Hedonic Adaptation

Hedonic adaptation, also known as the "hedonic treadmill", is the tendency for mood to drift back toward a personal baseline after changes in circumstances.
Big gains or losses shift feelings temporarily, but over time, habituation reduces the emotional response, comparison standards reset and goals recalibrate.
This set-point dynamic helps explain why achievements don't yield lasting happiness and why well-being often recovers after setbacks; it also underlies the arrival fallacy.

expect the motivation from "new" tools, roles or routines to fade.
Useful responses: design work that stays rewarding (autonomy, mastery, connection), practice gratitude or savoring to slow habituation and schedule brief reflections that re-anchor expectations to values rather than status markers.

Further Reading