Success: The Key to Happiness?

Lisa Franchi January 29, 2013

In one corner of our mind we know it’s not. But if it isn’t, why on earth are we spending countless hours in school or in the office pursuing to excel? Why do we keep restricting our food and grocery budget just to have bigger savings? And why do we keep on taking risks to invest on different businesses? Isn’t it a fact of life that we spend most of our lifetime chasing success? And why do we want to achieve success? Isn’t it because we want to be happy?

Probably, yes. But a review of 225 studies shows that there is no guarantee that our heard-earned success will bring us happiness.

Really? How come?

Most of the studies included in the review sought to determine whether happy people are more successful than the unhappy ones, and whether or not success in life, including fame and fortune, results to happiness. For the review, scientists collected published studies and categorised them into three – those that compared different groups of people, those that involved following people for a certain period of time, and those that examined the outcomes in a controlled environment. And you know what they found? It isn’t success that leads to happiness. Actually, it’s the opposite. HAPPINESS leads to SUCCESS.

Optimism Drives You Closer to Success

If you’re like most people, you must have reached a point in your life when you feel so tired, angry and unhappy about all the efforts you’ve been doing to achieve your goals. And even if you’re seeing results, you don’t seem to appreciate them. This normally happens to people who are so driven by success. They give so much attention to how they are going to achieve their goals that they forget to lie low and care about simple things in life that make them smile.

Going back to the study, researchers found that the reason why happy people tend to become successful in life is because they are driven by positivity. Optimism is like a fire that keeps one’s passion to work and succeed burning. Positive emotions reflect on their mood so they tend to get their work done proactively. In workplaces for instance, happy people are usually the ones who are promoted because they appear to be sociable and likeable.

While other factors contribute to success in life such as intelligence, expertise, social support and good health, the studies show that happy individuals are more likely to succeed than their unhappy colleagues.

This does not mean of course that happy people are pain-proof. Of course, negative emotions are inevitable part of life. Everyone experiences painful emotions as a result of painful experiences. Nevertheless, optimistic people tend to cope with negative feelings easily because they give more importance to positive things than the negative ones.

The Three Elements of HAPPINESS

Alright – happiness can make you successful. But what can make you happy? If you’re missing happiness in your life, then there’s something wrong most probably on your way of thinking. Giving emphasis on the following major elements of a happy, worth-living life is therefore critical:

Optimism

If you keep looking at the dark side, don’t expect yourself to achieve happiness. Happiness springs from positive emotions. So how do you develop optimism? First off, you have to be hopeful. Perceive positive outcomes from things, events and circumstances that happen in your life, no matter how difficult they are. Next, lessen your worrying. And lastly, learn to control negative emotions.

Gratefulness

What were the things that made you smile today? Was it your pet? The beautiful landscape designs you saw while on your way to work? The coffee your secretary willingly brought to your office? Learning how to appreciate even the little things in life will surely make you happy and more motivated to succeed.

Compassion

Instead of focusing on how to make yourself happy, focus on how you can make others (especially the less fortunate people) happy. You will be surprised of how your acts of kindness can increase your sense of wellbeing to a great extent!

Dear Readers,

Can you give more tips on how to be happy?

Share your comments below!