The Arrival Fallacy is a self-deluding fantasy that we will be happy when… we get that promotion, buy that house, move to a new place… whatever. However, before long, the dream job becomes just another job, the new house becomes a house, and the big move? Well, everywhere you go, you bring yourself.
The arrival fallacy persists because it contains a gem of truth: these things DO create happiness or at least a burst of satisfaction… but never the enduring transformation we project. If you do not enjoy the journey, you are unlikely to find contentment in the arrival. Happiness is found far more often in the direction than in the destination. Learn to love the process, for beyond every finish line lies yet another distant goal post and beyond every summit lies another mountaintop in the distance.
Closing Quotes:
“The moment of victory is much too short to live for that and nothing else.” – Martina Navratilova, b. 1956, 18 singles tennis majors
“The arrival we so desperately seek is often the very thing that prevents us from being present to the life we already have.” – David Whyte, poet, b. 1955
“The main thing is to love the craft. The destination is just a pretext for the journey. It is the work itself that sustains us, not the applause that follows it.” – Jean-Luc Godard, 1930-2022
“If you only run for the medal, you will find that the gold wears off the moment you touch it. You must run because you love the sweat.” – Emil Zátopek, 1922-2000, 3x Olympic Gold
“Victory has a very short half-life. By the time you wake up the next morning, it’s just history, and the scoreboard resets to zero.” – Bill Walsh, 1931-2007, 3× Super Bowl champion (XVI, XIX, XXIII)
“I have climbed many peaks, but the view from the top is always the same: a brief glance backward, a deep breath, and then your eyes immediately look for the next mountain.” – Walter Bonatti, Italian Alpinist, 1930-2011
As always, I share what I most want and need to learn. – Nathan S. Collier
Note: Every effort has been made to properly source any 3rd person material. I am, however, a voracious reader. If anyone finds any unattributed material, pls let me know asap and I will be delighted to give credit where credit is due.
“All intelligent thoughts have already been thought; what is necessary is only to try to think them again.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832
