Miswanting: why we’re wrong about what will make us happy

And what to do about it

Photo by Fernando Brasil on Unsplash

I learned an awesome word last week: miswanting.

I love the way it sounds. It’s so mysterious! But, what does it mean?

Miswanting refers to our poor ability to accurately predict the future states of our minds. In other words, we tend to be wrong about the intensity and duration of our good…