Everybody is talking about setting goals and happiness. Which is cool and all, but I'm going to give you another alternative.

I am all for goals, let's get that out of the way. However, with my experience last year running my side business as a videographer and my personal life; a few feelings that I was experiencing got magnified exponentially. Suddenly something that was on my subconscious got to the forefront of my life and really had a huge impact on me.

You see there were some major personal goals in my life that I really wanted. I am talking wanting them obsessively. I thought that when I got them my life would dramatically change and for the most part, they did. But after 3 months my dopamine levels which got high when I achieved my goals got back to normal. That meant the I was back to me and my thoughts, both positive and negative.
I noticed that the first time and then 3 more times after that. I set after a goal, I got what I wanted. I got high on my dopamine rush and they went back to normal.

Deep down I thought that it was just that I still needed to accomplish my a goal which was to have a business with clients and getting paid to do what I love which is shooting videos. I achieved that goal last year. I officially started my business, got clients, got paid and things were moving. So I am happy to report that after months of officially launching my business trust visuals I can say I'm shooting videos and I am getting paid. Recently I started to turn down clients.

That first time that I got the first check I was over the moon, but after 12 months of getting checks, guess what. I am back to normal. Sure I can grow my business and get more clients, but that is a matter of scaling and of course, I am going to do that. I am the type that practices meditation and I am hyper self-aware. I know what's coming

I discovered my feelings had a name. This is called the hedonistic treadmill or hedonic adaptation. As with everything in life you need to get hit with brick a few times before it really gets ingrained on your mind. So even if I heard it before I needed to experience it a few more times before I got hyper-conscious about it. Below is the definition according to Wikipedia.

The hedonic treadmill, also known as hedonic adaptation, is the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes.

I personally don't want to be on the treadmill. I began research on the topic and discovered an alternative. It's called Eudomonia. Which is doing things just for the sake of doing things without any expectations of an outcome. For my personality that makes more sense. Because here is the kicker.
When I achieved my previous goals they happened. I achieved them, but not exactly as planned. Something happened along the way where either I discovered an alternative path to get what I wanted, or there was a combination of luck involved, I was at the right place at the right time or things took longer than expected. Which by the way that is my new mantra also. “Things take longer than expected” I stole it from Gary Vaynerchuck because it's true.

I see it now in my own business and I see it with some clients. It's growing for sure, but of course, it will take a long time before I achieve a certain point that I want to achieve that

A) It may or it may not happen and
B) Even if It does happen I already know what will happen next. I will get my dopamine for 3 months and then I am back where I started.

Not to mention that many times you get what you want only to realize it was either not all that or downright disappointing because what you had or your mind was far from reality. Hence the popularity of some memes.

Again these are things that I already knew. Heck, I even made a short film about it a few years ago. It's just that every year it gets clearer and clearer and I this time I am going to take specific actions.

From now on I will continue to grow but I am going to make sure that what I am doing on a daily basis is bringing me joy rather than waiting for a goal to materialize. I will ask my self what can I do today that will make me a better person than yesterday.

My long term ultimate goal is to be able to finance my short films which can get crazy expensive, but I cannot wait until then to have a life of deep fulfillment. Which is the question you need to ask yourself. Forget asking yourself if you're happy. The word happiness has been bastardized in our Instagram culture. Our brains are not designed to feel happy all the time anyway. Otherwise, our ancestors wouldn't hunt or wouldn't feel the need to take action and move from place to place. We would have been extinct thousands of years ago. Instead, ask yourself if you are feeling fulfillment with what you are doing at the moment. If not pick a goal for sure, but instead of waiting for the goal to happen, see what you can do today that bring you closer to your goal and already gives you a deep sense of fulfillment.

Even If I never reach my goal of financing my own short films with a big crew of filmmakers I am already friends with a lot of successful filmmakers and my freelance business already gives me a deep sense of fulfillment because I am working with cameras and editing. It's something I can do today instead of waiting for years for something it may or may not happen and even if it did. my “happiness levels will go back to normal”.