Success Often Breeds Discontent

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Reaching goals, while seemingly rewarding, often leads to a paradox of dissatisfaction known as 'gold medal syndrome.' This phenomenon highlights that individuals, including athletes, may find themselves unhappy despite achieving their greatest aspirations. The craving for acknowledgment and success can create an unending cycle of striving, as the feeling of accomplishment rarely satisfies long-term desires. The hedonic treadmill explains that people quickly revert to their baseline happiness level after achieving success, rendering milestones fleeting and oftentimes inadequate. Thus, the relentless pursuit of success may impede one's ability to truly enjoy and recognize their achievements.

This episode might be the wakeup call we all need that our traditional notions of success aren't working. We have been conditioned to see success as individualistic, full of sacrifice, centred around discipline, productivity and all about image and looking impressive. Actually, success is a lot more nuanced. Some of the most successful people in the world as the least happy because success does not allow us to prioritise what really matters to us and drives us. In this episode we break down: