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You Don't Know What You Want
Happiness isn’t in achieving fantasies
What will bring us the satisfaction and satiation we crave is, rather, abandoning our fantasies and misconceptions of what will bring us happiness.
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SIMILAR ARTICLES & IDEAS:
5
Key Ideas
The paradox of curiosity
Curiosity doesn’t seem to be tied to any specific reward.
It makes sense for organisms to seek food, water, sex, shelter, rest, wealth, or any of the other myriad nour...
Curiosity and evolution
From an evolutionary perspective, there’s good reason to keep looking, to be curious. Information helps us make better choices and adapt to a changing environment.
Curiosity as a probability algorithm
Scientists who study the mechanics of curiosity are finding that it is, at its core, a kind of probability algorithm—our brain’s continuous calculation of which path or action is likely to gain us the most knowledge in the least amount of time. Like the links on a Wikipedia page, curiosity builds upon itself, every question leading to the next. And as with a journey down the Wikipedia wormhole, where you start dictates where you might end up.
Curiosity is less about what you don’t know than about what you already do.
4
Key Ideas
The savior complex
It is defined by the constant need to try and save people by solving their problems. You have this syndrome, if:
- you feel attracted by vulnerable individuals
- ...
The "savior
Trying to save the others might prove an extremely exhausting goal for the savior. Among the negative effects that this savior syndrome can have:
- having a burnout
- breaking the relationship with the person you are trying to save
- once you realize you cannot actual save anybody else but you, a feeling of frustration might emerge.
Fighting the savior syndrome
In order to overcome the savior complex:
- practice active listening rather than active helping
- talk to the person in need in order to find common ground rather than putting in place your own solution
- remember that you are in control only of your own life
- make sure your need to help the others doesn't come from an unsolved personal problem.
6
Key Ideas
Doing what you love is complicated
As kids, playing was described as fun while work was pretty much defined as not-fun. In school, it was implied that work was monotonous because it was in preparation for grownup work. Grownups a...
Bounds
Keep in mind this question: How much are you supposed to enjoy what you do? If you underestimate your answer, you'll tend to stop searching too early.
Liking your work does not mean doing what makes you happiest in this second, but what will make you most satisfied over a more extended period, like a week or a month. Your work should be your favorite thing to do. It should be something you admire.
What you should not do
- Don't worry about the opinion of anyone beyond your friends.
- Don't worry about prestige. Prestige is the opinion of the rest of the world. If you do anything well enough, you'll make it prestigious.
- Don't be led astray by money, especially when money is combined with prestige.
A test of whether you love what you do is if you would do it even if you weren't paid for it. (Even if you had to work at another job to make a living.)