It's in our nature that achievement makes us happy. I think it has something to do with Dopamine being released into our brains. What I've found to be the secr

It's in our nature that achievement makes us happy. I think it has something to do with Dopamine being released into our brains. What I've found to be the secret for myself is that I only appreciate something as much as the effort it took to get it. It doesn't really matter what it is I'm trying to get, how much I enjoy the result seems to depend entirely on how much effort it took to achieve. If I work my ass off for $100, then it might feel like the best $100 I ever made. If someone hands me $1,000,000, I won't turn it down, but I won't care about it nearly as much as that hard-earned $100. So setting realistic but challenging goals keeps us happy. If the bar's too low we don't appreciate the gains. Too high and we can lose our motivation. Money can be part of those goals but it doesn't have to be. It really starts to blow your mind when you start applying this principle to everything in life (I'm not running a cult or anything, ymmv).