Instead of fat savings accounts of Oscars, Pulitzers, and Nobels, Brooks thinks what we really need is a “happiness 401(k),” a plan for finding and cultivating ongoing, sustainable happiness, the kind that comes from understanding what truly brings enduring meaning to your life, not just the temporary states of being satisfied, full, proud, pleasured, or admired.
There’s nothing wrong with setting goals or having ambition as long as you understand that you won’t find enduring happiness in reaching those goals. So many of us make the mistake of thinking that when we just do X, then we will be happy. When I finally buy a house, I’ll be content. When I finally get tenure, I can relax. When I finally make a million dollars, life will be good.
There’s a name for this tendency humans have to run from one pleasure or goal to the next: the hedonic treadmill. The problem with the hedonic treadmill is its fundamental principle: that you always return to your baseline happiness. You could become the top-paid influencer in the world, and that would feel really good for a while, but then you would go right back to being as happy or unhappy as you were before. Except now, you’ve gotten a little dopamine hit and you can’t wait to jump right back on the treadmill and find another high.
This happens with money, fame, success, admiration—all the idols. They give us a bump of happiness, but it never lasts. And we always want more. Nothing will kill your joy faster than chronic dissatisfaction.
