A short reflective talk by Dr. Arthur Brooks defining satisfaction as “the joy you get from an accomplishment after struggle,” and framing the puzzle that satisfaction is essential for happiness yet fleeting. The speaker asks why satisfaction fades quickly and how to find and retain more lasting satisfaction through life.
Satisfaction is a funny thing because we talk about it a lot without properly defining it. Here's my definition. It's the joy that you get from an accomplishment after struggle. Remember, you can't be a properly happy individual or as happy as you can be without getting satisfaction about your accomplishments and achievements in life. And yet it's devilishly hard to do. It's hard to do and it's especially hard to keep. So how can you find more satisfaction? And how can you keep more satisfaction in your life so that you can be a happier person? I get these momentary bursts of satisfaction of the joy from accomplishing something, but then I'm back in the hunt. What's that all about? What is actually that phenomenon of trying and struggling for something and maybe sometimes getting it, and the fact that I don't actually get sweetness from it if I don't struggle. But then after I do finally get it, it doesn't last. How is that part of the human search for greater happiness?
