Brad Stulberg

You should want to strive.

And we need to hold that at the same time as we hold what psychologists teach us about the arrival fallacy, which is real, which says that even if you get every single success that you want, if you think that by achieving that success, then you're gonna be content, then you're gonna be happy, then you're gonna have meaning in your life, you will be rudely assuaged to that assumption.

In reporting for the book, one of the more interesting stories of this comes from the basketball player Ray Allen.

And Ray Allen, one of the best shooters to ever play basketball, and he had done everything you could ask in your career.

Multiple all-star games, three-point shooting, championships, even starred in a Spike Lee movie, he got game.

The one thing he hadn't done was won a championship.

About a decade into his career, he finally won his first championship with the Boston Celtics.

And Ray Allen said that the morning after winning that championship was one of the most disorienting, confusing mornings in his life because he still didn't feel fulfilled.

He didn't feel content.

That is the arrival fallacy.

So we have to do this kind of Jedi mind trip where we can want to achieve and we can want to win and we can give our all to winning while at the same time...

like assuaging ourself of the expectation that winning is going to fulfill us in finding meaning and joy and satisfaction on the climb.

And that to me is what the pursuit of excellence is all about.

This is not one of those books, and this is not a case to say you should not strive.

You should not try to win.

You should strive.

You should try to win.

This just says that if you think winning is going to seal the deal and make your life, you are rudely mistaken.

Yeah, it's funny you mention climb.

I mean, I love mountains.