The success-first formula is backwards

Most people operate on what Achor calls a broken formula: work hard, achieve a goal, and happiness will follow. The problem is that each achievement resets the bar — hit the sales target and the next quarter's target is simply higher, get the raise and the next raise becomes the new baseline for satisfaction. Happiness stays forever one accomplishment away.

He cites research on this hedonic treadmill: our brains adapt quickly to new circumstances, so the emotional boost from any single achievement decays fast, pushing us to chase the next one to recapture the feeling. Meanwhile, the belief that success causes happiness turns out to have the causation substantially backwards.

Achor's reframe: cultivate a positive mindset before the achievement, not after, because that mindset itself changes how well you perform. The chase for success-then-happiness is, in his phrase, chasing a horizon that moves every time you approach it.