Moxie: There's No 'There' There

"What is the point? Why do I want to win this tournament so badly?"


(Scottie Scheffler asking "What's the point?" during a press conference on Tuesday, July 15, 2025, ahead of the 153rd British Open at Royal Portrush.)

ONE STORY

Scottie Scheffler is the best golfer the world has seen since…Tiger Woods?

Scottie isn’t just winning. He’s dominating the sport.

Four majors in just over three years.
Seventeen PGA Tour wins before age 29.
Eight straight 54-hole leads converted into victories.

The pace he’s on is wild.

People are comparing him to Tiger and to Jack Nicklaus. Two of the greatest who ever played.

By any standard, Scottie is doing it. 

He’s the #1 golfer in the world right now.
He’s the favorite in every tournament he enters.
He’s THE guy.

(Scottie at the British Open in 2025)

And yet, at a recent press conference, the most dominant golfer alive looked out at the world and asked,

“What is the point? Why do I want to win this tournament so badly? That’s something I wrestle with on a daily basis. Because, if I win, it’s going to be awesome for like two minutes.”

The best player in the world, at the peak of his powers, with a résumé others would trade their whole lives for, is asking if it’s even worth it.

He then added:

“This is not a fulfilling life. It’s fulfilling from a sense of accomplishment. But it’s not fulfilling from a sense of the deepest places of your heart. You know, there’s a lot of people who make it to where they wanted to get in life, and then they go, ‘What’s the point?’

If my golf ever started (negatively) affecting my home life…that’s going to be the last day that I play out here for a living. I would much rather be a great father than I would be a great golfer.”

Wow. This isn’t false humility.

It’s not some easy headline.

It’s a man who knows how fleeting “there” really is.

The moment passes. The trophies collect dust. And the cheers fade to silence.

This is a question for all of us.

If you’ve built your life around winning, then you must come to terms with Scottie’s question:

What’s the point?

The Brain Science

Scheffler’s honesty hits harder because the science backs him up.

It turns out, the human brain is wired for the pursuit of our goals, not their arrival.

Here’s how it works:

Dopamine, the neurotransmitter of motivation, spikes most intensely before we achieve a goal.

It’s in the chase, the striving, the fighting through the ups and downs that our reward system lights up.

The moment of victory? A brief surge… followed almost immediately by a crash.

That’s why Olympians often slip into depression after the Games. That’s why lottery winners quickly return to their baseline of happiness. And that’s why Scheffler, on top of the world, shrugs and says, “it’s awesome for like two minutes.”

Psychologists call it the arrival fallacy: the belief that once you get there, you’ll finally be fulfilled. But “there” doesn’t exist. At least, not in the way we imagine.

What endures is the pursuit.

The daily practice. The climb. The brain craves motion toward, not possession of, the goals we have in life.

Scheffler isn’t exposing a flaw in his character; he’s exposing a truth about all of us.

There is no "there" there. It’s all about the pursuit.

📜 TWO QUOTES

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success."

— Albert Schweitzer

“When you climb the mountain and get to the top, you realize there’s nothing there. All the joy was in the climb.”

— Unknown

🚀 THREE TAKEAWAYS

1. The only real place is the pursuit.
Let’s be honest, if you can’t be present or happy here, you won’t be present or happy on that podium, in that next contract, or when that bonus hits. Be here now. In the mystery. In the work. In the midst of the story that's unfolding.

2. Anchor outside achievement.
Scheffler’s reminder: being a great dad, partner, or friend matters more than the trophy case. This is its own Moxie, but who you are and what you do are two separate things. Connected, yes. But separate things.

3. Tomorrow is nowhere to live.
Waiting until you get ‘there’ is another form of what I call, ‘When, then syndrome.’ "When I get _____, then I’ll finally _____." It’s rarely true. All of the good stuff in life happens in the here and now, not some distant future that may or may not unfold.

🔍 MOXIE REFLECTIONS

• How can you enjoy the pursuit more today? The people. The process. The place you find yourself right now?

• What do you love about right here, right now? What do you struggle with? How might both be things to celebrate and be grateful for?

• Who do you want to be while you chase, more than what do you want to achieve?

   

🛠️ TOOLS FOR GROWTH

🧩 PATTERN RECOGNITION: Arrival Fallacy

Your brain believes that once you “arrive” – with the promotion, the trophy, the house, the partner – then you’ll finally feel complete.

But the truth? The high fades fast. The podium moment lasts minutes, not months. The new title becomes normal by Tuesday.

That’s the arrival fallacy: mistaking the finish line for fulfillment.

🧠 MENTAL SKILL OF THE WEEK: Process Orientation

Process Orientation is the skill of valuing actions over outcomes. It’s shifting your attention from the scoreboard to the daily reps that actually create success.

How to use it: Define the three controllable inputs that matter most in your work or life. Track those, not the results. Ask yourself daily, “Did I win today’s process?” not “Did I win?”

The paradox: The less you chase the outcome, the more likely you are to achieve it. By investing in the right inputs over and over, you remove the pressure that kills performance, and free yourself to perform at your best.

🌱 ONE MORE THING

(Scottie Scheffler, his wife Meredith, and their son Bennett, at The Masters)

One thing most of us miss: where we are right now was once the “there” we longed for.

Taking this risk.
In this relationship.
On this team, doing this thing, in this place.

Celebrate that. Be present to that. Because if you can’t see it now, you’ll keep chasing and never arriving.