How to be successful and happy
What I’ve learned over the course of this past year is that money does not equal success. Or at least per my definition it does not. As a kid and teenager growing up, I feel like people always subconsciously made me believe that having a lot of money is the most important thing, as it would equal success and thus future happiness.
Then in university I’ve learned that there’s even a break-even-point for all your expenses (fix and variable costs) and all the money you make on top of that is profit. But it still included this invisible hurdle of “You first need to earn a ton of money at a job that makes you unhappy, then you are what society deems to be successful and then you are socially eligible to be happy and then you can do whatever you want with the rest of your time (considering you are not already super old and in a wheel chair at that point).”
After university, still unsure what to do with my life, I’ve come across a lot of online courses which at their core were all selling the exact same thing, and that is “how to make a lot of money with the least effort so you can retire young and then do what you want for the rest of your life.” Well, I have to admit that this definitely sounds better than the first two options for sure. But for some reason it still didn’t really sit right with me.
That’s when I realized that it’s matter of definition, how people/ society define money, success, and happiness. For me success means happiness and living a successful life means following your passion, having genuine and loving relationships, as well as, feeling whole and balanced. Especially this time in iso made me realize that now all the money in the world, won’t buy you connection and love.
So, in my opinion, happiness does not equal success. For me, success equals happiness, having, loving relationships and pursuing your passion.
I’m not saying that at some point you become so enlightened you get everything handed on a silver platter. My form of success (loving relationships, happiness etc.) also takes a lot of work, commitment and determination. But you do so because you are internally motivated to work for it.
Ultimately, I think when your inner compass (=intuition) is adjusted and attuned right, the things you want the most are the things you actually should pursue. When your desires are inspired by creating something for your own highest good, the highest good for your surroundings and the highest good for humanity. So, following your pure desires is being fully authentic.
When it comes down to it, I think we all want to be seen, heard and accepted for who we really are. When we all express our core wants through our unique and authentic gifts, we will build connections with other human being over the things that really interest us, which will eventually develop into loving and genuine relationships, as a side effect we will feel whole and balanced and thus will feel happy and successful.
In conclusion, I don’t think there’s a one-fits-all “secret sauce” for success and happiness. I write this as I look up at a sign I bought 4 years ago that reads, “to more of the things that make you happy”. It’s not always that easy but it gets clearer and clearer the more honest you become with yourself (=authenticity). And the more honest you become with yourself, the clearer your path gets. And the clearer your path, the more successful and happy you will feel.
But, hey this is all just my perception. Maybe what you claim as success looks completely different to my theory. That’s cool, too. Just get clear on that. So there’s only one remaining question, what does success mean to you? Curious to know, let’s have a conversation.
