Photo by David Gavi on Unsplash

I Achieved My Biggest Goal — So Why Didn’t It Make Me Happier?

The myth of “I’ll be happy when…” keeps you from your happiness


I had my Master’s defense this week and thought I would be more relieved afterward, but I’m not.

I’m happy to celebrate with my loved ones, but the anticipation and the path to getting there made me happier than actually achieving the goal.

My life continues the same: morning routine, work, and writing online.

The degree doesn’t change my everyday life at the moment.

I’ll get a raise at work, and that’s it.

I have more time to focus on something else now, while before, it was always at the back of my head as something that was not finished.


The achievement itself is just one moment.

Life is the path to success. If those years don’t make you happy, you need to find something else, or you’ll be disappointed when you achieve it.

So if achieving a goal doesn’t make you happy, why do we have them?

I use them for the good anticipation feeling and to have something to strive for. And it helps to be motivated daily.

Everything I’m doing currently is for my visualized future with my happy family, being wealthy, and helping people.

But the path there is hard; it also needs to be pleasurable. If the path makes you miserable, then it’s not a life you want to live.


“When I achieve …. I will be happy”

Did you ever think that too?

And then you’re stuck in everyday life unhappy because you haven’t achieved it yet.

I can tell you from experience: achieving a goal like a Master’s degree isn’t gonna make you happy from one moment to the next.

It will have the reverse effect: you won’t be happy on the way there because all you think about is “When I get there, I’ll be happy.” And the way there is life, so you have an unhappy life.


Life is an array of challenges

Now that I’ve achieved the goal of having a Master’s I’m happy that I have other challenges waiting for me.

A lot of people fall into a hole of depression after achieving something because they don’t have a challenge anymore. They don’t have a next goal to work toward.

You need to find something else to live for.

Winning an Olympic gold medal is a goal for a lot of athletes. But what do they do after achieving it?

They are at the top of their careers, but there’s nothing better than a gold medal.

They usually find the fun in their sport and just enjoy the relief of pressure afterward.

Having the goal of winning an Olympic gold medal is a big challenge; it can feel overwhelming. And it’s not something you achieve in a few years, sometimes it takes more than a decade.

Life doesn’t consist of big goals, those are only the tip of the mountain.

Life is the path of getting to the top, and it includes challenges, failing, doubts and small successes.

If you aren’t grateful and appreciative of that path of challenges, you won’t find happiness in life.

I remember as a child I was happy when the summer holidays arrived because then I had nothing to do. But it got boring really fast.

The same happened to me after I finished my Bachelor’s. I had to wait a while until I could start my Master’s and was bored fast.

We think life is good when we don’t have to-dos, but it’s actually the opposite. We need challenges to make life interesting.

And after every challenge, there comes the next one, but a better one.

Do you think “when I get rich, all my problems are done”?

Rich people still have challenges in their lives. But better ones.

Instead of trying to make money somehow to survive, they figure out how to invest or donate it.

They just get better problems. But life doesn’t stop to challenge you.


Wrapped up

A goal is just one moment in time. Waiting for that to be happy won’t make your life happy. Because life is the path to getting there.

Instead, enjoy life now and find pleasure in your everyday challenges.

When I realized this for the first time, my whole life changed. Instead of waiting for happiness to arrive, I made my own happy everyday life by being grateful and enjoying challenges.


Less Stress. More Time. Less Overwhelmed!

Get your free copy of my 3 steps!

stop feeling overwhelmed
stop feeling overwhelmed

Get daily insights, motivation, and inspiration:

If you are as addicted as I am to reading books, check out my favorite books!