Maybe it’s just me, but for the longest time I had the impression that happiness is just morphine, a nice-to-have but ultimately a potentially counterproductive state drawing away attention from the stuff that really matters.

Little did I know, being unhappy saps energy from everything. Being depressed double so. And being happy actually adds energy rather than making you stop caring from bliss (who knew!). I had this dichotomy between being uselessly happy, and doing important, interesting things (while feeling neutral, or a even somewhat unhappy).

I might have done things differently had I “known”. Maybe I’m the only one who ever made this mistake, or maybe not.

Optimize for happiness first, and everything else follows (rather than the other way around!)