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The Success Trap: Why You’re Never Satisfied and How to Enjoy Life More
The desire for success knows no limits
How much of your life is occupied with thinking/worrying about money, wealth, productivity and success?
When success hijacks your attention and very existence, you become a taskmaster to yourself.
For many people, success is an outcome, a goal that means they’ve arrived.
When you fixate on an outcome in life, you lose life or the meaningful experiences that make life worth living.
Success is not an end in itself. The insatiable drive to make success a goal can consume your present time/life.
“When people see themselves as little more than their attractive bodies, jobs, or bank accounts, it brings great suffering…You become a heartless taskmaster to yourself, seeing yourself as nothing more than Homo economicus,” argues Arthur C. Brooks, the host of the How to Build a Happy Life podcast.
“Don’t become a taskmaster to yourself” means avoiding being too hard on yourself and setting unrealistic expectations or goals that can lead to burnout, stress, or other negative outcomes.
When you become a taskmaster to yourself, you become overly critical, demanding, or perfectionist, expecting…
