What do you call a person who loses interest after achieving something?
I know about the term butterfly, but I am looking for something a little different.
What do you call a person that is greatly motivated to achieve a goal, but loses interest the second after that goal is achieved?
The difference to the butterfly example metioned above would be the provided achievement of said person.
It would also be great if anyone could mention a literary reference to such a character.
How about a "flighty Renaissance man or woman."
In other words, a person who can do many things well, but who flits from one completed project to another, having lost interest in what was just achieved but eager to try something novel and hence to him or her, exciting.
Then there are the following:
a flighty generalist.
a person with a high threshold for achievement, but a low threshold for boredom. (I kind of like this one.)
a serial (or compulsive) goal setter and achiever.
an overachiever
a new-goal-oriented person
a serial implementer (Not bad.)
a serial visionary
a compulsive doer
an accomplished manic-depressive
fruition boredom (I really like this one!)
Take your pick, but let me know if any one (or more) tickles your fancy.
The best I could come up with is "fickle" and "chaser". Though, they are both used in relationships mainly.
from urbandictionary:
fickle:
Where you want someone so bad and "chase" them and once they like you back you dont like them anymore
chaser:
someone who is interested in someone but as soon as that person returns the feelings they dont have feelings for them anymore. ie. only interested when the other person isnt.
This topic can be discussed in psychology also. For example, there is a psychological term called "anticipatory joy", which means "anticipation of a desired outcome makes us feel good" (and even better than the actual outcome).
A literary character is mentioned in the book called "A Psychological Perspective on Joy and Emotional Fulfillment" By Chris Meadows, when explaining "anticipatory joy":
