Podcast Version
Transcript
Happiness and Success. Pursuing one can sometimes come at the cost of the other. Today I’m talking about the beginners guide to happiness – the one thing we ALL want.
There was a study done on happiness (one of many) that concluded that people tend to UNDERVALUE and underestimate happiness. In the study, people were given the question: If you had a genie who gave you three wishes, what would you wish for? People would ask for fame, they would ask for status, money, adventure, all kinds of things. And what seemed to be missing in all of those responses or wishes was the actual wish or request of being HAPPY.
What the study discovered was that people simply undervalue happiness. We take it for granted.
We tend to over-focus on MEANS goals rather than END goals. Meaning; we think that Money will make us happy. Or we think that becoming famous, having status and receiving recognition will make us happy. But all of these things are simply MEANS goals. Ways to get to the END goal.
It’s easy to confuse them, and I believe it’s important that you are aware of the difference, that you see the difference. Sometimes we’re simply over-focused on the means goals and are forgetting the end goals.
There is a science to success, and it’s a science because success leaves clues. So if you study a hundred books on the topic of success, there’s a chance that you will pick up a few ideas helping you to replicate that success, in some way or degree. That’s why it’s a science. It can be studied. So there’s a science of success. And then you have fulfillment and fulfillment is more of an art form.
It’s an art form because it’s individual, it’s based on the individual. There’s no real one-size fits all when it comes to fulfillment. So it’s something that we all need to figure out. Having success without fulfillment is the worst kind of success, because it means that you have everything and still you are missing something. History is full of examples of people who’ve gone down the path of achieving success without actually FEELING like a success – having a sense of fulfillment. And that’s when they question themselves, if they’ve done the right thing, and some people even choose to opt out of life at that stage.
I believe fulfillment is really key in order to live the life we want to live. Although fulfillment is an art form, I still think there’s a small recipe for it … It’s what I have discovered for myself and for my clients in the work and the studies that I do. Here’s what I think will allow you to have more fulfillment in life: Be you, and become more of who you are, find ways to express your uniqueness and share it with the world. Do more of the things that make you happy. Do more things that make you come alive. Because the world needs more people to come alive (among the walking dead) who start sharing their joy and gifts with the world.
Are you overly focused on the means goals instead of the end goal?
