Procrastinating on Happiness

“Never do today what you can put off ’til tomorrow.” —Aaron Burr, Jr. I know a bunch of procrastinators that seem to live by Burr’s words. And yet, why would anyone want to delay leading a happy, fulfilling life? It turns out we don’t put off achieving happiness intentionally, but it is a by-product of the all too common ‘I’ll be happy when’  mindset. You know, when people think that they’ll achieve a greater level of satisfaction when they: Get married Find a boyfriend/girlfriend Receive a much anticipated promotion Lose weight… The list goes on. Also known as the arrival fallacy, this mindset actually produces much less satisfaction than expected because people have primed themselves for the achievement and it is already factored into their general state of happiness. When a person hits the longed-for target, they realize there’s something else…