Does being successful means being happy?

by Jack Chua

Posted: 17 years ago 23 replies

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Most people have dreams of being successful. It is the most important thing in this world.

I would personally agree that in this life we have, we always strive to succeed but will it really make us happy? Is it the basis to be contented in life? How do you see it?

#happy #means #successful

Kazooli 17 years ago

Hi there,

I see it a little different. We all know that being successful does not guarantee your happiness. The reason is because happiness cannot be found anywhere else but inside us, so it would be happiness we should be creating first before we concentrate on anything else.

That again depends on the individual as not all are the same. At some point in our lives though all of us look back and try to place importance on those things that should be on a different priority level. Happiness and health mostly become more important as we age since wisdom shows us that's how it should be.

One reason that most rehabilitation clinics strip you off any external sources that you may be attached to, including phone and outside contact is to do just that. To speed the recovery process to which the individual places priorities correctly.

Sincerely,
Kazooli
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elonblock 17 years ago

I personally don't believe that success will make you happy. I know plenty of people who on the outside look majorly successful, but their personal life and relationships are a mess. And they will openly admit this.

Success to some people looks like having a lot of money, or to some it may be having a loving family and so on.

The definition of success is different for everyone. It's been my experience that everyone wants to be happy. That's human nature.

Now the question is to go inside yourself and figure out what makes you happy. Some people are able to figure this out early in life, and some people are still trying to figure out what they want to be when they grow up.
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- locpic63 17 years ago
  
  I believe it depends on our definition of success. We are all unique individuals and therefore we all define success differently.
  
  Locpic63
  
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  patricialin 17 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by locpic63
  
  I believe it depends on our definition of success. We are all unique individuals and therefore we all define success differently.
  
  Locpic63
  
  I agree with Locpic63. We need to first define what being successful is to us. Only then can we determine if it makes us happy. Being successful does not mean that you are happy because I know that there are lots of people who are successful but not happy and that is because their happiness is not determined by their success but by other factors like social interactions, their hobbies and interests.
  
  Hence it's best to be able to find something that makes you happy and turn it into a career etc. because that way, you get to be happy and successful at the same time.
  
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  don21stc 17 years ago
  
  I think that most people's unspoken aim in life is to be happy and to make those around them happy. If you achieve that, you're automatically successful.
  But it may be that to be happy, you believe that you have to make a lot of money, or to be star sportsman or something. Most of these aims could (or maybe should) be regarded as steps along the road to happiness.
  Who knows? But realistically, most people seem to believe that money is more likely to make you happy than poverty - which I think is reasonable, since lack of money will prevent you from making your loved ones happy as well as keeping you in a permanent state of anxiety.
  
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- inmemoryofbaby 17 years ago
  
  I found I am most content when I am chanting the names of the Lord and surrounded by my horses and dogs on my farm. As long as I can chant and live with them, life is a dream come true.......
  
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tommygunn 17 years ago

I have to agree with locpi63 on this topic, my meaning of happiness is freedom, if I own a successful restaurant, there is a lot of work that would be required and likely less freedom. So I could be successful and unhappy. However if I owned a business where I come in when I like, had people that I liked working for me and cared about my business, I would likely be happy.
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- Hesaidblissfully 17 years ago
  
  I think part of success is being happy. The reason most people want success in the first place is because they think it'll make them happy. So even if you achieve massive material success, but you're not happy, you haven't really achieved your goal.
  
  A good example of someone who achieves material success but fails at happiness is the character of Michael Corleone in the movie The Godfather 2. He sets out to acquire success so that his family can prosper, but in the end the things he does to get this power drive away his family. And he ends up powerful, but alone.
  
  That's why it's good to periodically (if not every day) remind yourself of WHY you're trying to achieve success. Ask yourself what's really important to you and what matters the most. It's not always the fancy cars and dollar signs.
  
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premiertimesol 17 years ago

It may depends how successful are you,being successful is one of our happiness but not all the time.
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idesignbanner 17 years ago

We do everything to be happy and when we get success,we are happy.
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DerrickLamont Banned 17 years ago

I really do feel success is the everything....

what else can you base your life on, success can be a lot of things...

it can be different for everyone, such as, making a lot of money can be success for one person, finding their true love can be success for another...

their are many forms of success to me, if you don't have a goal to achieve some type of success what can you base your life on?
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christftw 17 years ago

Of course, but it may just be me and not you because I consider happiness part of success, if you aren't happy then how far you've come isn't worth 2 pieces of monkey feces, and if it isn't worth anything, how can it be considered 'success'?

JMO...
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- usmanshakir 17 years ago
  
  Yes, happiness always depends on your success.
  More success in life means more happiness.
  Some time happiness is more important than sucess.
  
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  Mark McClure 17 years ago
  
  Yes, I agree with folks who say it comes down to a personal definition of 'happiness'.
  
  In my view, happiness is 'peace of mind'.
  
  Without that mental life vest, life can be very choppy water indeed.
  
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devilishsaint 17 years ago

Yup i think being happy is biggest success one can have.
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bozz723 17 years ago

It all depends on what your definition of success is. Success to someone can be a completely different thing than success to another. My whole thing is balance.
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Frank Voce 17 years ago

I for myself think that success brings you happiness because my definition for Success is the following: Living your life the way you want to live it (thanks Paul)
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heatwave13 17 years ago

Jack,
I think that being successful as a means for happiness can be different depending on how we view the world.

For example, in the USA, success and happiness are often based on how much money we make or how much "stuff" we can accumulate. This is a blanket statement, but I think that we do see this quite often.

In contrast, I've been to some of the poorest parts of the world where people have nothing but, at the same time, seem to be some of the most content/happy people I have ever seen.

Relationship oriented cultures view success/contentment differently than cultures that are more task oriented.
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edwinjoseph 17 years ago

Being successful is not about having lots of money and material possessions. As far as I know, being successful is being satisfied and fulfilled. Most rich persons nowadays don't feel successful because they knew that there are more riches person that they. I guess in totality, the gauge for being successful is when you have the chance to sleep peacefully at night. Not thinking of any problems and worries for the next day :-)
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Rick B 17 years ago

I think that being successful does make us happy as long as our definition of success is the correct one.

Obviously, it's hard to be happy when you're living on the streets or your kids are going to bed hungry every night. So money is undeniably important to happiness. If you feel unhappy because Donald Trump has a better helicopter than you do though, money is probably the source of your unhappiness. There's got to be a happy medium between being a lazy bum who's home drinking beer all day and being a workaholic who doesn't realize that their son is on his school's debate team and that their spouse has someone on the side who actually spends some time with them.

The satisfaction of doing a job well can also make us happy as long as we don't sacrifice friends and family in the effort.

I guess it's similar to the old "work hard ... play hard" philosophy except that I'd probably reword it "work hard ... care hard ... love hard" or something like that.
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manadospace 17 years ago

nope, for me happy or feel happy is for all human, their deserve to feel happy, some people always happy even not have much money, success but they do happy.
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Kenster 17 years ago

Success normally brings happiness, but rarely does success boil down to only financial success.

Be successful as a family member, a person, a friend, spiritually, and be financial successfull and you are probably happy.

Even though you are financially successful, if you lack other types of success, you probably wont be happy.

my two cents
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Anjanette Fountain 17 years ago

I think success helps with the quality of life. Life is full of the unknown. Success does very per person. For me, it helps with the happiness process.
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