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Achievement brings the greatest satisfaction
Monday, 9 January 2006
"I can't get no satisfaction," sang Mick Jagger; thus summarizing the spirit of the modern age in rich countries. Today, we have amusements available to us that would amaze royalty of the past.
Thousands of movies, plasma TVs, fast cars, video-games, every type of restaurant, warehouses of books, and endless holiday options. Yet most people just don't feel any satisfaction.
Why?
Each of the things I listed can bring some temporary relief. A good film can fill an evening with joy. A well-cooked meal can make us feel content for a short time. But they do little to gratify the need deep inside us to achieve.
Every one of us on this planet feels dissatisfied with the way things are. The world isn't even close to how we'd like it to be. Within us all lies a desperate desire to live the perfect life, in a perfect world. And considering where humanity started from, we've made great strides towards it.
In the last hundred years we've added decades to our life spans. We've learnt to fly and put a man on the moon. We've found ways of solving huge problems that confronted us, and built lives that our humble ancestors couldn't have dreamed of.
But the world still isn't perfect. And until it is, we won't be happy.
So contribute to humanity's great struggle towards perfection, by aiming to perfect your own place in the world. Achievement brings the greatest satisfaction, because it is a step towards what we really want.
When you educate yourself, you will feel a deep gratification, because you are preparing to contribute towards our joint struggle. When you play well on the sporting field, you inspire others.
If you find a way of doing something better than it is being done currently, you improve the world. You free up time and resources to continue with the journey.
When you have a child, you bring a new source of happiness and achievement into the world. If you build a great business, you provide a livelihood for your employees, and valuable services for your customers.
The problem is too large for any one of us to solve on our own. It is a joint struggle that we must contribute to together. Even the input of the humble working person, earning a wage to make the world that little better for others, makes a difference.
Go out and achieve something, that is where real satisfaction lies.
Of course, some in our society want to ignore this deep truth. They think that by dropping out they will find satisfaction. But they always find themselves feeling empty and lost. There is little satisfaction to be mined from cheap thrills and laziness.
Others think there are short-cuts to the perfect world. If only they can kill their enemies and impose their rule, all will be well.
They are wrong. The true path to the perfect world lies in achieving what is of greatest help to the many. What lets us find our own way to happiness. Everything else, is illusion.
If you are looking for satisfaction in your life, this kind of achievement is where it is to be found.
 | Look for the underlying pattern | | We humans are pattern-spotting machines. The world can often seem complex and random, but if you look under the covers, you can sometimes find an underlying pattern for its behaviour. In fact, it's the discovery of such patterns that have driven our development forward in many areas. |  | Don't get too easily discouraged | | Occasionally, you may come across someone who appears as if they were born an expert in something. Perhaps it's sport, meeting people, business or family. Some of us just seem to be stars, while others are common. | | Test yourself out on the real world | | Each of us lives in two different places. The real world in which our bodies are firmly anchored, and a shadow-world of fantasies, rules-of-thumb and strategies that flows in the space between our ears. | | Fill your life up with interesting stuff | | We all feel a bit down sometimes. "To be or not to be, that is the question;" Shakespeare's Hamlet famously said. "Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer, The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, And by opposing, end them." |  | My eight best negotiation tips | | Negotiation is a part of life we all have to deal with. Being able to do so successfully can make a big difference to our outcomes. Here are eight tips that have helped me. | | Is there something you want? Why not ask for it? | | One of the big differences that I've noticed between those who get what they want and those who don't comes down to one simple behavior - whether they're willing to ask for it. |  | Understanding the games people play | | A very interesting book, for anyone who's interested in the psychology of human relationships, is Games People Play by Eric Berne. Dr Berne is a psychiatrist who developed the theory of transactional analysis, which looks at the ways people interact with one another. Specifically, he's interested in the psychological games people play. | | Generally, it's best just to tell people what they want to hear | | Some people live to tell others what they're doing wrong. They see themselves as some sort of ivory-tower dwelling soul, gazing mercifully down on the rest of us and having the generosity to point out our faults when they see it as necessary. I'm sure you meet such people all the time. | | Be adaptable in a changing world | | When I look and listen to the people around me, I get the impression that many of them are terribly afraid of change. You can see it in the way they cling desperately to a job they hate, keep friends who are obviously bad for them, and stay in abusive relationships. | | It's not going to just fall into your lap | | I meet a lot of people who are dissatisfied with their lives. They feel they don't have enough money, enough love or enough recognition. They see others around them getting all the rewards while they're passed by for the good things in life. |
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