After spending years judging my success (and others’) on the volume of shiny objects I had, I realised that attaching happiness to material things – or even to a specific outcome, in fact – is a recipe for disaster.

Obsessively chasing that next promotion or collecting designer watches might seem like the mark of a winner, but if you need to have something in your life in order for you to be happy – if you are attaching your happiness to external factors – you will always be searching for that next hit of dopamine.

It’s like an addiction: you’re always chasing that first-ever feeling of euphoria, and the satisfaction you derive becomes less and less every time.