Happiness is a Result
No! Say experts. It's a choice.
Cultural Programming
Being brought up in a hard-working Calvinistic Christian home, we were taught to earn things through goal setting, effort and then, if successful, reward.
Although fun was a big part of our childhood, it was only deserved after our homework and chores were done. Ice-cream only after we finished our vegetables and a holiday at the end of a year. We had the idea that we would be happy after we finished our exams and got good grades. Later it would be after we graduated from university, got a car, a job, a partner. It was as though happiness was always out of reach.
In strict Calvinism, happiness and such indulgences were unnecessary in the face of the more morally acceptable toil and self sacrifice which were held to be the highest reward. And what was the reward? Well, on our death, our deity would be the judge.
On seeing how my mother sacrificed her health and her own personal joy to help us achieve these things and seeing my sister now continue the tradition, it got me thinking.
Happiness Results in Success
In recent years, a school of thought in psychology has emerged focusing exactly on what happiness is, why it is so important to us and has grappled with this whole myth around our western mind set of being deserving of it. Gary Keller in his excellent book on productivity says that successful people book their time off a year or more in advance. Unsuccessful people don’t think they can afford it and don’t deserve it. Wow.
A little digging has yielded case after case that proves
- More attractive! Think about how nice it is to hang with smiling, laughing people than those that complain or are negative. If you start to take notice, even the most physically beautiful woman with bitter or angry words and facial expressions can be most unappealing.
- More productive! 31% more, studies confirm. 37% more in sales.
- More accurate and faster! Tested medical doctors showed a 19% increase in one study.
- Three times more creative!
- Able to have good solid relationships
- Able to earn more
- More likely to have high confidence and therefor achieve more through others
- More trustworthy and reliable
- Ten times more engaged. When you consider that as much as 60% of adults employed in corporate America are in the market for a new job or are considering it, employee engagement is a must for corporate sustainability, not to mention prosperity.
- In the UN’s world happiness report which ranks 156 countries by the level of happiness of its citizens, states that happy people have more satisfying lives, live in and create happier communities, more likely both now and later to be healthier and socially connected. By the way, the USA ranks 13th. Only.
- The Dalai Lama asserts that it is the whole goal of our lives, to be happy.
Hacks to Happiness
There are very clear, well thought through hacks that can help us achieve happiness…..drug or alcohol free.
- Make a decision to be. NOW.
- Create habits that happy people have.
- Get out of the way and allow yourself to be happy.
Best,
The Business Coaching System team