Success or Happiness -- Which Come First?

For the longest time, the default thinking is that you will be happy when you are successful. 

However, when you have achieved one level of success, you raise the bar for a higher level of success. For example, you were so happy when you could afford to own an apartment until a peer moved into a bungalow in a posh neighbourhood and you kinda lost your happiness overnight.

Thus, it would seem that success is a never ending pursuit and happiness remain as elusive as ever.

As in any conversation, it is helpful to define what we are discussing so that we are more or less on the same page.

Happiness has been reckoned to be a feeling which is fueled by positive emotions. Barbara Fredrickson, a researcher at the University of North Carolina, has identified the following the top ten happiness boosters as follows:

1.  Joy

2.  Gratitude

3.  Serenity

4.  Interest 

5.  Hope

6.  Pride

7.  Amusement

8.  Inspiration

9.  Awe

10. Love

If you experience one or more of the above emotions oftentimes, congratulations as you are more likely to feel happy than otherwise.

Martin Seligman, a pioneer of positive psychology, breaks down happiness into the following three measurable constituents:

1. Pleasure

2. Engagement

3. Meaning

For example, you may enjoy getting rid of dirt and have found that you take to washing cars like a duck to water rather than sweeping the sidewalks. Also, you take pride in doing your job with a middle term view of promotion to team leader and manager followed by the ultimate goal of operating your own car wash franchise. Boy, you would make one happy car washer, for sure!

To digress, you were so sold out to your car washing that you have developed a  routine which involve some dancing and juggling in the flow of work that your customers have uploaded onto YouTube to viral review. Consequently, you are getting interviews and even got to moonlight as a motivational speaker with an inaugural topic "Let Your Glory Shine!"!

Eudaimonia is a Greek word and philosophy which has been translated into different shades of meanings in English such as: happiness, virtue, morality, fulfilment, human flourishing, a meaningful life, spirituality or prosperity. 

"Eu" refers to good while "daimon" refers to soul or self. Thus, Eudaimonia means attaining an ideal state of total well-being. 

Photo by Danica Tanjutco on Unsplash

In his book "The Happiness Advantage", Shawn Achor wrote, "For me, happiness is the joy we feel striving after our potential."

As gleaned from the blurb on the back cover of his book: "Research shows that happy employees are more productive, more creative, and better problem solvers than their unhappy peers. And positive people are significantly healthier and less stressed and enjoy deeper social interaction than the less positive people around them."

Click here for What is the Happiness Advantage? by Shawn Achor

Click here for TEDxBloomington - Shawn Achor - "The Happiness Advantage: Linking Positive Brains to Performance"

You could choose or will yourself to be happy regardless of whether you have achieved your desired degree of success. While success may produce happiness momentarily, at the least, it is not the sole contributor to happiness. That said,  all other things being equal, your chances of success will improve if you have the Happiness Advantage.


Click here for previous post on Einstein's Theory of Happiness

Click here for previous post on You Can Be Happy  

Bibliography:

* http://philosophyterms.com/eudaimonia/

* The Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor