The Hedonic Treadmill

I started The Quest to share the stories and lessons that I wish I had heard 15 years ago. Building and selling Twitch was an inflection point for me in the past decade. I worked my ass off, made money, took vacations and felt like I was on top of the world. I blew past the goals I had set for myself in the beginning. 

But what was fascinating was that while I felt more accomplished, I wasn’t any happier. I was just holding on to more things. The desire to go bigger and make more nagged constantly at me. After a year and a half at Y Combinator, I left and set out to build another company in the most mercenary way I can think of, then lost millions when it fell apart. 

On this episode, I reflect on the trap of the hedonic treadmill. It led me down a dangerous path chasing material possessions and peer approval - things I thought would fulfil me, but only made me feel perpetually dissatisfied. 

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