I recently read an article about the gates study, a fascinating study†about†a group of†Harvard graduates over the course of their lives.† It really†got me thinking about happiness, success and the nature of the human condition:

In the past when I have analyzed my life Iíve always used a model by one of my old favorite authors who encourages you to analyze the three main components of your life: health, wealth and relationships. You are then to focus on what area you believe†is lacking and what you can do to improve the lacking area(s).† Well with the exclusion of my intimate relationships, all three areas of my life have been going well and have been for quite some time, yet I still feel something is lacking.† Donít get me wrong, I am happy and feel extremely blessed to live the life I lead, but still as is the human condition I strive for something more.†

In all of my readings on success and happiness, it seems that success, health and fufilling relationships, although extremely important, is still not quite enough.† In order to reach self-actualization or at least contentment it seems that one must find some sort of spirituality or higher purpose (people who have neither often substitute it with drugs and alcohol). This is definitely something Iíve been searching for and still struggling with searching for in my rather hendonistic life.

Random Musings on poker:

Iíve recently been thinking about the importance of goals in poker.† Iíve noticed that after many†of the top online pros achieved a certain level of success they tend to stop playing†as much, striving to learn new things and just become bored of poker in general.† I think there are two main reasons for this; one is the slowing of the learning curve which makes poker less interesting.† The second reason is after making a few hundred thousand, million or whatever most online pros (who are in their late teens and early twenties), stop noticing a rise†of their†quality of life, lifestyle etc., that comes from additional winnings, when combined with the first reason they lose a lot of their motivation to play.

I find it important set monetary targets and have material items I am playing for otherwise itís hard to motivate myself†these days.† Although, I believe this is a short term fix as playing for external rewards instead of the joy of playing will make poker even less rewarding in the long run.

AnywayÖ thatís enough random musings for now.† Later this week Iíll blog about going out to XS for David Benefieldís birthday, where some crazy shit went down including Tom throwing a girl (and himself) into an outside pool at the club for 3k, and Raptor almost getting in a fight with Floyd Mayweatherís body guard.

Currently Reading: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy.