Is the thrill of success found in the chase? Or in the result?

[Shannon]

Why do you suppose you do it? You already know why. At least part of why, if not all. It's that rush. Dopamine and the other addictive brain chemicals. You found what triggers their release, and you keep doing that to keep triggering their release.

Now is there a psychological reason, beyond having trained yourself to do this to get that rush? I don't know. Might be. But I don't have anywhere near enough information to know.

My girlfriend loves to shop. She has more clothes than infinity, and she's nowhere near finished. She admittedly has very good taste in what she buys, and she wears all of it; but given how much she has, she never needs to shop for clothes ever again. For the rest of her life.

And yet every time we pass certain stores in the mall, even if she is broke as a joke that day, she will go in and browse. If she can't buy something, she gets depressed and leaves. It's because she associates buying things that she likes with pleasure, and very likely that she has the same thing happening. When she is looking for that "perfect piece", she almost certainly gets a shot of the addictive brain chemicals that give her pleasure. The thrill of the hunt.

To answer your original question, the thrill of success isn't what you're after. Success can have it's own thrill. It just depends on which part you get those chemicals from. You get it from hunting.