Exchanging what you want most for what you want at the moment
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My son swears he heard a quote that said something like, “The chief cause of misery is exchanging what you want most for what you want at the moment”. I can’t find the source of the quote, but it sounds pretty accurate to me.
How many times do we do things like that every day? Maybe we want to live a healthy life, but we go grab a Rice Krispie treat from the vending machine because we’re craving it. Maybe we want to pay off our credit cards, but go out and buy a new wallet because we deserve it. Maybe we really want to travel the world with our family, but can’t because we spend our money eating out too much because we’re always too tired to cook.
Sure, we could all enjoy a little bit of instant gratification now and then, but making a habit of it will in fact cause us to miss out on the things we want most in life. Asking, “is this what I really want, or is it just what I want right now?” can help you to stay focused on your most-meaningful goals.
April 18th, 2008 at 10:41 am
More of the same but, how about something like… ‘The chief cause of misery is getting what you want and then realizing after you get it that it never makes you truly happy.’
I guess what I’ve learned as I sacrifice and try to practice discipline to reach my personal goals is that 1) the excitement comes mainly from the pursuit and journey itself and 2) once I achieve my long term goals it seems to reset itself to something higher and seemingly unattainable.
I agree 100% though, sometimes we (all too easily) forgo our long term goals to satisfy our short-term needs.
April 18th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Great post, something to think about as we head into the weekend.
April 18th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
True facts , sometimes after the hard work should get something we deserve the most ,
Money that we had is secondly , be happy of what you are doing is far more importance in life .
Enjoy weekend ahead ,
Tracy Ho
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