Human beings seem to be wanting creatures…. wanting pleasure in some form, wanting stuff, wanting outcomes at work, wanting other people to behave in a certain way.
What we need to discover is that the struggle to fulfill my sense of wanting is endless.
In addition, every gain also involves a loss…. loss of time, a loss through responsibility assumed, a loss of some other alternative abandoned.
So we have endless wanting…leading to getting….bringing the loss of something….. leading to more wanting…. ie a zero-sum cycle.
Managing the wanting is pretty simple – it involves the analysis of:
- what you will actually get,
- what loss that involves, and
- if it will bring lasting satisfaction.
Perhaps better to negate the wanting and stop the cycle before it starts?