The backward way to happiness…
BBC
Sebastien Bras was at the top of his game: the chef’s restaurant in southern France, Le Suquet, had received Michelin’s highly sought-after three-star rating.
But Bras made headlines in 2017 when he requested that the prestigious dining guide strip Le Suquet of its stars, citing the “huge pressure” of knowing that any one less-than-perfect dish could throw his restaurant’s reputation into jeopardy.
Every meal that goes out could be inspected. That means, every day, one of the 500 meals that leaves the kitchen could be judged
“You’re inspected two or three times a year, you never know when. Every meal that goes out could be inspected. That means, every day, one of the 500 meals that leaves the kitchen could be judged,” he told Agence France Presse news agency.
“Today… we wish to be free spirits, to continue the adventure serenely, without tension,” Bras told his fans in a video posted on his Facebook page.
Michelin granted Bras’s request to remove Le Suquet from its listings this week – a first for the prestigious dining guide. “It is difficult for us to have a restaurant in the guide which does not wish to be in it,” Michelin spokesperson Claire Dorland Clauzel told AFP.
Bras’s story may be unique in the world of fine dining, but he is hardly the first person to climb to the top only to find happiness and success aren’t as inexorably linked as most of us assume.
Know your enemy
Experts say that great success often comes with a raft of unexpected complications, both in personal relationships and from your own self-perception.
Mary Lamia is a clinical psychologist and author of What Motivates Getting Things Done. She says very successful people often feel like they’re walking around wearing a target – and all too often, they’re not too far off the mark.
They don’t see you as who you are anymore – they see you as what they want – Mary Lamia
“When you’ve achieved a certain level of success there are people who want what you have. They don’t see you as who you are anymore – they see you as what they want,” Lamia says, adding that people sometimes derive pleasure from watching those at the top of their fields falter.
And if the schadenfreude and clashes with colleagues and and loved ones weren’t enough, Lamia says the high stakes of success can also activate some extremely powerful negative emotions around fear of being exposed as inadequate.
“I’ve talked to people who are wrecked by success – not everybody can embrace success in a way that makes them feel good,” Lamia says.
Many people who become successful and stay at the top of their game use fear of being found out as a driving force to propel them from one achievement to the next. But according to Lamia, others become immobilised by their own fear of failure. They may take their frustration out on loved ones, turn to drugs or alcohol, or withdraw altogether from the thing they once loved to do.
For those who manage to cultivate healthy, jealousy-free relationships and use a fear of failure to propel themselves to further greatness, there remains a further barrier to success: Ever-shifting targets.
Changing your entire lifestyle when you’ve reached a high level of success can feel like a leap in to the unknown (Credit: Getty Images)
Moving the goalposts
By all accounts, Dan White had it made. By his late 20s he was director of a digital agency, drove a Porsche, owned a seven-bedroom home and counted himself among the top 1% of earners in the UK.
“Money, wealth and income potential – the future growth of that – were hugely important to me and they defined me. My identity was very much wrapped up in those things, and I would internally measure myself against other people and judge myself against that.”
My identity was very much wrapped up in those things
But White found that the goalposts kept moving. He no sooner had the Porsche than he started thinking about owning a Ferrari; he no sooner owned a house than he started thinking about how long it would be before he could buy a bigger one.
Happiness researcher and the author of the Happiness Advantage Shawn Achor says that this type of thinking is extremely common – and symptomatic of a flawed approach to happiness.
“Our formula for happiness and success is backwards,” Achor says.
“We think if we accomplish a goal and have a certain level of success, then we will be happy,” Achor says. But he explains that every time we have a success, our brains change the benchmark for what that success looks like.
“Success is a challenge because the brain gets addicted to the rush,” Achor says. “It invests more resources into increasing that success, but sometimes at the cost of other things that lead to happiness – social connection, quiet time, reflection and peace.”
It was in one of these rare, reflective times that White had what he describes as a “road to Damascus” moment of clarity. It was New Years Day 2010, and he was on the beach with his family, reflecting on the year that had just gone by. White realised that he had allowed money and status symbols to dictate not only his life’s work, but also his own self-worth.
Within a few years, White had left his agency job and founded Ninety, a social enterprise venture that allocates 90% of all distributable profit to charity. Ninety aims to give away a billion pounds over a period of 30 years.
I don’t really care what people think anymore – Dan White
White says the realisation that he needed to find meaning beyond some of the traditional measures of success has paid dividends for him.
“Before, I was looking for people to admire me for what I had achieved. I wanted people to think I was a wealthy young overachiever. I don’t really care what people think anymore. Now I’m motivated by a sense of rightness, and that’s hugely motivational,” White says. “My life now has a point.”
A better way to handle success
Experts say there are some practical ways to deal with the pitfalls of success.
Lamia says that humans have a bad habit of immediately assigning meaning to emotion, even though emotions only give us vague information to go on. Instead, she says people should learn to recognise their uncomfortable feelings about their success as just that – feelings – not indicators that a person is truly inadequate or unworthy.
“If you ask ‘why do I feel like this?’ every time you feel an emotion in the present, it instantly accesses an entire warehouse of emotional memories,” Lamia says. “Doing this allows us to learn about why we feel the way we do. We can change our habitual patterns if we take a look at the way we feel in the present.”
People should learn to recognise their uncomfortable feelings about their success as just that – feelings – not indicators that a person is truly inadequate or unworthy
Achor suggests that the path to happiness while being successful lies in learning to focus on other things – aspects of life unrelated to professional achievements.
“If you have all your pleasure, attention and energy in one domain of your life, you become fragile,” Achor says. So if one area is doing well, diversify and put energy into social connections, exercise and altruism.
When success is ‘all about you’ it becomes less fun, so share the success,” he says. “Take people with you on your ride.