I listen to a lot of podcasts. They are great for entertainment as well as education. I finished listening to a recent podcast by Tim Ferris in which he interviews Naval Ravikant . The entire podcast was great, but one part really jumped out at me. You can find the podcast here , and I have detailed below what I found so enlightening. “Desire is a contract you make with yourself to be unhappy until you get what you want.” – Naval Ravikant This is the pull quote for the podcast, so it must have struck Tim in a similar way that it struck me. I have experienced this, but haven't been able to see this wisdom before. When I want something really badly, it consumes my every thought. Then of course, once I actually obtain whatever it was, it doesn't actually make me happy. At least not to the extent that I was unhappy before I got it. Thinking about a desire with this mindset really changes the desire's affect on you. Naval then continues with, "In any situation in l