Destination happiness?

We all have this thinking that when we complete this task that we have, we will end up with some happy future. The "arrival fallacy" as termed by Tal Ben-Shahar, described the belief that when you arrive at a certain destination, you'll be happy, so you anticipate great happiness in arrival. But in fact, arriving rarely makes you as happy as you anticipate, it bring on other emotions other than sheer happiness. 

While you work towards reaching your goal, you're expecting to reach it, so it has already been incorporated into your happiness. 

And completing it often brings more work and responsibilities. Eg, having a baby, getting a promotion or buying a house. 

So, we should look at the journey as well as the destination. Making sure we enjoy the process as well. This is also known as the "pre-goal-attainment positive affect."

Always remind yourself to enjoy now. So you don't have to count on the happiness that is (or isn't) waiting for you in the future. 

To enjoy now, there is something we have to learn : handling of criticism. We are too concern about whether we are getting praise or blame, anticipatory anxiety about what our detractors would say. All these fears tend to spoil our pleasure and weaken our work. 

So, just focus and believe in yourself. Don't listen to your own fears and do it differently than what your heart says. Act how you want to feel. 

"The end of a melody is not a goal; but nonetheless, if the melody had not reached it's end it would not have reached its goal either. A parable." - Friedrich Nietzsche