The Age Old Question…
Which came first: the chicken or the egg?
Happiness or success is in a similar boat. Can one come before the other? Can you have one without the other?
In my mind, success is the ability at the end of the day to be proud of what you accomplished and to believe you did everything you could to fulfill your dreams or goals.
Success is the equivalence of contentedness in your dreams
I define happiness as the ability to see joy in life and find inner peace. It is both seeing the silver lining and knowing the calm after the storm is worth the fight. Even on bad days, finding something to smile about and sharing joy with others is happiness to me.
Being happy is the ability to be content in the everyday
Shawn Achor said, “It is not reality that shapes us, but rather the lens through which your brain views the world which shapes your reality.”
If you go into a situation with a bad attitude and looking for the negative, you are almost guaranteed to have a non-pleasurable experience. If you greet each day with a smile, as I try to, it is more likely to have a good day.
I feel part of my job every day as a human being is to bring at least some small piece of joy to another human being. The easiest way I have found is by my smile. One small smile can change someone’s day completely. This is my way of finding happiness and trying to share it with others.
I believe that one must find happiness before they can be truly successful. Yes, one can achieve their goals, but can they celebrate their success and be content or must they always find another challenge to overcome or goal to reach?
Achor pointed this out in his TED Talk, the need to always reach a higher target for success. He called the current system of relying on success for happiness, “broken and backwards.” He also discussed research that stated those who have a happier outlook have a boost and “the brain performs significantly better positively than when negative, neutral or stressed.” He called this the “happiness advantage.”
This advantage would actually lead to more success in theory. Even without research and data though, one thing is clear to me. It is easier to find the negative in a situation, but doing so will not help one find happiness or success.
There is an age old saying that it takes more muscles to smile than frown. I feel no matter one’s reason, they should search out what they love and to find true happiness before they worry about success. It is important to live a life you can be content with and proud of.
At the end of the day, it does not matter if the chicken or egg came first. It only matters if the chicken made it safely across the road.
