Work and Success Do Not Buy Happiness

Rick Chollet was a financially successful entrepreneur until March 18, 1991. He had even been the president of Brookstone Company, a small mail order business that he transformed into a national retail leader selling products for craftsmen. But on March 18 Mr. Chollet locked the garage door of his New Hampshire house, climbed into his BMW, and turned on the engine. He left behind a note that read, “Please forgive me, but the thought of going through the torture of living is just too much to bear.”

Some successful entrepreneurs have a fear that they won’t be able to reproduce or sustain earlier achievements. Gerald Kraines, a psychiatrist who treated Chollet, said, “They’re on a treadmill where they can never savor their success, because they have to keep working harder. Many Christians feel the same way. They think that they must keep working harder for the Lord and forget to spend time with him.