My ramblings on my life and the underlying drivers of happiness have garnered a bit of attention. They are some of the more popular posts. That’s good because happiness is, after all, the most important result of anyone’s life. That isn’t to say I have any authority on the matter…but here goes.
Success and happiness are so correlated they might as well be the same. Happiness must be an integral part of success, or else the definition of success is skewed. However, they are not necessarily the same. Success is definite. It may be differently assessed by different people but that does not change the underlying characteristics. Success is a person’s intrinsic value. Cynically speaking, it might be how much you are willing to give up to have someone else’s life. So when you say “I wish I were someone else,” you are essentially saying the target is more successful.
Success is something that is built up. It is the accumulation of accomplishment, whatever they may be. But it can be impaired, written down or given a haircut. At this early stage in our lives, accomplishments depreciate very quickly. Last year I had a couple of lines on my resume pertaining to high school. This year I have two. What success is not, however, is forward looking. Success is not derived from hope, potential or optimism. It is quite simply the retained value of all the things a person has done in the past.
Happiness, on the other hand, stems from the past, present and future. They say people can’t be happy because the past is always too rosy, the present unfulfilling and the future unresolved. Happiness is built on success. Happiness is what you make of your success and how you intend to leverage it in the future. When outlook is dimmed, a person’s underlying success should help serve as a baseline for happiness. Happiness can also get out of hand, climbing to unsustainable heights before bursting and plunging down to lows.
Unfortunately, constant happiness is not enough. It must, as all things, have a return. That may be why, despite all that running, you feel like you have not moved at all. Non-volatile happiness (i.e. one that tracks success closely) with reasonable growth is probably the golden ticket. What happiness should not be, however, is fleeting. Rational joy derives from strong understanding of underlying success and reasonable forecasting of future success. Expectations that are too high will have disappointing results.
Happiness is a figment of the mind; it can often feel like a grumpy old man with a short attention span. Success is a much easier target to aim for. It is a high quality boost to happiness, unlike the temporary gyrations that end up nowhere. I believe this model gives a reasonable outline of two key end goals of human existence. It may even end up making you happier.