Optimal Experience Is That Rare Occasion When

There Are Two Main Strategies We Can Try To Improve The Quality Of Life. The First Is To Try Making External Conditions Match Our Goals. The Second Is To Change How We Experience External Conditions To Make Them Fit Our Goals Better.

We Have All Experienced Times When, Instead Of Being Buffeted By Anonymous Forces, We Do Feel In Control Of Our Actions, Masters Of Our Own Fate. On The Rare Occasions That It Happens, We Feel A Sense Of Exhilaration, A Deep Sense Of Enjoyment That Is Long Cherished And That Becomes A Landmark In Memory For What Life Should Be Like.. Moments Like These Are Not The Passive, Receptive, Relaxing Timesthe Best Moments Usually Occur When A Person’s Body Or Mind Is Stretched To Its Limits In A Voluntary Effort To Accomplish Something Difficult And Worthwhile.

But Shortcuts Are Dangerous; We Cannot Delude Ourselves That Our Knowledge Is Further Along Than It Actually Is.

Attention Is Psychic Energy, And Like Physical Energy, Unless We Allocate Some Part Of It To The Task At Hand, No Work Gets Done.

If You Do Anything Well, It Becomes Enjoyable. To Keep Enjoying Something, You Need To Increase Its Complexity.