The purpose of life is to gain maximal joy, and one part of that puzzle is to discover and obtain what has the greatest potential to provide that joy. Why is that a puzzle? Why isn’t what provides the greatest joy obvious?
Joy comes from value, and our default valuation of things is exceedingly incorrect. If we saw the true value of things, we would have immense joy in things that most consider of very little worth. Moments scattered through each day would fill us with overflowing bliss. Instead, we place massive concern and value on things of no importance.
We improve in the accuracy of our appraisal of value through encountering and correcting deviations from our expectations of worth. As we invest in the cost of what we believe to be worthwhile, we learn what it is actually worth, and how the net benefit relates to other alternatives.
As your appraisal of value becomes more accurate, you will notice a pattern: nothing is both highly valuable and low cost. Value is a function of cost. However, they are not interchangeable, because plenty of low value things also carry a high cost. What we seek are those things that have the highest net benefit—the highest benefit after accounting for the cost.
What has the greatest value also carries the greatest price. The greatest joy comes from the greatest cost for the most meaningful end.
Those who encounter the greatest joy in life do not seek to minimize cost—whether that cost be pain, suffering, endurance, or anything else. Rather, they seek to maximize meaning. As you learn to do the same, you will increasingly prioritize pursuits that carry great costs, but which are still the most worthwhile.