"It's happiness we're after..."

Albert Einstein is perhaps most famous for developing his theory of relativity, though he was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics for "his services to theoretical physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect."  What is perhaps less well known is that he also was greatly interested in what Jessica Stillman, writing for Inc. magazine, called "the rules of our internal state of mind".  Einstein apparently told an interviewer in 1931, "It's happiness we're after".

Earlier in 1931, Einstein had delivered a talk entitled "Science and Happiness" at Caltech, during which he questioned whether science, as a field, was making the world a better place or a worse one.  He asked the students, "Why does this magnificent applied science which saves work and makes life easier bring us so little happiness?"  He next answered his own question, stating, "We have not yet learned to make sensible use of it."

Einstein had his own "theory of happiness" that can best be summarized as follows:  A calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness.  Like all things, ambition is good to a certain point.  Experts on happiness describe something known as the "hedonic treadmill."  We work hard in order to reach our personal and professional goals, and when we have achieved those goals, there is a sense of achievement and satisfaction that leads to happiness.  Regardless of how we define success (e.g., achieving a certain salary or title), once we achieve that degree of success, our sense of achievement and the satisfaction and happiness that comes with it is only temporary.  Once we grow accustomed to that level of success (and the happiness that comes with it), we find that we have to work even harder to reach our next goal or the next level of success.  Einstein suggests that we should be content with the success we have right now.  

Ambition can be healthy, when it gives us a sense of achievement and fulfillment.  However, too much focus on achieving materialistic goals and levels of success can actually make us less happy in the long-run, particularly when we neglect other areas of our life, such as family and our personal health.  University of Notre Dame professor Timothy Judge measured ambition and achievement on various measures of health and happiness in 717 individuals participating in a study conducted over seven decades ("On the value of aiming high: The causes and consequences of ambition").  Those individuals who scored higher on measures of ambition were only slightly happier than the less ambitious individuals.  More importantly, they lived shorter lives!  As the ancient Roman philosopher Seneca noted, "Ambition is like a gulf, everything is swallowed up in it and buried; besides the dangerous consequences of it."

Unfortunately, in today's society, we often attribute success with fame and fortune.  More importantly, we often equate personal success with happiness.  But since antiquity, philosophers like Seneca have known that our happiness is not a product of anything material.  Instead, we create our happiness through the choices we make.  Rather than attributing happiness to our goals, we should focus on the journey instead.  It sounds like Einstein knew this too.

There's an interesting aside to Einstein's theory of happiness.  In November of 1922,  Einstein was visiting Japan and staying at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.  He had just learned that he would receive the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics.  During his stay there, a bellhop came to his hotel room to give him a message.  He didn't have any spare cash in his pockets for a tip, so in lieu of a tip, he wrote the 17 words above, in German, on a piece of hotel stationary, hoping that it would become valuable in the future.  The slip of paper apparently sold for $1.56 million in October 2017.  The seller of the Imperial Hotel note is reportedly a grandson of the Japanese bellhop's brother!