Happiness Is The Precursor To Success

Happiness is a skill in the same way coding, selling, or graphic designing are.

The more you practice happiness, the better you will become at conducting your life in a manner conducive to happiness. 

But, people tend to believe that their happiness revolves around how successful they are, but it is actually the exact opposite.

Happiness is the precursor to success.

U.C. Riverside Psychology professor Sonja Lyubomirsky's meta analysis of 200+ studies revealed that happiness leads to success in marriage, health, friendships, creativity, and even wealth, not the other way around. 

Mindset

“The Mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven”.

Your external conditions are independent of how happy you are.

How you perceive the external conditions determine how happy you are.

We’ve all heard the metaphor of the glass either being half full or half empty, well it applies to many facets of life as well. 

How much money you have, which car you drive, how big your house is, and all other material possessions DO NOT affect how happy you are.

Appreciating the car you drive and the house you have DO affect how happy you are.

Being content with what you have is the first step to unlocking your happier self. 

Your interpretation of reality changes your experience of reality. 

But do not confuse this for not having drive to change. 

Happiness is not the belief that we don’t need to change; it's the realization that we can.

But being driven by the pursuit of material possessions will lead to a moving goal of what is enough.

It's like kicking the can of happiness down a never ending alley. 

You’ve probably experienced it before.

You get into the school you want, you get the job offer you tried so hard to get, you finally get the promotion.

That feeling of excitement that you get for achievement becomes futile quickly as you start looking to what's next. 

Tying happiness to external factors like achievement or material possessions is a failing recipe. 

So, how does one become happier?

By practicing it. 

Practice

1. Gratitude.

“ Gratitude is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all others”.

• Cicero

Practicing gratitude regularly is one of the simplest and easiest ways to improve your sense of happiness. 

Keep a journal or doc and white down 3 things you are grateful for daily, or before eating dinner with family or friends make it a ritual to say something that you are grateful for. 

Make it a rule to not eat before your gratitude practice is complete.

2. Meditate. 

Meditating is the act of being present.

Focus just on your breath moving in and out.

Remain patient, and do not get frustrated when your mind wanders.

Slowly bring it back to your breath, you will improve with practice. 

There is research that regular meditation can permanently raise the brains' baseline levels or happiness, as well as lower the brains' baseline level or stress.

There is also research that meditation increases cortical thickness, which is positively associated with intelligence, and happiness.

3. Find something to look forward to. 

The key is not look forward to something that would require work for you to do.

Anticipating rewards releases dopamine in the brain in a very similar way to actually receiving the reward.

This is a powerful but dangerous truth. 

You should be careful about telling other people about your goals, as it releases dopamine similar to actually achieving the goal, which will hurt you in your pursuit.

But, One study found that people who just thought about watching your favorite movie raise endorphins in your brain similar to if you had watched the movie.

So this practice of looking forward could be used to your benefit or demise. 

So use this it carefully. 

4. Exercise.

There was a study done with 3 groups of people with Major Depressive Disorder, each give different treatment.

One group was given just antidepressants.

And one group was given antidepressants and a 3 day a week exercise routine.

One group was given a 3 day a week exercise routine.

After 4 months, all 3 groups saw similar improvements in happiness. 

But after 10 months, we see something interesting happen.

Of the group that took just antidepressants, 38% fad fallen back into depression.

Of the group that took antidepressants and exercised, 31% had fallen back into depression.

But of the group that just exercised, only 9% of them had fallen back into depression.

So in short, exercise is at least as effective at improving depression as antidepressants and may even be more effective at sustaining the improvement. 

5. Get Sunlight.

Regular exposure to sunlight increases serotonin in our brains.

Drink your morning coffee or tea outside.

Take a five-minute walk outside after lunch.

Find a way to spend time outside daily, your brain will thank you. 

6. Socialize. 

The key is to have meaningful socialization. 

A study was done to find the common trends between the happiest 10% of college students. 

The was one characteristic that distinguished the happiest 10% from the rest of the population.

The strength of their social relationships.

Not the quantity, the strength.

Foster rich, satisfying, genuine relationships is key.

Optimistic salespeople outperform pessimistic ones by 56%.

Positive doctors make more accurate diagnoses 19% faster.

We perform at our best when we are positive and happy. 

Practice happiness and reap the benefits in your health, wealth and relationships.