Stephanie Harrison

You need to get this promotion.

You need to become famous.

You need to do A, B, and C, and then you will be happy.

The problem lies with staking our happiness on them.

And so the easy way to pick up on those is if you're saying to yourself, I'll be happy when, that's usually a sign that it's an extrinsic goal.

And then the things that we do in order to do that tend to backfire and make us miserable.

And so if you're finding yourself, again, the hamster wheel is kind of a good analogy here because if you're always chasing something

Intrinsic goals, on the other hand, they come from within you.

They're probably a little quieter.

They're much more authentic.

and you're waiting for the next thing to sort of hit in order to feel good about yourself, that's a sign that you might want to refocus more on an intrinsic goal.

They're aligned with your true nature.

And they tend to be things like, I want to make a difference in the world.

I want to help people.

I want to support my community.

I want to be there for my family.

And it's going to be a little bit of a slower burn of happiness, but it's also going to last for much longer.

I want to invest in my relationships.

I want to grow as a person.

And these intrinsic goals are significantly more likely to make you a happy person and to make a difference in the lives of those around you.