Hedonic Treadmill

This was a neat post: 

There are three strong lines of evidence which support the hedonic treadmill theory: 

1.) A growing list of traditional life pursuits are being found to have zero to only small correlations with happiness, well-being, and life satisfaction. These include: beauty, money, sunshine, education,children, and choice. 

2.) A growing number of longitudinal studies which have tracked people over the decades of their life have found that as their life circumstances have changed, their happiness has remained mostly unchanged (presumably because they spent their time focused on misleading goals, like money and status).3.) A growing number studies conducted on twins has shown that genetic factors may account for as much as half of one’s subjective well-being. That is, despite some twins being much richer than their counterparts, their average level of happiness was similar. 

These three lines of evidence taken together indicate that the successful pursuit of happiness requires a departure from the business as usual approach to life. That getting married, buying a house, and having kids isn’t enough. That seeking wealth and fame is a dead-end. That the successful pursuit of happiness requires intentionally pursuing counter-intuitive life strategies.

The remainder can be read here.

Many thanks to "Toons" on the bogleheads forum for posting this.