Hedonic Adaptation

Too often, we are so preoccupied with the destination, we forget the journey.

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We will start this episode by talking about Hedonic Adaptation. Hedonic adaptation refers to the notion that after positive (or negative) events (i.e., something good or bad happening to someone), and a subsequent increase in positive (or negative) feelings, people return to a relatively stable, baseline level of affect (Diener, Lucas, & Scollon, 2006).

No matter how miserable you are feeling at the moment, if you look back, there have surely been events in your life that have made you happy. Maybe the time you bought your first car or the time you received that long-desired promotion. When good things happen, we feel positive emotions—like excitement, relief, pride, and of course, happiness. These feelings are essential for our well-being. But the problem is, happiness doesn’t usually last.The excitement slowly wears off. This is because the change begins to simply be seen as the “new normal.”  And as a result, our aspiration level shifts. Nobel-prize winning psychologist Daniel Kahneman has referred to this process as a kind of “satisfaction treadmill.” Because we continuously shift our standards upward once we’ve reached them, we’ve got to keep running in order to feel satisfied again.

Therefore, when considering what our dream life would be like, we must be aware of the fact that even when we are really successful, we may  quickly adapt to what we have acquired and we will simply be wanting more.

Now the problem statement; what therefore achieving genuine success means? Many people define success  in terms of money or possessions. However, an increasing amount of research makes it clear that most people don’t understand the difference between what they think will make them happy and what will actually make them happy.

Most people can be classified into one of the below mentioned categories;

1.      People who are miserable now and aren’t working towards anything positive in the future.

2.      People who are miserable now but it will be worth it, because they are working hard towards success in the future.

3.      People who live for the moment and don’t mind that they aren’t building a firm foundation for a positive future.

4.      People who both enjoy their lives now and, through what they are doing, are building an exciting future.

A young lady called Hannah reminisces her story that her father  lived by the principle of ‘Keep working, it’s worth it because you will build up a good pension and then you will be able to enjoy your retirement.’? Then, one day, as her father was working hard and just six weeks away from his well earned retirement, he died suddenly and without warning. Hannah asked herself, ‘Should I just live for the moment? Maybe I should just forget about my career or saving for the future and go to travel the world and experience things and – to hell with being sensible!’.  If you are thinking this a little piece of warning, “The principle of  hedonic adaptation is sure to kick in and something that was pleasurable will quickly lose its appeal. By living for the moment, are you limiting your potential for good results in the future?

Psychologist Tal Ben-Shahar explains that success is not a moment in time when you ‘arrive and are happy’. True success is about enjoying the journey towards a destination that you deem to be valuable. Therefore we advocate having your cake and eating it. Goals can be a great way to find more success and fulfilment in your life. But what is absolutely critical is that you pick goals where you get genuine pleasure from working towards them, as well as from achieving them.

Lessons from  PSYCHOLOGY OF SUCCESS  (ALISON PRICE/ DAVID PRICE)

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