The High That Never Lands: The Bankruptcy of Success
From the manic economy to the 91-year-old investor who won’t sell: Why ambition is often just a dissociation strategy to avoid the present.
Wherever you turn right now, the narrative is the same: More.
We are living through a moment of manic acceleration. The US economy is “running hot.” The stock market is pushing into its fourth year of double-digit growth, fueled by the promise of AI and government spending. We see companies posting record profits yet terrified of a flat quarter.
We aren’t just talking about wealth anymore; we are talking about a new species of scale. We speak of trillion-dollar market caps and wait for the world’s first trillionaire. We see the rise of “ultra-luxury”—the $100 million compound, the vacation that costs a median salary.
You see this addiction most clearly in the people who have already won. The entrepreneur who sells for $50 million and immediately risks it all again. The athlete—like LeBron James and Lionel Messi—both who have achieved every accolade, broken every record, yet linger for “one more season,” risking the perfection of their legacy.
Society calls this “Ambition. “Drive.” We call it the “Growth Mindset”. I call it a biological error.
The economy looks this way because we look this way. The economy is just a mirror of our collective neurochemistry, and right now, we are all addicted to the “Molecule of More.”
We tell ourselves we are chasing the future because we want to build something great. The biological truth is darker: We are chasing the future because we cannot stand the present.
The Man Who Couldn’t Sell
I recently witnessed the tragic endpoint of this addiction.
I know a man, 91 years old, who owns a very valuable portfolio of real estate. It is a prime asset, the kind that could fund a legacy, change his family’s life, or simply provide him with a decade of absolute peace and satisfaction. For years, he has refused to sell. His logic is always the same: “It’s not the right moment. If I wait, I can get more.”
He is 91. The actuarial tables have run out. The concept of “waiting for a better moment” is mathematically absurd. Recently, a friend—a contemporary of his—challenged him directly. “Why are you waiting?” the friend asked. “Why are you still going to the office every day to manage this? Why don’t you sell, take the win, and share it with your children while you are still here to see them enjoy it?”
The man gave his standard defense: “It’s not the right time yet.”
The friend shook his head and said something profound: “Selling isn’t about the market. Selling is just wanting to sell. It is just a number. You say the number, someone says yes or no. The waiting isn’t strategy. It’s a mindset.”
He was right. The 91-year-old isn’t waiting for a price. He is waiting for a feeling of “enough” that will never arrive. He is risking his remaining time for a future reward that he will likely never spend.
The Biology of “The Horizon”
Why does a rational man do this? Why does the entrepreneur with $50 million immediately risk it all on a new venture? Why does the athlete with every record linger for one more season?
The answer lies in the hardware. We fundamentally misunderstand Dopamine. We think it is the “Pleasure Molecule.” Neuroscience tells us a different story. Dopamine is the “Molecule of Pursuit.”
Its only job is to get you to move. To hunt. To acquire. When you are chasing the target—the higher price, the next deal—dopamine is high. You feel alive. But the moment you get the thing? Dopamine crashes.
This creates a cruel paradox: The victory doesn’t satisfy the hunger; it kills the high. The 91-year-old man cannot sell because “Selling” puts him in the present. “Waiting” keeps him in the future. And his brain is addicted to the future.
Ambition as Dissociation
This is the darker truth about high performance. We tell ourselves we are ambitious because we want to build a better tomorrow. But often, we are ambitious because we cannot stand the present.
Your brain has two opposing circuits:
The Dopamine Circuit (Pursuit/Future): The thrill of “Almost there.”
The Here & Now Circuit (Serotonin/Oxytocin): The peace of “I am here.”
You cannot be in both modes at once. This is why you can sit at a beautiful dinner with your family, physically present but mentally absent, drifting to a meeting that happens next Tuesday. We use “The Future” as a drug to numb the discomfort of “The Now.”
The 91-year-old man is not greedy. He is dissociated. The asset gives him a reason to live in the future. Selling it would force him to face the present—and perhaps the realization that he ran out of time while waiting for more money.
The Anchor Protocol: Breaking the Loop
If you don’t intervene, this biological loop will run until you die. There is no natural “Stop” button. You have to build one.
1. Define “Enough” (The Stop Loss)
In trading, you set a profit target before you enter. If you don’t, you ride the greed curve all the way up and all the way back down. In life, we rarely set the target. Write down the number. Write down the condition. When you hit it, execute. Don’t renegotiate with your dopamine receptors.
2. Recognize the “Dissociation” Strategy
When you feel the urge to push for “one more thing”—one more email, one more project, one more percent—ask yourself: Am I building the future? Or am I avoiding the present? If you are 91 and still waiting for “a better moment,” you aren’t an investor. You are an addict.
3. The “Lingering” Rule
Don’t be the athlete who stayed too long. Don’t be the owner who died waiting for the peak. The danger isn’t that you won’t succeed. The danger is that you will succeed, and you will miss the moment to enjoy it because you were too busy looking for what came next.