Earlier this year I had the pleasure to meet Bertrand Piccard, the founder of Solar Impulse. Having had a chance to observe him at a few occasions, I was always wondering where he'd get his passion and energy from (if you ever see/saw him live, you'll know what I mean). When I asked him, he replied: "I want to have a life that is exciting and useful. If it's only exciting it is selfish, and if it's only useful, it's boring".

I guess I'm not alone, thinking that this is a great description of the perfect life. But I wondered why…

Today I found the answer (at least partially) when reading Will Harper's post on happiness at work. Describing one's life as exciting is focused on an experience, while the usefulness is outcome oriented. According to Will this is important because of a psychological phenomenon called "hedonic adaptation", which results in happiness levels after an achievement being similar as before that achievement.

"The reason for hedonic adaptation is that emotions result from experience, not from outcomes. The experience of getting promoted, for example, can certainly lead to happiness in the short term, but the boost often fades. A few months down the road, the experience of receiving the promotion - a meeting and maybe a celebratory dinner - is long since over. Happiness then results from the experience of the new role. Once the new title feels normal and if the work isn’t any more enjoyable than before, emotionally you’re in the same spot as before." 

So what Bertrand did for his life is defining his goal (being useful) and the path towards achieving it (being exciting). The process without a goal (or outcome) would be like running in the dark. While the goal without the process would likely not ignite the motivation to make it all the way. But both together can result in a values based and happy life.