Success and Happiness - the Missing Link

Those chasing success sometimes do it at the expense of everybody around them. They will do everything in their power to be successful. In their attempt to achieve success they often ignore the single most important contributing factor to success, enjoying what they are busy with. When carefully analyzed these so called successful people will declare that they find happiness in their success and that they are prepared to suffer a bit in their quest for success. The truth is that their success very seldom comes and it does come it often comes at an extremely high price. Does that mean we all have to forsake our dreams and hopes of a future full of reward and respect?

In order to obtain a reasonable answer to this question one needs to ask a few penetrating questions about your own life.

According to Albert Schweitzer "Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful".

The careers that young people enter are often based on them wanting to earn lots of money. They are probably under the impression that having money will make them happy. Some of them go through their lives hating every day they have to go to work, only looking forward to their pay at the end of the month. Later in their lives they are looking forward to retirement, in order for them to enjoy their hard earned money.

There is a tale about the industrialist who got stuck on the isolated island that illustrates the futility of this way of life. He soon made friends with the locals and discovered that their lives consists sitting outside waiting for the weather to be suitable for them to go out in their small canoes to fish. He studied them for a few weeks and then went to the local chief with his plan.

He suggested to the chief that, if they construct slightly larger canoes and go out to sea every morning before sunrise they will be able to catch more fish than what they need. "And what will we do with this extra fish" came the quick response. "Well you can sell it to the mainland and use the money to buy even bigger boats that will allow you to go deeper into the sea and catch even more fish." said the industrialist. "And what will we do with this extra fish" asked the chief again. "Well you can sell it to the mainland and use the money to buy nets to catch even more fish" Said the industrialist a quite irritated about the chief's inability to understand this concept. "And what will we do with this extra fish" asked the chief again. "Well you can sell it to the mainland and save the money" said the industrialist with a smile on his face. He was quite sure that the chief would be happy with this. Yet to his surprise the chief again asked "And what will we do with the money once we have saved a lot?" The industrialist now knew he had the chief, he explained to him that once they have enough money they could just relax, watch the weather and fish if it is needed. The chief just smiled.

This may be a simple story but it portrays a number of truths about our own lives. We often sacrifices the things we love doing, thinking that we will be in a position to do exactly what we want at some future date, instead of doing what we love to do from the start.

According to the Dalai Lama "The basic thing is that everyone wants happiness, no one wants suffering. And happiness mainly comes from our own attitude, rather than from external factors. If your own mental attitude is correct, even if you remain in a hostile atmosphere, you feel happy." This implies that our success comes from our own attitude and the things you are busy with.

A very senior executive was once asked by his secretary, "what will you do if your doctor tells you today that you have one year to live" and he said that he would travel the world and visit all the places he still wanted to see. The secretary's response was "Do you have a letter from him saying that you will live longer than a year". A year later she received a postcard from Hawaii signed by him "I am truly happy now".

People spend their lifetime searching for happiness; in quest for this mysterious phenomenon. They chase their dreams based on what other people expect them to do, hoping to find the elusive happiness. The irony is, the only place they ever needed to look for the answer was inside their own heart.

Remember the quote by Albert Schweitzer "Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful" whenever you have to make a decision about your life.

© Carl Marx