Think about a time where you crossed off a major goal. How did you feel when you reached that milestone, and how long did that feeling last? For many of us, the moment is fleeting. We give ourselves a day or two to embrace the satisfaction of a job well done, before getting right back to it and committing to achieving an even loftier goal. But this isn’t sustainable. In fact, biologically, it’s not meant to be.
The problem with the achievement high, is it fades just as quickly as it appears. We are taught about the importance of being goal-oriented, and that’s not necessarily wrong. Do we stop ourselves to ask why or what are we chasing? We dream bigger, do more, and reach higher because sometimes we are chasing a feeling that was never intended to last. The human body doesn’t allow it.
It’s called homeostasis and it was introduced in 1926 by physiologist Walter B. Cannon. According to Cannon’s research, our bodies have built in regulatory systems that manage everything from our temperature to our temperament. It keeps us balanced and in our neutral state. While our baseline may be altered by our circumstances, upbringing and family history, generally speaking, our “ground zero” is neutral, and it’s the state we return to after experiencing emotional arousal.
In short, this means that your brain is hardwired to regulate your emotion and return to it’s baseline, a feeling that some of us are trying to avoid. Think about how long excitement, or anger, or embarrassment generally lasts in your body – these feelings are gone as quickly as they come. According to Joshua Freedman of Six Seconds, each time we process an emotion, within six seconds it impacts every living cell in our body. It is understood that every time you experience an emotion, whether you label it as positive or negative, your brain responds by returning back to your baseline. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as the hedonic treadmill, and it’s the reason your achievements and acquisitions are unable to bring permanent happiness into your life – which is sometimes what we think they will do.
So how do you get off this proverbial treadmill? According to Harvard Professor Arthur C. Brooks, creating a reverse bucket list can be helpful. Rather than focusing on what we’d like to add into our lives, he suggests that long lasting happiness can actually be found through subtracting. By creating a reverse bucket list, you’re able to spend more time feeling content and grateful by subtracting the energy, tasks, people and things that drain you.
The goal isn’t to live a life without goals. Goals are powerful and wonderful markers of growth. But when we make them our defining purpose, we forget that there’s an entire life that’s meant to be lived, outside of just achieving specific goals and especially when the goalpost tends to move each time we achieve something. Take the time to ask yourself where your goals are leading you, and if the resolutions you set every new year or every quarter, will truly allow you to get to where you want to go and who you want to be.