The not-so-subtle differences between success and happiness. Does success lead to happiness?

Success: All of us chase success in education, career, and life. But what is success? Is it achieving a milestone in education, the corporate ladder, or life? Who defines the milestone? Or is it the reward that follows after the milestone?

Will you stop chasing after hitting the milestone? If not, why not? If the end result is unattainable and chasing never ends, then why bother joining the race, to begin with?

I suspect the deep evolutionary need to be recognized by the tribe(society) underpins the drive to succeed. Homo sapiens became social and tribal species to survive and thrive. The “like” button in social media has tapped into the deep psychological human need to create a multi-trillion-dollar industry.

Success is an external marketplace metric, achieving a milestone, and delivering a product or service that is valued by society in exchange for recognition, status, and/or wealth.

Success is an everchanging and never-ending milestone dictated by society. It is an asymmetric power balance in favor of society over individuals. It is the relentless pursuit of fair trade.

Happiness: If success delivers happiness then all successful people must be happy. If not, why not?

I believe you do not need much to be happy and I say this from experience. I had a very happy childhood growing up in India living in a tiny flat with my siblings with an amazing set of friends in school and college. I had a fantastic time playing on the street, roaming around the neighborhood on a bicycle, and spending summers with my cousins.

In that sense, the baseline happiness was set early on and thankfully the baseline has not inflated over time.

Happiness is an internal metric, it is an individual choice, you will not be happy until you choose to be happy.

The problems occur when you mix both or have the wrong expectations i.e. success will lead to happiness. Decoupling success and happiness is key to maintaining mental harmony.

Happiness is what you need and success is what you want. Don’t lose what you need in your pursuit of what you want.

It does not mean you undersell your skills in the market place but do not let the marketplace dictate your happiness.

What do you think?

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