourselves closer to satisfaction in the present.