Struggling with your achievement addiction? Perhaps it’s time to change your goal.

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Most overachieving professionals (yes, I’m talking about you) use this equation to guide just about every decision they make:

Tons of Effort = Lots of Achievement = Happiness/Satisfaction

One of the problems with this (and there are many) is that feeling happy and feeling satisfied are two very different things.

“You’re satisfied if you achieve. You’re happy if you pursue a goal worth aiming for. Progress over attainment – the pinnacle isn’t the goal.” — Jordan B. Peterson

That is, in essence, hopeful news. If you “pursue a goal worth aiming for” (in Peterson’s definition, that goal is the highest possible good), then the joy is in the journey.

Arrival never even makes it into the equation.

Turn your attention to the highest possible good you can pursue at this moment.

Let everything else go.

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—CJ McClanahan

Speaker | Advisor | Recovering Overachiever

CJ McClanahan