Most of the goals we set for ourselves, large and small, we pursue because we expect them to make us content.

Surely we'll be happy once we get a great job or find a life partner or lose 10 pounds or perfect our pickleball game.

But often when we get one reward, our brains suddenly fixate on something else to wish for.

It's not so different from the way successful startups are constantly raising their revenue targets.

From KERA in Dallas, this is think. I'm Chris Boyd. We're never really done pursuing happiness,

which is not to say there isn't joy to be found in the journey. And my guest believes that of

all the skills, he can help his Harvard Business School students cultivate, the project of

managing their own lives is perhaps the most important. Arthur C. Brooks is a professor at Harvard. He's also a columnist at The Atlantic, where he writes the weekly How to Build a Life column.

His newest book is titled The Happiness Files, Insights on Work and Life.

Arthur, welcome back to think.

Thank you, Chris. Great to be with you.

What does it mean for any one of us to approach the management of our own lives like we

might manage a startup business?

Well, the truth is that each of our lives is kind of like a startup.

I'm not trying to businessize life, but when you think about it, what entrepreneurs are trying

to do is that they're taking a big swing.

It's something that's important to them. They're willing to take risks in search of something

that's kind of outsized in its rewards. Now, life is like that too. We take a lot of risks. We face a lot

of suffering. We have a lot of uphill battles, but we're trying to do it in service of real rewards,

not rewards like entrepreneurs and business are.

It's not money or power or market share or anything like that.

I mean, some people are thinking about that for their own lives, but really what we're trying

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