I am a great believer in "learning through reading" in consistent basis. Occasionally, I hope to share with you some of the interesting articles that i bumped into. Well, the story starts with this:
Dr Ben-Shahar, a former Israeli squash champion, is a lecturer at Harvard University's most popular course: Positive Psychology. I'm sure what he teaches must apply in some way to entrepreneurship.
He talks about two extremely opposite personality types who cannot find happiness: what he calls the Hedonist and the Rat-Racer.
The Hedonist lives only for the moment –– for instant gratification –– but ultimately finds it an empty existence, from never building towards anything concrete. The Rat-Racer delays gratification, working hard for the future and making many sacrifices that cause unhappiness, believing that happiness and fulfilment will arrive once he or she finishes university, or gets a promotion to a better position, or earns so much money that life becomes more fun. (Ben-Shahar also talks about the Nihilist: someone who's given up on finding happiness in both the present and the future. We all know some of those.)
Ben-Shahar says we should seek the middle ground between the Hedonist and the Rat-Racer: to live in, and enjoy, the present moment, while working towards sustainable future happiness. Easier said than done, perhaps.
Ok. it seems pretty obvious that the "middle ground" between Hedonist and the Rat-Racer is the perfect category that we should strive for; my question is: what shall we name the "middle ground"? I haven't got a clue yet. Let me know if you have an idea.
Dr Ben-Shahar, a former Israeli squash champion, is a lecturer at Harvard University's most popular course: Positive Psychology. I'm sure what he teaches must apply in some way to entrepreneurship.
He talks about two extremely opposite personality types who cannot find happiness: what he calls the Hedonist and the Rat-Racer.
The Hedonist lives only for the moment –– for instant gratification –– but ultimately finds it an empty existence, from never building towards anything concrete. The Rat-Racer delays gratification, working hard for the future and making many sacrifices that cause unhappiness, believing that happiness and fulfilment will arrive once he or she finishes university, or gets a promotion to a better position, or earns so much money that life becomes more fun. (Ben-Shahar also talks about the Nihilist: someone who's given up on finding happiness in both the present and the future. We all know some of those.)
Ben-Shahar says we should seek the middle ground between the Hedonist and the Rat-Racer: to live in, and enjoy, the present moment, while working towards sustainable future happiness. Easier said than done, perhaps.
Ok. it seems pretty obvious that the "middle ground" between Hedonist and the Rat-Racer is the perfect category that we should strive for; my question is: what shall we name the "middle ground"? I haven't got a clue yet. Let me know if you have an idea.
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