Would you be willing to die 10 years earlier in order to be rich, famous or extremely attractive?

Were you a hard yes to this question? Or maybe an assured no. No matter your answer, this question really gets at the qualities our culture has told us are the things that will make us happy. They say if we’re beautiful, or if we’re really wealthy, or really famous, that THEN we’ll be happy. But as Thich Nhat Hanh famously said, “There is no way to happiness — happiness is the way.”

Success never does make you happy. It’s not the secret. The real secret is that by focusing on every day joy, you become successful. And author and research Shawn Achor proved this out in a decade study of over 10,000 people. What he found is that those who focus on every day happiness and joy, were indeed more successful. They’re more productive, they’re more efficient, they have better sales numbers, and the list goes on. It’s not the other way around, as we so often think it is.

Money is always a big barrier, or so we think, to the kind of life we think we’re able to lead and the type of happiness we can have. But all of the research shows that actually, after a salary of $75,000 there’s no increase in happiness that money buys you. Rather, it’s how you use it and where your mind is at that really affects how happy you are with your life.

Every day joy, means joy outside of circumstance. Often we think that if we get this goal or that goal or even that goal, THEN we’ll be happy. But that will be an ever evaporating horizon line because you know how it is, most times when you accomplish a goal you find something else that you want or need to care about and go after in order to feel successful.

So, if you want to be happy, it’s not going to be because you’re wealthy, famous, or attractive. It’s going to be because you focus on the small moments of everyday optimism and gratitude. The things that bring us the most joy are full and utter presence with the life we’re currently living, the people we’re spending life with, and the opportunities we have to create good.

One of the best ways to do that is to come back to the small and present moments of today. Is there one thing from today you can feel grateful for? ANd can you continue to focus on that every day, one each day, so that you stop obsessing with all the things you need in order to be happy. You’ve got yourself, And that is all you need.