the reason why all our lives most humans continue to chase success and happiness and never really decisively attain it is because we never take the time to disconnect and workshop success/happiness… defining what constitutes happiness/success for you is what is most important… because attaining a goal you have clearly defined is a very simple task… but first clearly defining the ask is key…
As a result you keep chasing after definitions that the world around you has set… and the world around you keeps changing as you keep arriving at every new stage of life… the next big car (for the life of me how big does a car need to be to make up for a small sized wiener)… the next huge house, the next big amount in the bank, the next huge university your kid goes to… it’s all set up by the others and you are chasing those goals… end result you just keep chasing never really arriving… and then you die trying…
So take some time off, sit down with your significant other, do a proper analysis of what you want from life… it could be 100Cr in the bank, 10 acres of highly productive farmland, hugely successful IT consultancy that pays you USD 100K a month(post taxes and expenses), living in a beautiful house by the sea, kids gone and perfectly well settled with zero problems, earth shattering sex 14 times a week, stamina/strength/health to go run 10K every other morning, a housekeeper who makes Jeeves look like a mediocre house help, traveling for pleasure without a care about the ticket prices… decide what it is, what it would take to attain that goal and then devise the plan about how you’re going to make it happen (good health will make everything possible so focus on that first)… after that in a few years time when you are there stop running… do other things (things you have already workshopped earlier in life)… be satisfied because you are not running someone else’s race, you are living your own life… be intentional and be aware of where you are in your journey… A Journey that you designed for yourself. To stop is not to die, to stop is to be done with the journey and giving yourself pause to smell the roses and admire your lifetime of craftsmanship…