How To Avoid The ‘Arrival Fallacy’ That Steals Your Joy
2 Strategies To Combat Black And White Thinking
Big goals. Big dreams. You’re supposed to shoot for them. But as so many “greats” in the world will tell you, happiness after a huge accomplishment can be painfully fleeting. And part of this is because of the so-called arrival fallacy, which is basically the mistaken belief that, once you reach a certain milestone, you’ll have long-lasting access to joy.
The arrival fallacy is a common trap to fall into because of the intense cultural connections between tasks and physical or social security. But at its worst, the arrival fallacy is a lot like the scene in The Bee Movie where Barry the bee keeps bashing himself into the window to get out. No matter how many times you smack your face into the glass, you keep believing that the next time will be different and mean freedom for your heart, that even if the last achievement felt blah, the next one won’t.
From A Black And White Point To Beautiful, Interconnected Nuances
The arrival fallacy is point-focused. It hones in on a single moment in time and asks just one question — did you do the job? In this way, it is a prime example of black-and-white thinking, or what the American Psychological Association…
