There’s nothing wrong with sweating and straining a little the problem is thinking that you’re going somewhere.
We’re all on treadmills, of course, and that’s okay. Other people are running faster just to stay in place, but we are wisely chasing after one more promotion, publication, or piece of praise, and once we catch it, we will feel perfect, unending bliss. All of us––myself included!––work very hard every day to acquire additional prestige and currency and convenience and comfort, assuming that we'll feel better once we get it. The hypothesis has undergone some fine-tuning over the years––escaping poverty really does make people happier, for example––but the basic premise remains intact.Įverybody, even people who know about the hedonic treadmill, acts as if they aren’t on it. It’s called the hedonic treadmill : chase after happiness and the treadmill speeds up just enough to keep you right where you are. Psychologists have known for fifty years that people tend to adjust to the good things that happen to them, ending up about as happy as they ever were. Everybody secretly believes they can be the exception to this rule. Once you are moderately happy, it’s very hard to get any happier.Ģ.
