If you want to succeed in life, you need a goal that is both achievable and satisfactory. Achievable is a self-explanatory adjective but satisfactory requires some further explanation. If, when you achieve your goal, you find that you very quickly need to set another one, it means that you are not satisfied.
By contrast, if your goal is satisfaction itself, when you achieve it, you will have less work to do rather than more. Setting a goal of being satisfied is the first step on our pathway to exiting the cycle of work. The next step is applying the simple concept of mindfulness which means that you know what you’re doing.
The benefits from mindfulness can be experienced instantly. For example, when we are frustrated or worried, if we take a moment to become aware of our current situation, we will realize that it is good. Our concern is actually about some hypothetical future scenario. When we are angry about something that happened in the past, if we bring the mind into the present moment, we can see that the state of affairs we are so angry about is no longer active.
These short experiments point to an enduring truth: satisfaction is to be attained in this present moment. If you want satisfaction, all you have to do is set it as a priority and you will not be able to escape from it.