Many wealthy people keep on working to increase their wealth far beyond what they could possibly spend. They often do it because they get a sense of self-worth from it. However, focusing on acquisition leads to attachment and vanity, which derails the search for happiness.

Instead of acq...

Acceptance of the natural cadence of our abilities allows the shifting of attention to higher spiritual and life priorities.

• Jump: Let go when you have reached your peak accomplishment, perhaps before you are completely ready. You don't necessarily have to qui...

Current achievements provide happiness, but the memory of past accomplishments do not appear to produce long-lasting happiness.

The waning of ability in people of high accomplishment is particularly difficult psychologically. Retired athletes struggle profoundly after ...

It is the idea that if you reach professional heights and are deeply invested in being high up, you can suffer greatly when you inevitably decline.

In many professions, we may reject the inevitability of decline before a very old age. But the data are clear that for most ...

• Fluid intelligence is the ability to reason, analyze, and solve unique problems. It is highest in early adulthood and diminishes in one's 30s and 40s.
• Crystallized intelligence is the ability to use knowledge gained in the past. It relies on ...

Some people have managed their declines well.

When the musical career of Johann Sebastian Bach declined, instead of becoming depressed or discouraged, he chose to redesign his life, moving from composer to instructor. In his later ye...