Canvas by Aima Choudhry

★ The Key to Finding Happiness is Wanting to Achieve Less

amc948 — 2025-07-22 14:33:25 UTC

"Yet time and time again, I have fallen into the trap of believing that success and its accompaniments would fulfill me" (4).

People are often stuck in a cycle of wanting to be more and more successful

amc948 — 2025-07-22 14:34:14 UTC

Even the most accomplished people are never satisfied because they always want more

amc948 — 2025-07-22 14:34:41 UTC

"Even the most successful people suffer from the dissatisfaction problem. I remember once seeing Lebron James—the world's greatest basketball player—with a look of abject despair on his face after his Cleveland Cavaliers lost the NBA championship to the Golden State Warriors. All of the world's wealth and accolades were like straw in that moment of loss" (3-4).

Satisfaction only lasts for a brief moment

amc948 — 2025-07-22 14:41:43 UTC

People focus on wanting validation from others instead of what makes them happy

amc948 — 2025-07-22 14:43:01 UTC

Our goals, dreams, or aspirations may not be realistic or achievable

amc948 — 2025-07-22 14:46:48 UTC

When creating bucket lists or imagining our future, our goals and dreams may not be realistic or achievable. As Brook writes, "dreams are liars" (5). In my opinion, to want less is to have lower expectations of yourself and what you can achieve. That way, you won't feel disappointed, upset, or unsatisfied when the goals are not accomplished or are not completed in the way you expected or wanted. When you set lower expectations that are more realistic, you can feel better about yourself when those goals are accomplished. This is similar to Brooks' idea of having a reverse bucket list. People can also challenge themselves and set large goals, but they should not feel pressurized to complete everything, and especially not compare themselves to others who may have reached the goal quicker than they did.

Homeostasis, equilibrium, and the hedonic treadmill keep us wanting to experience a positive feeling again and again

amc948 — 2025-07-22 14:58:17 UTC

"When you get an emotional shock—good or bad—your brain wants to re-equilibrate, making it hard to stay on the high or low for very long...It's why, when you achieve conventional, acquisitive success, you can never get enough" (8).

Personal satisfaction is more memorable than material achievements

amc948 — 2025-07-22 15:03:25 UTC

"If you base your sense of self-worth on success—money, power, prestige—you will run from victory to victory, initially to keep feeling good, and then to avoid feeling awful" (8).

Material success never keeps people satisfied as they always want more and more to keep feeling good. This connects to the idea of the hedonic treadmill:

"So you try and try, but make no lasting progress toward your goal. You find yourself running simply to avoid being thrown off the back of the treadmill" (8).

On the other hand, personal satisfaction, often found in smaller things rather than wealth or material desires, is much more memorable and leaves a longer lasting feeling of happiness. Brooks discusses this when talking about his experience watching a flower boom:

"We gasped in amazement. It was an unexpected gift, a tiny miracle...that satisfaction endured. That memory still brings me joy—more so than many of my life's earthly 'accomplishments'—not because it was the culmination of a large goal, but because it was an unexpected gift, a tiny miracle" (19).

"Go from Prince to Sage"

amc948 — 2025-07-22 15:04:33 UTC

"I have now reigned above 50 years in victory and peace; beloved by my subjects, dreaded by my allies. Riches and honors, power and pleasure, have waited on my call...I have diligently numbered the days of pure and genuine happiness which have fallen to my lot. They amount to 14" (4).