Victor Frankl argued that what drives us is the pursuit of meaning.
Pleasure is what we use when we can’t find meaning. And it is a pale substitute. Anyone who has tried to numb themselves by binging television for hours or scrolling Instagram knows it doesn’t work. Same with more destructive habits.
We are wired to live lives of meaning.
Frankl argued a life of meaning had 3 key elements:
Frankl believed we need important things to do. And this doesn’t change as we age, or as we accomplish goals.
If you ask founders who exit their companies, more often then not they’ll tell you that you can only sit on a beach so many times before you start to feel listless.
We crave feeling useful, and working on things that matter.
Healthy relationships and experiences are essential to happiness.
C.S. Lewis once observed that when you experience something, the joy you get out of it is deepened to the degree that you experience it with other people, and to the degree that you tell other people about it later.
We are built for relationship - to share meaningful experiences and stories with each other.
Bad things happen to everyone. What matters is not avoiding bad things (which is impossible) but in how we handle it.
Over time we can learn how to handle the awful things that happen to us. It doesn’t mean they’re okay. But by learning to find the redemptive perspective in them we can become more resilient. And in some cases even find meaning in those events.
As we create 10 year visions, it’s important to make sure we incorporate elements of 1 and 2. And as we move toward accomplishing our 10 year visions, it’s important that we learn how to adjust our perspective relative to 3. The result will be a meaningful, full life.