Marc Andreessen explains why he prioritizes satisfaction over happiness

I don't believe in balance, so I'm the wrong person to ask. I think people are wired differently, so I think it's hard to generalize this kind of thing. But I am much happier and more satisfied when I'm fully committed to something. So I'm very much in favor of imbalance. Yeah, I don't think happiness is the thing to strive for. I think satisfaction is the thing.

What's the distinction between happiness and satisfaction?

I think satisfaction is a deeper thing, which is like having found a purpose and fulfilling it, being useful, that I'm fully delivering on the gifts that I've been given, that I'm making the world better, that I'm contributing to the people around me. And that I can look back and say, wow, that was hard, but it was worth it. I think generally seems to lead people in a better state than pursuit of pleasure. Pursuit of happiness. I think the founding fathers in the US Threw this off kilter when they used the phrase pursuit of happiness. They said, pursuit of satisfaction. We might live in a better world today, but money empowers that. I don't think I'm even a great example, but I think Elon would be the great example of this, which is, look, he's the guy who, from the day he started making money at all, he just plows into the next thing. I think money is definitely an enabler for satisfaction. Let's put this way. Money applied to happiness leads people down very dark paths, very destructive avenues. Money applied to satisfaction, I think is a real tool.